(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Top Comments: Baltimore's Racist "Spite Wall" Has Been Demolished [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-13 Here at Top Comments we strive to nourish community by rounding up some of the site's best, funniest, most mojo'd & most informative commentary, and we depend on your help!! If you see a comment by another Kossack that deserves wider recognition, please send it either to topcomments at gmail or to the Top Comments group mailbox by 9:30pm Eastern. Please please please include a few words about why you sent it in as well as your user name (even if you think we know it already :-)), so we can credit you with the find! A couple days ago I saw this tweet about an event in my home city, Baltimore: x "Under the blaring headline, FIGHTS NEGRO INVASION, The Sun reported on May 2, 1917: 'Lauraville has blood in its eye for any invasion of its 99% pure white community by a negro institution, colony...'" "Spite Wall" history from Morgan's great ER Shipp: https://t.co/k4zz5xy0t5 https://t.co/3gUfGMYrqk — Ron Cassie (@ron_cassie) April 11, 2023 I had never heard of a “Spite Wall” in Baltimore, and having grown up in the northeastern corner of the city, I was quite familiar with Hillen Road. Even as a young child, I would accompany my family as we drove my aunt back to nursing school at Union Memorial Hospital; along the way, we would pass what was then Morgan State College, traveling on Hillen Road for part of the way before turning on 33rd Street. But on looking at this headline, I could not remember a wall. Then I read this: The brick wall at the old Northwood Plaza shopping center represents a sad chapter in the history of Morgan State. It once segregated Black and white communities. Oh. That wall. My mother would often shop at the Hecht Company department store that was at Northwood Plaza, and if I recall correctly, my pediatrician had his office in that area as well. And, yes, Northwood Plaza, across Hillen Road from Morgan State, had a red brick wall around it. As I was a kid in elementary school in those days, I never gave it a thought. I had no clue about segregation or the Civil Rights Movement, and I certainly never thought about the purpose of the wall. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 became law the year I turned 5. I do remember seeing Black shoppers in that Hecht Company store. So now, learning the history of that Spite Wall was a revelation. It was a response to the presence of Morgan State. The property on which the university now stands was purchased in 1917 to the strenuous protests of area residents because it was a solidly white neighborhood (Lauraville). (Click here for a more thorough history.) The neighborhood’s residents and businesses at that time made it clear that Black students were not welcome to cross Hillen Road. The wall itself was constructed in 1939, essentially adding insult to the injury of segregation. However, as is true of all walls, be it the Great Wall of China or Trump’s pathetic border wall, there is always a way to get around it. During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, those businesses across the street from Morgan were the targets for protests and sit-ins by Morgan students, just as had been the case in other parts of the segregated south. As with many urban shopping centers, Northwood Plaza eventually failed, the stores abandoned. People preferred to shop at the larger indoor malls in the suburbs. Morgan State University has since purchased this once forbidden property and is using it to house its business school. I don’t know if this is irony or karma. Maybe both? In any case, this symbol of racial hatred is now just a pile of bricks. Good riddance. Comments are below the fold. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/13/2163827/-Top-Comments-Baltimore-s-Racist-Spite-Wall-Has-Been-Demolished Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/