Dr. Spaulding

A few recent anniversary stories–the 10th anniversary of 9/11, the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and the one-year anniversary of the disappearance of Phylicia Barnes–have me thinking: what makes an anniversary story good?

Readers sometimes complain such stories are “lazy and pointless.” Scholars often point out that these stories are filled with myth, not fact. Others say these stories are often forced into a predetermined story formula–either the tearjerker or the inspirational piece–often ignoring the obvious, as this Daily Show parody of 9/11 anniversary coverage demonstrates:

I agree with many of these critiques and often find anniversary journalism to be a shallow attempt to grab viewers and clicks. However I also believe it is important to study history. Understanding the past can explain the present and guide decisions we make about our future. How did we get here? What has worked? What hasn’t worked? What can we try next? Whether or not you decide to make a life for yourself in Baltimore, understanding how past events impact a community’s quality of life can help you build a better future–wherever it may be.

I also believe that understanding local history is key to building and enriching our sense of citizenship and our shared responsibility for our community. I interviewed journalist Michael Olesker this summer after reading his book Journeys to the Heart of Baltimore. He said the stories we tell about our past not only explain who we are, but also bring us together.

“They are a binding experience—a binding and a bonding experience. They tell us that we are a part of the same community,” he said. “By sharing not only the initial experience, but the retelling of the story, they become our common history. They become our experience. And they remind us that we have things in common, that we’ve been through stuff together.”

So here’s our challenge for the spring semester:

Can we produce anniversary journalism that succeeds in examining the ongoing cultural, social or economic impact of a past event on today’s urban cityscape?

Notable Anniversaries

Here are a few that have either just passed or are coming up:

• The “Baltimore Believe” campaign launched 10 years ago during the spring of 2002 with this commercial. Today, Gov. Martin O’Malley claims it was a success, despite widespread doubt and mixed results at the time of its launch (after all, this city has seen its fair share of PR campaigns.) There’s been a number of clever spinoffs, rendering the Believe campaign still visible (see here, here and here). Of course O’Malley would claim the program was a success–he was a mayor planning to run for governor when it launched, today he’s a governor who’s rumored to be planning a 2016 presidential run. What’s the real legacy of this campaign?
• The Bicentennial of the War of 1812. Commemorative planning is also happening at the city and state levels.
• The Sesquicentennial of the Civil War, which included several Maryland battles and dramatically affected the lives of citizens living in Maryland and Baltimore.
• The 100th anniversary of the founding of the Baltimore Branch of the NAACP in 1912.
• In 1952, Baltimore Polytechnic Institute integrated its advanced college preparatory track, two years before Brown v. Board was decided. Baltimore was the first city in America to desegregate its schools, though white flight effectively re-segregated them shortly after. (See: Journeys to the Heart of Baltimore by Michael Olesker, Desegregating Baltimore Schools, Brown vs. Board of Education: 50 Years Later)
• The Wire premiered 10 years ago in 2002. Besides receiving widespread acclaim, it’s being used to teach urban sociology in schools and to intervene in the lives of at-risk youth. The show has even won David Simon a prestigious MacArthur “genius” grant. But some say that it permanently brands Baltimore with a bad image will only further entrench drugs, guns, violence and murder.
• On the subject of iconic Baltimore movies, John Waters’ Pink Flamingos came out in 1972, Barry Levinson’s Diner came out in 1982. Some say these films made Maryland one of the top destinations for filmmakers in the 1990s, creating Maryland’s film industry. Yet according to the Maryland Film Industry Coalition, that industry is in decline today unless lawmakers consider additional incentives to stay competitive.
• In television, the Buddy Deane show began 55 years ago in 1957. (The host of the show died in 2003.) This was the original (and segregated) show that the movie Hairspray was based on. Unlike in the movie, the show was taken off the air because producers did not want to integrate it.

Anniversaries happen in odd years too

For the purposes of this class, let’s not be concerned with whether the anniversaries are in round numbers or not. Here’s a few other significant dates that deserve remembering:

