Reggie Turner, a Hagerstown financial adviser who sits on the Maryland Commission on African American History & Culture, said he had seen too many of the area’s old buildings face the wrecking ball. While Maryland’s Eastern Shore is celebrated for its connections to Black history — home to giants such as Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman — Turner says Jonathan Street, a thoroughfare in one of the state’s oldest free Black communities, is of equal significance. He wants to see tourism focus on the historical sites in the area, including where prominent Black businesses and churches once stood.

Source: Washington Post September 16, 2021 21:39 UTC