A Brief Baltimore History

Frederick Douglass The history of African Americans in Baltimore is one of power, courage and tenacity. Our city has been home to many "freedom fighters" — individuals who chose liberty, transformation and human rights over comfort and personal security.

Frederick Douglass moved to Baltimore City from Maryland's Eastern Shore as an 8-year-old boy. Born into slavery, Douglass taught himself how to read and write, though doing so was against state law. Even as Douglass struggled against the physical indignities of slavery, he maintained an unshakable belief that no man had the right to "own" him, in mind, body or spirit. His convictions propelled him to become a famous abolitionist, publisher, writer, orator and great American thinker. A statue of Frederick Douglass stands at Morgan State University, and during the summer months you can take the Frederick Douglass "Path to Freedom" Walking Tour (see our Annual Cultural Events and Festivals section).

Fifty years after Douglass' death in 1895, another Baltimore hero was following in his footsteps and continuing the fight for equality and civil rights. Thurgood Marshall, born and raised in West Baltimore, became America's first African American Supreme Court Justice in 1967. But more than a decade before his appointment to the Supreme Court, Marshall had already made national news. As Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Marshall led the legal team that won Brown v. The Board of Education, the landmark 1954 Supreme Court case which marked the end of legal segregation in America's schools. Today, visitors can schedule a tour of the NAACP's national headquarters in Baltimore, and view a life-size replica of Marshall at The National Great Blacks In Wax Museum.