Once a bustling manufacturing hub, Baltimore now grapples with the aftermath of decades of factory closures and consistent job losses since the 1970s, resulting in the emergence of some of the nation's most impoverished neighborhoods. In "The Hero’s Fight," readers are invited into an intimate exploration of the profound impact of deindustrialization on the lives of Baltimore's urban poor. Through vivid narratives and insightful analysis, the book illuminates the far-reaching consequences of welfare policies on our most vulnerable communities, offering a compelling examination of the challenges and struggles faced by those living in the shadow of economic decline.
"On a Roll: A Baker’s Recipe to Revitalize Baltimore’s Historic Pennsylvania Avenue" delves into the profound question: What propels a person toward a noble mission? The answer unfolds through the narrative of James Hamlin, proprietor of The Avenue Bakery renowned for its iconic Poppay's Rolls. Hamlin's journey is a testament to the amalgamation of his intrinsic values and fervent desire to secure a legacy of equality—culturally, structurally, and economically—for both his progeny and his community. In the face of adversity stemming from the callous actions and neglect of a few, Hamlin embarks on a mission to reclaim and reconstruct what was unjustly taken. Through his bakery's courtyard adorned with civil rights murals, vibrant summer music series, and steadfast community engagement, Hamlin both enlightens and entertains. How does a young African American boy, raised amidst the constraints of Jim Crow America, ascend to success while remaining dedicated to effecting positive change? The answer lies in the triumvirate of Passion, Perseverance, and unwavering Faith in a higher purpose.
The community of Old West Baltimore stands as the nation's largest registered African American historic district. Within this vibrant area lies the Pennsylvania Avenue Black Arts and Entertainment District, serving as its bustling commercial hub. Notably, the Colored High and Training School, later renamed Frederick Douglass High School, along with other segregated educational institutions in the district, fostered the growth of numerous distinguished individuals. Among them are Thurgood Marshall, the pioneering African American Supreme Court justice, and Lucy Diggs Slowe, esteemed educator, tennis champion, and one of the founding members of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. Additionally, Old West Baltimore has welcomed a myriad of notable visitors over the years, including Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, Countee Cullen, Elton Fax, Madame C.J. Walker, Marcus Garvey, and Princess Wee Wee.
Dr. Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo (SAMMUS)—pronouns she/her—is a black feminist rapper, beatmaker, and scholar from Ithaca, NY, which is located on the traditional lands of the Cayuga Nation. Her family roots lie in Côte D'Ivoire and the Congo. She received her PhD in science and technology studies (STS) from Cornell University and is currently the David S. Josephson assistant professor in music at Brown University, located within the ancestral homelands of the Narragansett Indian Tribe. She is also affiliate faculty at the Brown Arts Institute, a member of Brown’s STS steering committee, the Director of Audio at Glow Up Games, and an active member of The Keepers Hip Hop Collective. Her current research explorations include projects about the evolution of her revision praxis as a songwriter, the discourse surrounding rap performance and AI, and the emergence of rap artists who draw heavily on video game aesthetics to shape their work.
https://www.publicbooks.org/ai-rap-synthesis-tools-black-hip-hop/
This historic convening will gather a distinguished group of scholars, librarians, activists and archivists to discuss, elucidate, and provide public answers to the question: who owns and controls the Black historical and cultural record?
Dr. Kadija Ferryman is an anthropologist who studies race, ethics, and policy in health technology. Specifically, her research examines how clinical racial correction/norming, algorithmic risk scoring, and disease prediction in genomics, digital medical records, and artificial intelligence technologies affect racial health inequities. She is currently Core Faculty at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. She completed postdoctoral training at the Data & Society Research Institute in New York, where she led the Fairness in Precision Medicine research study, which examined the potential for bias and discrimination in predictive precision medicine.
She earned a BA in Anthropology from Yale University, and a PhD in Anthropology from The New School for Social Research. She began her research career over 20 years ago as a policy researcher at the Urban Institute, where she studied how housing and neighborhoods impact well-being, specifically the effects of public housing redevelopment on children, families, and older adults. Read more.
Dr. Nadejda I. Webb (she/her/they) is currently an ACLS Emerging Voices Postdoctoral Fellow in Black Digital Humanities at the Johns Hopkins University, where her teaching and research interests include 20th and 21st-century African-American and Post-Colonial literature and digital humanities, imaginaries, and belonging. In 2024, Dr. Webb will be the incoming Assistant Director of LifexCode: Digital Humanities Against Enclosure and a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Center for Digital Humanities.
She recently initiated the “We Live Language” (WLL) lab in Black Beyond Data, a Computational Humanities and Social Sciences ecosystem, and co-organized the 2023 Keystone DH conference. WLL is grounded in the writing and spoken word of Afro-diasporic poets, authors, and philosophers and probes the relationship between language and power.
Webb’s research has been supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the American Council of Learned Societies, Columbia University’s Center for Oral History, the Center for Africana Studies at Johns Hopkins, the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and Vanderbilt University. She received her B.A. in English Language and Literature from CUNY Hunter College and a joint- Ph.D. in English and Comparative Media Analysis and Practice from Vanderbilt.
Dr. Nadejda I. Webb (she/her/they) is currently an ACLS Emerging Voices Postdoctoral Fellow in Black Digital Humanities at the Johns Hopkins University, where her teaching and research interests include 20th and 21st-century African-American and Post-Colonial literature and digital humanities, imaginaries, and belonging. In 2024, Dr. Webb will be the incoming Assistant Director of LifexCode: Digital Humanities Against Enclosure and a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Center for Digital Humanities.
She recently initiated the “We Live Language” (WLL) lab in Black Beyond Data, a Computational Humanities and Social Sciences ecosystem, and co-organized the 2023 Keystone DH conference. WLL is grounded in the writing and spoken word of Afro-diasporic poets, authors, and philosophers and probes the relationship between language and power.
Webb’s research has been supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the American Council of Learned Societies, Columbia University’s Center for Oral History, the Center for Africana Studies at Johns Hopkins, the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and Vanderbilt University. She received her B.A. in English Language and Literature from CUNY Hunter College and a joint- Ph.D. in English and Comparative Media Analysis and Practice from Vanderbilt.
First person testimonial: Letter by Tom Composto written before the city of Baltimore forced SFNC's move from 936 Whitelock Street to 2405 Linden Avenue. SFNC has been at the former address for over 30 years.
Photos of the No Greater Love award ceremony for St. Francis Neighborhood Center in the 1970s. Hall of Famer Hank Aaron presents award to Father Tom & John Taylor with Representees from the No Greater Love Foundation, members of the Baltimore Colts and Orioles professional sports teams.
During this time the National President of No Greater Love was Dallas Cowboy Quarterback Roger Staubach. The President Emeritus was Hank Aaron, a black man named "home run king" & Major League Baseball Hall of Famer.
