Harborplace should include memorials to city slave trade victims
Thank you for your editorial about reinventing Harborplace (“Reinventing Harborplace: Baltimore needs a safe, vibrant, inclusive and fun place to gather,” April 7). In a concluding paragraph, you say “And, finally, we’d like to see a revised Harborplace reflect Baltimore’s unique history. There should be elements of what made this city great from its days as a commercial port. The “porch” should celebrate its working class roots and its small town vibe, its love of steamed crabs, and its place as a Mid-Atlantic crossroads, home of the first commercial railroad in the U.S. and namesake of the Baltimore Clipper, the fast-moving sailing ships of the late 18th century.”
An accurate reflection of Baltimore’s unique history might also include a memorial to victims of the Baltimore slave trade, for which Harborplace or the Inner Harbor area would be an ideal site. Between 1808 and 1861, an estimated 30,000 Black people were shipped from Baltimore to ports in the South, such as New Orleans. Enslaved people were held in unspeakable conditions in pens at the Inner Harbor. Families were separated when loved ones were enslaved and shipped south. The slave traders ran ads in The Baltimore Sun in order to buy slaves. When notorious slave traders such as Joseph S. Donovan and Hope Hull Slatter ran out of slaves to sell, they kidnapped free Black people and sold them into slavery.
Presently, there’s a historic marker at 830 E. Pratt St, near the entrance of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum, commemorating the victims of the Baltimore slave trade. There are no other markers or memorial in the Inner Harbor area, even though were numerous slave pen locations throughout the area, including at Pratt Street and Fremont Avenue, and Pratt and Howard streets.
As historian Ralph Clayton said in a 2005 article in The Baltimore Chronicle, “A tribute to the victims of slavery remains long overdue in Baltimore. Such a memorial would draw numerous visitors and afford the opportunity to teach our children about the thousands of families who left their tears, blood, and broken hearts along Pratt Street, Baltimore’s ‘Trail of Tears.’ ”
An exploration of this aspect of Baltimore’s history would be a tremendous asset to the Inner Harbor and would be a magnet for tourism and educational activities.
— Nathan Scott, Baltimore