Civil rights groups are calling for the collapsed Baltimore bridge to be renamed when it is rebuilt, citing accusations of racism against national anthem author Francis Scott Key.
The African American Leadership Caucus of Anne Arundel County in Maryland voted unanimously to call for the name change and will lobby Gov. Wes Moore on the proposal, the Baltimore flag.
The caucus includes civil rights groups such as the NAACP and the National Coalition of 100 Black Women.
Leaders argued that the author of The Star-Spangled Banner, for which the collapsed bridge is named, was a slave owner who wrote lyrics that scholars have called “degraded negroes.”
They have called for the bridge to be renamed in honor of the late Congressman Parren J. Mitchel, the first black man from Maryland elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Civil rights groups are calling for the collapsed Baltimore bridge to be renamed when it is rebuilt, citing accusations of racism against national anthem author Francis Scott Key.
Key owned salves and helped create the American Colonization Society, which promoted the emigration of black Americans to Africa.
They have called for the bridge to be renamed in honor of the late Congressman Parren J. Mitchel, the first black man from Maryland elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Democratic Gov. Moore told Fox News he remains “focused on bringing closure to these families, cleaning up the canal and rebuilding the bridge.”
However, the Baltimore Banner reported that Moore told reporters on Monday that “there will be a time for that” conversation at a later date.
While as a lawyer, Key helped many black Marylanders gain their freedom before emancipation, he opposed the idea of ​​free black citizens in the U.S. and helped create the American Colonization Society, which promoted the emigration of black Americans to Africa.
Key is also often quoted as stating that black Americans are “a distinct and inferior race of people, which all experience shows to be the greatest evil that afflicts a community.”
However, the Star Spangled Banner Foundation has claimed that the racist quote “is incorrectly attributed to Key as a first-person expression of his attitudes about race in the United States.”
The foundation added: “The quote is taken from page 40 of Jefferson Morley’s generally revealing 2012 book, Snow-Storm in August: Washington City, Francis Scott Key, and the Forgotten Race Riot of 1835).
The Maryland Caucus has also called for the Senator Frederick Malkus Memorial Bridge to be renamed in honor of Maryland civil rights icon Gloria Richardson.
The group cited the conservative senator’s opposition to desegregation in the 1960s and 1970s.
Gloria Richardson, head of the Cambridge Nonviolent Action Committee, pushes aside a National Guardsman’s bayonet as she moves through a crowd of African Americans to convince them to disperse in Cambridge, Maryland.
‘Morley, in turn, cites as his sole source a quote from the 1937 biography Francis Scott Key: Life and Times by Edward S. Delaplaine. This biography is a source of confusion as to the author of the quote.
Key is also believed to have regretted helping black Americans sue for their freedom, saying that at one point he had “done nothing but evil to them.”
The Maryland Caucus has also called for the Senator Frederick Malkus Memorial Bridge to be renamed Maryland civil rights icon Gloria Richardson. The group cited the conservative senator’s opposition to desegregation in the 1960s and 1970s.
Engineers working to clean up the wreckage of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore said Thursday they hope to restore navigation in and out of Baltimore Harbor later this month.
The bridge collapsed within seconds on March 26 after being struck by the freighter Dali, which lost power shortly after leaving Baltimore bound for Sri Lanka. The ship issued an emergency alert in enough time for police to stop traffic, but not enough to save a road work crew filling potholes on the bridge.
Authorities believe six workers died in the Patapsco River; So far two bodies have been recovered. Two others survived.
Authorities believe six workers died in the Patapsco River; So far two bodies have been recovered. Two others survived
President Joe Biden (C) delivers a speech near the remains of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, in the background, with Maryland Governor Wes Moore, right.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced a “tentative schedule” Thursday and said in a news release that it expects to open a limited access channel to the port within the next four weeks that will measure about 280 feet wide by 35 feet deep.
The canal would support one-way traffic in and out of the port for barge container service and some vessels transporting automobiles and farm equipment to and from the port.
The USACE said it aims to reopen the permanent federal shipping channel, 700 feet wide by 50 feet deep, by the end of May, which would restore port access to normal capacity.
“A fully open federal channel remains our primary goal, and we will carry out this work with care and precision, with security as our top priority,” Lt. Gen. Scott Spellmon, USACE commanding general, said in the news release.
Spellmon acknowledged that the timelines are “ambitious” and could still be affected by adverse weather or “changes in the complexity of the remains.”