Civil Rights Guide for Annapolis & Anne Arundel County
Expiration: 365 days after purchase
In honor of the 60th anniversary, this guide will introduce you to 60 locations with a connection to the region’s civil rights story. Embedded in the guide are QR codes connecting to site-specific oral histories, where community members share their firsthand accounts of life during the Civil Rights Movement.
At the sites, historical markers identify historic structures and interpretive signs provide additional context and information. For a deeper exploration of the region’s civil rights history, visit our local museums located throughout the county, as well as nearby national museums.
While traveling the region and exploring the history of the Civil Rights Movement, contemplate where we as a nation have been, where we are today, and where we need to be tomorrow. We all have the power to advocate for equality and justice. How will you use yours?
Included Venues
See locations on an interactive map.
Smith Price, a freeman upon the death of his owner, founded one of the earliest African American communities when he purchased land outside the city’s gates in 1800. At the center of the community was the first church in Anne Arundel County for African Americans, today Asbury United Methodist Church.
This colonial seaport witnessed the arrival of enslaved Africans and Caribbeans. By the late 1800s, those without resources resided here in a segregated almshouse. The property is now a 23-acre park featuring history, archaeology, and horticulture.
Truck farming enabled many African Americans to own land and develop businesses. Explore exhibits about truck farming in the region at this county park.
The community of Pumphrey was founded by 75 African Americans in 1832. Notable resident and U.S. Naval Academy graduate, Lloyd "Butch" Keaser is the first African American to win a gold medal in the wrestling world championships in 1973 and the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
In 1860 Maria Bacon was the impetus for this community when she received 30 acres of land with her emancipation. She established a home with her three children and three other freed individuals. The historic church denotes the community center.
An African American community emerged adjacent to the Baltimore & Annapolis Railroad’s Jones Station train stop. In 1955, a new school was built to replace the community’s Rosenwald School and was integrated in 1966. The community church is across the street from the elementary school.
James Spencer founded Freetown in 1845. In 1871, additional land was purchased by community members to provide educational opportunities for Black men and boys. A century later, Spencer’s great-great grandson was instrumental in inviting the Black Panthers to speak at his local high school. Today this residential community’s Rosenwald school is the Freetown Improvement Association.
The congregation’s ancestors, who worked on the local farms, secretly worshipped at camp meetings before purchasing this property in 1851. The church was a safe place for worship, fellowship, and the exchange of information. It remains an active church for the community.
Public aid groups provided safe spaces and assisted African Americans during segregation. The society’s building was preserved by the Deale Area Historical Society and is now part of Herrington Harbor North Marina’s Historic Village.
Galesville Hot Sox, a semi-professional African American baseball team founded in 1915, played on this land inherited by Henry Wilson’s son, Richard. Henry Wilson was Galesville’s first African American landowner. Today, this historic site is a county park with one of the last sandlot fields in the county.
Geraldine “Gerri” Whittington was the personal executive secretary to President Lyndon Johnson when the Civil Rights Act was signed. She is buried in the church cemetery. The community church incorporated one of the community’s two Rosenwald schools into its building and the other is next door.
During the Civil War, African Americans arrived in Annapolis to work at camps holding paroled Union soldiers. Postwar, the community took advantage of materials left behind to build homes. Follow the interpretive panels throughout Parole for more community history.
The modern stadium was originally a sandlot baseball field for the local community of Matthewstown. Matthews Park was a leisure destination for African American families both locally and from Baltimore with the Matthews family providing a wide range of visitor amenities.
Once a rural farming community, Queenstown is an unincorporated African American community named for Ambrose and Annie Queen. The geographically distinct area remains known by this name although legally it is part of the town of Severn. An interpretive panel at the county park provides details of the community's history.
Despite segregated schools and churches, Eastport was one of the region’s few racially integrated communities. Explore the area with the self-guided Eastport Walking Tour that starts at the museum.
A hub for activism during the Civil Rights Movement, the center is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today an active community center, it houses a fully furnished schoolroom illustrating the building’s original use as one of Annapolis’ first schools for African American children.
From 1932 to 1966, this was the only high school in Anne Arundel County for African Americans. Today, the legacy center preserves and shares the history of the school through art, memorabilia, and oral histories.
A destination in this rural community, this school was built about 1930 across the street from the county’s first school for African American children. Mill Swamp School was modernized in 1951 and renamed for Ralph J. Bunche, a Howard University department chair, who was the first African American to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Churchton Rosenwald School, constructed in 1921, was moved to this site and combined with the Shady Side Rosenwald School, built in 1926. The combined building is named for one of the Churchton school teachers. This Rosenwald School, now a community center, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Originally a Rosenwald School built in 1929, the Galesville Community Center showcases the history of Blacks in the area. Explore the town’s history with the self-guided interpretive panel tour.