• In 1955 (1953 in some articles), Read’s Drugstore downtown was the site of a civil rights sit-in five (or seven) years before the launch of the sit-in movement. Last year, a developer announced plans to demolish the building. Preservation activists are working to save it. The controversy has brought more attention to Baltimore’s role in the civil rights movement. I’ve linked to a number of Read’s articles on the MCOM 407 tumblr.
• The 1968 riots are the subject of a new website and book. What’s the legacy today?
• Another new book: Marshall Law: The Life and Times of a Baltimore Black Panther by Marshall “Eddie” Conway. See an interview with the co-author here. In the wake of Occupy Baltimore, I’m really interested in protest groups of the past. According to Conway’s book, the Panthers had a successful breakfast and education program for children here in Baltimore and were doing a lot of good work in neighborhoods abandoned by the city. Where are they now? What does their experience have to teach the Occupy and other political protest movements today?
• Where are the Catonsville 9 today, and what’s the legacy of civil disobedience today in the wake of police violence against peaceful Occupy protesters?
• At 6:00 in this video, journalist Marc Steiner talks about “occupying” techniques of protest he participated in 40 years ago. Who are the forerunners of the occupy movement here in Baltimore? What’s their legacy today?
• The Baltimore News-American closed in 1986. The Evening Sun closed in 1995. There have been studies by both Pew and NewsTrust on today’s news ecosystem. However, there are dozens of reporters around who worked at one or both of these newspapers. (See here, here and here.) What’s really different between now and then? What was it like living in a city with a half-dozen newspapers? How did the news affect city politics and priorities? What have we lost?
• In 1968, the same year as the riots, the Movement Against Destruction formed. This was a cross-race, cross-class, cross-neighborhood grass-roots organization that successfully stopped a highway project that would have obliterated neighborhoods and historic areas throughout the city. Sources still in the area include Baltimore Sun columnist James D. Dilts, 1968-1969 MAD president Art Cohen, 1967-1968 MAD president Stuart Wechsler, among others.
• The iconic family-owned Baltimore department store company Hutzler’s closed in 1990 after 132 years of business and is the subject of a recent book. This subject could be the jumping-off point for a project examining the historic effect of suburban flight on downtown business, the legacy of family-owned vs. corporate-owned downtown shopping and the future of the downtown economic district. (On a related note, the Women’s Industrial Exchange just reopened downtown, and the famous Haussner’s could become a brewpub.)
• Along the same lines, Harborplace opened in 1980. Many credit the development of shopping, hotels, convention and arena space with transforming downtown Baltimore. Others say it has drained much needed resources from poverty-stricken neighborhoods.
• It’s been 14 years since the Felix Guevara case here in Baltimore, in which a Baltimore police officer resigned after being accused of stealing money from Latino immigrants. The case strained the city’s relations with the Latino community. The case also inspired Angelo Solera to become the first Latino to run for city council and became the centerpiece of Michael Olesker’s book Journeys to the Heart of Baltimore which examines the city’s immigrant history. This was a highly-publicized case at the time. What is the legacy of this case today in the context of the city’s rapidly growing Latino population? Where is Felix Guevara today? What is the state of relations between the city and the Latino population?
• Sandtown Habitat for Humanity opened in 1989 and since then has built 300 homes for low-income families. But has the building helped eliminate blight and turn around the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood?

Other issues

I haven’t examined these closely enough yet to know what the important dates are in their timelines. However I think they are relevant and interesting, and they’ve certainly impacted city life:

• The effects of blockbusting and white flight. To get a foothold in this beat, I’d first read Not in My Neighborhood: How Bigotry Shaped a Great American City and interview Antero Pietila.
• The Jewish migration throughout the 20th century from Corned Beef Row through Northwest Baltimore and out into the county. For background, there’s several chapters each in Journeys to the Heart of Baltimore and Hometown Boy.

Places to scout your own ideas

You’re free to investigate any of the ideas above. If you’ve got another idea, let’s conference about it. If you’d like to dig up your own idea, here’s a few tips:

• Consider visiting a few museums: the Museum of Industry, the Maryland Historical Society, the Jewish Museum of Maryland, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture, the Sports Legend Museum.
• Read up on local history. If you’re interested in Baltimore, I recommend The Baltimore Book, Journeys to the Heart of Baltimore and Not in My Neighborhood: How Bigotry Shaped a Great American City. The authors of each of these books would be happy to talk to you.
• Attend a few sessions of the Aging Newspaperman’s Club, or other similar community organization, and listen to the stories people tell. You’re bound to hear something interesting. (I’m at the Newspaperman’s Club most Fridays and would be happy to introduce you around. Email me if you’re interested.)
• Remember, you’re looking for an event that clearly had a dramatic and ongoing effect on city life. The keyword here is ongoing. We’re not just looking for interesting events–we’re looking for events that had a vivid and long-lasting effect on citizens, an effect that may be overlooked, misunderstood or still unresolved.
• Also, look for an event with great sources. You’re looking for real Baltimore characters, the people who experienced these events and can tell you what it was like to witness them. Sources for the 1968 riots or fight against the highways are still easy to get into contact with and often eager to share their stories. The Civil War and the War of 1812 are trickier topics, but because of the recent anniversaries you’re probably likely to find enthusiasts, historians, park rangers, historical actors, and descendents, etc. who are able to explain the legacy of the event.

An example from my own work

Here’s a package example from my own work: In 1982, the NAACP protested the performance of a Baltimore City police officer at a downtown hotel who planned to perform Al Jolson tunes in blackface. In class, I’ll share with you how I would structure this into a three-part story package that examines the legacy of Al Jolson, minstrelsy and this NAACP protest on Baltimore, and what it tells us about the shifting politics of race in the police department, the newspaper and city affairs.