Mosaic Pieces

Welcome to the complete Maryland Mosaic. 

 

The Mosaic is not presented chronologically but presents a randomized selection of Mosaic Pieces to spark your interest in a particular event or person. If you would like to have a more ordered chronological overview, use the six fixed time period options on the right of the screen to get a more immediate picture of an historical period. You can also explore by county or by category. Our predefined categories, tags, counties and chronological brackets will help you see links between the Pieces.

 

The collection has over 140 firsts, including events, people, places, objects, documents or buildings that are unique to Maryland and to the nation. The Mosaic is part of Maryland’s contribution to the U.S. 250th anniversary in 2026. It covers the period from 1776 to the present. You will find at least one Piece for every county and Baltimore City, making this a statewide project.

 
American Innovation

B&O Railroad begins

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad begins with a cornerstone in Baltimore and an initial trip to Ellicott City in 1827. The train line crosses the Thomas Viaduct, the first large arched and curved stone bridge.

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American Innovation

American Visionary Art Musuem

The American Visionary Art Museum opens its doors in 1995. It is unique, the first of its kind, bringing work from untrained artists to the public in a new an engaging way.

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African American

Alex Haley finds his roots

Alex Haley publishes a popular book, Roots, in 1967 and, with a TV Miniseries, creates a new national interest in enslavement in America. He launches the book from the Annapolis wharf where his ancestor Kunta Kinte was brought in chains 200 years ago.

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African American

Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison begins his career in Baltimore

William Lloyd Garrison begins his abolitionist career, writing and coediting the newspaper, The Genius of Universal Emancipation in Baltimore in 1829. He is the most famous white American to devote his life to freeing the slaves. Photo shows Garrison (center) with two other abolitionists, Wendell Phillips and Englishman George Thompson.

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African American

“Underground railroad” term coined

Thomas Smallwood coins the expression “underground railroad,” in a newspaper column in 1842. Born a slave in PG county he teams up with Charles Torrey (pictured), a white clergyman, to help over 400 slaves escape through DC.

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African American

“Uncle Tom” is based on a Marylander

Josiah Henson, born in Port Tobacco, escapes slavery, leads a community and learns to read and write. He becomes the model for the title character in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a nationally popular anti-slavery story published in 1852.
The original slave cabin can be seen in Henson Park.

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Land Recognition

We acknowledge the enduring presence of many American Indian tribes who once lived in Maryland and who now, having lost their lands, live in a diaspora. Read more.

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