In 1872, James Henry Conyers, an African American man from South Carolina, was appointed to and accepted by the USNA. Despite strict orders from the Ulysses S. Grant administration that he be treated with the utmost consideration, he suffered severe treatment and indignation at the hands of his fellow midshipmen and left after a year. Not until 1949 would Wesley A. Brown become the first African American graduate and later have the rare honor of having a Naval Academy building named after him—Wesley Brown Field House. In 1976, trailblazer Janie Mines entered the Naval Academy as a member of the first female class and in 1980, became the first African American female graduate.
Barred from many Chesapeake Bay marinas and yacht clubs, a group of Black captains banded together and founded the Seafarers Yacht Club. In 1967, the Seafarers purchased the community’s former African American elementary school for their clubhouse. Still a private club today, interpretive panels at the park across the street provide more information about the building, the club, and the community’s history.
In the 1950s Beachwood Park was advertised as “Maryland’s finest interracial beach and amusement park.” On the shores of the Magothy River, it is now a county park and open to visitors.
A 1968 court order instructed beach resort owner Edgar Kalb to desegregate or cease operations—he chose to close. Today the beach, with Triton Beach, is Beverly Triton Nature Park and open to all.
Created in 1940 by Black professionals as a retreat from the hot summers in Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, the beach community hosted regattas, concerts, and beauty pageants. Still a private community, interpretive panels provide information at the community’s entrance.
Travel for African Americans during segregation could be dangerous. The Negro Motorist Green Book featured listings of Black-friendly restaurants, like Alsop’s. A respite for travelers needing lodging and food, the restaurant was known for its seafood and sizzling steaks.
In 1966, Annapolis High School was integrated with students from Wiley H. Bates High School. Tensions erupted in the winter of 1970 when student protests demanding change turned violent. Today, the building serves as an arts venue for all.
The Banneker-Douglass Museum preserves and shares Maryland’s civil rights history. Founder, Senator Verda Freeman Welcome, was Maryland’s first African American woman senator and in 1964 survived an assassination attempt aimed at silencing her civil rights work. In response to this threat and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Senator Welcome created legislation that led to the establishment of the Banneker-Douglass Museum. Her vision was to create Maryland’s first institution that authentically preserved African American history and culture and inspire social change for future generations. Today, as Maryland’s official state museum of African American history and culture, the permanent exhibits include a large section about the Civil Rights Movement and showcase historic photographs, objects, and films.
This 7,000-sq. ft. mural seeks to amplify the conversation about systemic racism and police brutality towards unarmed African Americans, while also serving as a reminder that African American women also fall victim to such violence. Limited parking at this location.
Brown’s Hotel and Wright’s Hotel were two of the lodging options listed for Annapolis in the Negro Motorist Green Book.
Home of Annapolis DJ who brought R&B artists to local airwaves and pumped crowds into a frenzy at Carr’s Beach concerts. Barred from local hotels, Carr’s Beach musicians often stayed here. Currently the house is not open to the public.
On August 28,1963, people gathered here to ride buses to Washington, D.C. for the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Today, the memorial honors Anne Arundel County residents who participated in the march.
Martin Luther King, Jr. inspired Congressman John Lewis to join the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement during his youth. Lewis is memorialized in this mural with civil rights activists crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge to protest African American voter suppression.
"When historians pick up their pens to write the story of the 21st century, let them say that it was your generation who laid down the heavy burdens of hate at last and that peace finally triumphed over violence, aggression and war."
--Congressman John Lewis
This is the first public memorial dedicated to Coretta Scott King. She worked alongside her husband Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for civil rights and was instrumental in advocating for the national holiday to honor him.
Established in 1911 as a segregated psychiatric hospital, Crownsville’s African American patients navigated controversial medical treatments and crowded living conditions. Despite these challenges, the hospital created employment opportunities for numerous local African American residents. The hospital grounds are not open to visitors, but interpretive panels at the former administration building provide more information about the hospital’s history.
Barred from working at the local hospital in the 1940s, Dr. Aris T. Allen practiced medicine while also being involved in civic affairs. He was the first African American appointed to the Anne Arundel County Board of Education and later became the first African American chair of the Maryland Republican Party, and subsequently ran for lieutenant governor in 1978.
Serving as a reminder of those who have fought and fallen before us in the Civil Rights Movement, this statue also serves as an inspiration to continue the battle of justice and equality for all.
The last remnant of the original 180-acre property purchased by Fred Carr in 1902 and developed by his daughters into Carr’s and Sparrow’s Beaches. This property is now a public park with beach access.
This mural celebrates the jazz era in the Old Fourth Ward when some of the most celebrated Black entertainers performed here, including Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, and many others.
In 2022, Wesley Moore was elected the 63rd Governor of Maryland. He is the first Black governor in the state’s 246-year history and is only the third African American governor in the history of the United States. No visitation as this is a private residence.
