‘A room with a different view’: Maryland unveils statues of Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass in State House

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.6.3″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.6.3″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.6.3″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_image src=”https://st-ignatius.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/statues.jpg” _builder_version=”4.6.3″ _module_preset=”default”][/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.22″ custom_padding=”0px||0px||true”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”||0px|”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text quote_border_weight=”0px” quote_border_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0)” _builder_version=”4.6.3″ link_font=”|100|||on|||#000000|” link_text_color=”#000000″ quote_font=”Cormorant Garamond|700|||||||” quote_text_color=”#bf9e77″ quote_line_height=”1.3em” header_font=”|700|||||||” header_2_font=”|700|||||||” header_3_font=”|700|||||||” header_3_text_color=”#000000″ header_4_letter_spacing=”12px” header_5_font=”|300|||||||” header_5_text_color=”#bfbfbf” header_5_letter_spacing=”12px” header_6_font=”|700|||||||” header_6_letter_spacing=”12px” module_alignment=”center” quote_font_size_tablet=”” quote_font_size_phone=”” quote_font_size_last_edited=”on|desktop” locked=”off”]

FEB 10, 2020 

Until Nov. 1, 1864, the day Maryland lawmakers officially approved emancipation, fugitive slaves Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass could not legally enter their home state of Maryland, let alone the State House in Annapolis.

On Monday, the two abolitionists received a place of honor in that building. Statues of the two leaders were unveiled and dedicated during a joint legislative session held outside the Old House Chamber, where slavery in Maryland was formally abolished.

The installation of the statues of Tubman and Douglass marks the end of a nearly four-year-long push to honor the pair of abolitionists in the State House building, which still features controversial statues and artwork in an era of increasing scrutiny of such displays.

Until 2017, a statue of Roger B. Taney, the U.S. Supreme Court justice who wrote the 1857 Dred Scott decision that upheld slavery and denied citizenship to African Americans, sat outside the Capitol. Lawmakers voted to remove the statue days after the death of a woman in Charlottesville, Virginia, who was among a crowd condemning an event where hundreds of white nationalists protested the planned removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_button button_url=”https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-pol-maryland-tubman-douglass-statues-20200210-fxgcotbdlvb4pfs2nr4jn3f5dy-story.html” url_new_window=”on” button_text=”READ MORE” _builder_version=”4.6.3″ _module_preset=”default”][/et_pb_button][et_pb_divider color=”#f2f2f2″ _builder_version=”3.10.2″][/et_pb_divider][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]

Environmental Justice Committee

Environmental Justice Committee

The Environmental Justice Committee works to advance, educate and participate with individuals and groups to improve the condition of the environment for all of the earth’s inhabitants through direct action, education and advocacy in harmony with the environment.
Learn More

Hunger, Housing & Poverty Committee

Hunger, Housing & Poverty Committee

Our mission is to educate and advocate for those who are food insecure, in need in housing, and suffering. We work to oppose any budget cuts that would increase hunger and poverty in the United States and around the world.
Click Here

Racial Justice Committee

Racial Justice Committee

We stand in solidarity with those facing hardship and injustice due to race. Our goal is to be stewards of faith, hope, and love by promoting model relationships that are rooted in truth, compassion, equality, and peace.
Learn more

Economic Justice Committee

Economic Justice Committee

We are called and challenged to articulate, advocate for, and act upon critical economic issues that affect our neighbors, families, and communities across our city and our world.
Learn More

Immigration Committee

Immigration Committee

We feel called by the Gospel and guided by Catholic Social Teaching to welcome the stranger by seeing in the immigrant the face of Christ. America is a country built by immigrants, most of us need to look back only one or two generations to discover our own immigrant ancestors.
Learn more

Ignatian Family Teach-in for Justice

Ignatian Family Teach-in for Justice

We are boundless: unified in difference. We are beloved: working for justice witnesses to that love. Our striving for our collective liberation will never be complete, and that in and of itself empowers us to pursue that work.
Learn more