Old West Baltimore In Images Of America Author Philip Jackson Merrill writes in his Introduction to his recent photographic history, "Old West Baltimore" (2020) that "my childhood memories and experiences of this vibrant neighborhood helped to shape my understanding of the true definition of community." And community is at the heart of his history of the five Baltimore neighborhoods of Upton, Druid Heights, Sandtown, Harlem Park, and Madison Park which in 2004 were grouped together and listed as Old West Baltimore in the National Register of Historic Places, the largest urban African American district to be included on the National Register.
Merrill's book overflows with enthusiasm, love, and knowledge for Old West Baltimore. He portrays the area as thriving, lively, vibrant and largely self-contained in the days of Jim Crow segregation in Baltimore. The book shows the history of the area from the early part of the 20th Century to the early 1960s with the emphasis seeming to be on the years roughly from 1920-1950. The end of segregation and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. among other factors helped to spell the end of this area. Much of the area covered in this history is today economically depressed and dangerous.
I hadn't known anything of Old West Baltimore, and Merrill is a wonderful guide. He is the enterprising founder of an organization called Nanny Jack & Company, an African American heritage consulting business. The images in his book are taken from materials he has accumulated over the years and makes for some unusual source material. Merrill was unable to search other likely sources of records, such as public libraries and historical societies, due to the pandemic. But his texts and images bring Old West Baltimore to life.
The early parts of the book show some of the business activity in a segregated African American urban area. Then, Merrill offers a vibrant view of Pennsylvania Avenue and its entertainment life which featured theaters and nightclubs and performers of the caliber of Billie Holiday and Cab Calloway. He offers a picture of education in the segregated schools of the day from elementary and high schools to various trade and professional schools. A chapter is devoted to the religious life of Old West Baltimore, with many longstanding churches and denominations shown over the years. The final two chapters in the book show leaders in the fight for civil rights and in other activities which made a difference to the area and to the city.
The book has a strong sense of place and shows a localized African American life of a type that is no more. Merrill fulfilled his goal of keeping something of the area alive and in particular in showing how it constituted a cohesive community. It is valuable to understand and to think about, in Merrill's words "the true definition of community."
This book is part of a series of local American photographic histories published by Arcadia Publishing in its Images of America series. I am always inspired by seeing the breadth and depth of American communities as shown in this series. I was glad to step back with Merrill to visit the community of Old West Baltimore. A simple grid map of the area would have been a welcome addition.