In the fall of 1962, African American protesters organized a sit-in at Henkel’s Steakhouse; the restaurant forcibly responded by spraying the protesters with water.
The Little Campus Inn desegregated upon serving Martin Dyer, the first African American student to graduate from St. John’s College.
Between the American Civil War and World War II, more than 4,000 racially motivated lynchings occurred in the United States. A memorial to the five lynchings that occurred in Anne Arundel County during that time can be found here.
“There can be no reconciliation, no healing, without remembrance.” – Rev. Dr. Carletta Allen, Pastor, Asbury United Methodist Church.
The Maryland State House has been the site of marches, protests, legislation, and political action—both for and against civil rights. In 1958, Verda Freeman Welcome became Maryland’s first African American female senator. Days before Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in April 1968, students from Bowie State College, Maryland’s oldest historically black college, protested here about the poor conditions of school facilities and lack of academic resources. In 2019, Delegate Adrienne Jones became Speaker of the House of Delegates—a position never held by a woman nor an African American. Exhibits, plaques, statues, and portraits inside the building and on the grounds acknowledge Maryland civil rights leaders.
Sit at a lunch counter, explore the interactive exhibits, and discover the powerful stories of the young people and community leaders who rose up to lead the Civil Rights Movement in Annapolis.
Into the 20th century, Black men incarcerated in the Annapolis City Jail were, on numerous occasions, taken from the jail and lynched. Stories like that of Henry Davis, who was dragged from the jail on Calvert Street and brought down Clay Street to Brickyard Hill where he was hanged and shot multiple times, tell of the injustices that African Americans faced in Annapolis.
Before achieving fame, Pearl Bailey lived and worked at the Washington Nightclub, near the mural site.
This park is dedicated to the memory and history of the Old Fourth Ward businesses and residents removed during the 1960s National Urban Renewal Movement. Following Maryland Legislative State mandates, Annapolis established the Annapolis Urban Renewal Authority to identify "blighted" or "slum dwellings" to make way for what was termed "municipal progress." This area, which was extremely active during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, was destroyed in the name of progress and an attempt to silence activism in the city. Explore the online story map “Remembering the People of the Old 4th Ward” for a full history.
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/bc197b6d219c409fa1258df469581efd
In 1955, five years before the Greensboro Woolworth’s lunch counter protest, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and Morgan State College joined forces to stage simultaneous sit-ins at Read’s Drug Stores in Baltimore. One of the nation’s earliest successful student-led sit-in protests resulted in the end of segregated lunch counters in all Read’s Drug Stores, including Annapolis.
Greek immigrants, Savvas “Sam” and Magdalena “Margie” Pantelides’ restaurant was one of the first in Annapolis to serve African Americans during segregation.
Sandy Point’s beaches and bathhouses were once segregated, with the smaller beach designated for African Americans to use. A civil lawsuit challenging this inequality was successful. In 1955, by order of the U.S. Supreme Court, all state parks were mandated to be open for all.
In 1949, St. John’s College became the first all-white college south of the Mason-Dixon Line to voluntarily admit Black students. The college admitted its first female students in 1951.
Call out quote: “I was welcomed on campus, a bastion, and that welcome made all the difference in the world.”
--Martin Appell Dyer, first African American to attend St. John’s College
In the 1950s, the church’s rector also served as chair of the county NAACP and Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) training was conducted here to teach nonviolent protest methods. The church and hall were razed in the name of urban renewal. A small park in front of the parking garage is near the church site.
Today, a mural marks where the Star Theater once stood. It was the only commercial movie theater where African Americans could go to view popular films during segregation.
On November 25, 1960, four African American professionals were denied service at the bus terminal restaurant. Refusing to leave, the protesters were arrested. After two days of picketing, the restaurant changed its policy. Now the site of the Graduate Annapolis hotel, a plaque commemorates the sit-in.
Honoring two titans of American civil rights—both Supreme Court Justices—this mural next to the Anne Arundel County Courthouse hopes to inspire equal justice under law for all.
This plaza honors United States Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and his accomplishments. It is erected on the site of the former Court of Appeals building. Here he argued some of his early civil rights cases that were the first steps on the road to Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka (1954) where he succeeded in having the Supreme Court declare segregated public schools unconstitutional.
The portrait depicts Thurgood Marshall in 1935 after his win in the Maryland Court of Appeals of Murray v. Pearson, which facilitated the desegregation of the University of Maryland Law School.
Edward “Udie” Legum, a white man whose family owned and operated the Washington Nightclub, traveled to New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia with Black Annapolitans Soap and Babe Tasker to search for performers. One gem he found was Pearl Bailey, who worked at the nightclub for two years at the beginning of her career.
Brown’s Hotel and Wright’s Hotel were two of the lodging options listed for Annapolis in the Negro Motorist Green Book.