Humanities

May 17th marks the 59th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education verdict, the landmark US Supreme Court ruling declaring separate public schools for black and white students as unconstitutional. Maryland Humanities Council Speakers Bureau Scholar Dr. Debra Newman Ham focuses a lens on social psychologists Mamie and Kenneth Bancroft Clark and their "doll test" research, which strengthened the NAACP’s case leading up to Brown v Board of Education.

On May 17, 1968, when nine Catholic activists burned 378 draft files in the parking lot of the Catonsville draft board to protest the Vietnam War, little did they know the ripple effects of their actions. A Maryland Humanities Council grant provided support for film screenings, panel discussions, and other public dialogue opportunities in conjunction with UMBC project, titled Looking Forward from the 45th Anniversary of the Catonsville Nine Actions.

A new pedagogical approach taken at Frostburg State University uses role playing games to explore the deeper issues surrounding slavery. This ‘Reacting to the Past’ workshop, titled “Frederick Douglass, Slavery, Abolitionism, and the Constitution: a 1845 Workshop” was supported through a Maryland Humanities Council major grant. Dr. Shoshana Brassfield from Frostburg State University speaks with Dr. Mark Higbee of Eastern Michigan University, who leads the workshop, about this unique approach.

We all know that in case of an emergency, call 9-1-1. For information, press 4-1-1. But last year, more than 96,000 Maryland residents dialed 2-1-1. Sandy Monck, chief impact officer at United Way of Central Maryland tells us how UWCM's 2-1-1 Maryland is assisting residents in need.

The Globe Poster Printing Corporation was a family-owned and operated Baltimore-based Company from 1929 to 2010 that produced iconic posters for America’s most influential musical acts. The exhibition, Globe Poster: Not To Be Missed! opening at the Creative Alliance on April 27th, received MHC grant support.

The Maryland GOP elected a new chair last weekend. We ask Diana Waterman of the Eastern Shore about her plans for the party after a General Assembly session that was tough for Republicans.

Then, on the eve of Baltimore Civic Work’s 20th anniversary, we speak with co-founders Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Dana Stein about the service organization's past and future.

By the mid-20th century, Sparrow’s Point was the world’s largest steel mill. Its recent closing has affected thousands of workers who built their lives around the plant. MHC Speakers Bureau Scholar Bill Barry examines the human face of transition and the value of collecting Bethlehem Steelworkers’ oral histories.

Explore Bill Barry’s Website.

The humanities help us to understand the human experience by exploring the social, cultural, historical and ethical context of our world and our role in it.  Poetic expression is usually a declaration of what is important—and when it is about something that is really important, it often takes on the form of a question.  Michael Glaser, MHC Board Member, former Poet Laureate of Maryland, and Professor Emeritus at St.

On April 10, in commemoration of Holocaust Remembrance Day,  Maryland Public Television will air the award-winning documentary, "Through the Eye of the Needle: the Art of Esther Nisenthal Krinitz." At age fifteen, Esther fled her Polish village to escape the Nazis. Later, as a trained seamstress and dress-shop owner living in Frederick, Maryland, she created a series large fabric collages that tell her story of survival. How do we learn from our past for the sake of the future?