BENJAMIN BANNEKER (1731–1806) , a freeborn scientist and mathematician, who grew up on a farm near Ellicott City, helped conduct a 1791 survey of the land that would become Washington, D.C. He also published six almanacs, filled with information on tides and eclipses, which he calculated himself. The Star-Spangled Banner Flag House 844 E Pratt St, 21202 410-837-1793 Explores the role of African Americans in the early 19th-century Baltimore and the War of 1812. flaghouse.org Thurgood Marshall Statue Edward A. Garmantz Building and U.S. Courthouse, Pratt & Sharp Sts, 21201 Statue honors Baltimore native and first African-American Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall. baltimoremd.com/ monuments/thurgood.html Union Baptist Church 1219 Druid Hill Ave, 21217 410-523-6880 Became the central point in the struggle for civil rights, thanks to the efforts of its leader, the Rev. Dr. Harvey Johnson. unionbaptistmd.org The Walters Art Museum 600 N Charles St, 21201 410-547-9000 Home to Charles Henri-Joseph Cordier’s bronze and gold sculpture of an African woman visiting Paris in 1851 (African Venus), one of the museum’s best-known items. thewalters.org Bel Air Hays-Heighe House 401 Thomas Run Rd, 21015 • 443-412-2495 In 1860, Sam Archer escaped enslavement by Thomas Hays on this property. Archer escaped to Pennsylvania, and his experiences are documented by William Still in his book, The Underground Railroad . Archer Hays built the dwelling in 1808, and Thomas Archer Hays, Sr. inherited this farm and his father’s chattel, including his enslaved Africans. harford.edu/about/get-to-know-harford/hhh-history.php Columbia African Art Museum of Maryland 8775 Cloudleap Court, Suite 112, 21045 410-740-7411 A collection exhibiting and preserving the art of Africa. africanartmuseum.org Howard County Center of African-American Culture 5434 Vantage Point Rd, 21044 410-715-1921 Preserving the history of African-American culture in Howard County. The center includes more than 4,000 books, a children’s library, and a research and reading library. hccaac.org Catonsville Oblate Sisters of Mount Providence 701 Gun Rd, 21227 410-242-8500 Founded in 1828, the Oblate Sisters of Mount Providence were the first successful Roman Catholic sisterhood established by women of African descent. Elizabeth Lange (later Mother Mary Lange) and Maria Balas started a school, St. Francis Academy, to teach and care for African-American children. oblatesisters.com Darlington Hosanna School Museum 2424 Castleton Rd, 21034 410-457-4161 The first of three schools to be built in Harford County in 1867 by the Freedmen’s Bureau. The building of schools was mandated by state law across all of the former slave-holding states for the purpose of educating the recently freed African Americans. The property was originally owned by a free African-American man, Cupid Paca. hosannaschool museum.org 24 Maryland’s Underground Railroad & African-American Heritage Travel Guide
African American Heritage Guide 2025 African American Heritage Guide: Page 24
