Baltimore History Evenings, 2026
This monthly lecture series features illuminating presentations on Baltimore history, followed by discussion.
It is free and all are welcome.
Talks are held on the third Thursday of the month from January through June at the
2521 St. Paul Street
Each evening starts with a reception at 7 pm
and talks begin at 7:30 pm.
Thursday, January 15, 2026
Ghost Rivers and Baltimore’s Buried Streams
Presented by Bruce Willen
Discover the hidden streams that run beneath Baltimore and how they were buried during the city’s development. Artist Bruce Willen brought one of these lost streams back to the surface in his acclaimed Ghost Rivers public art project. His talk connects Baltimore’s watershed to social history and the evolving relationship between natural and human environments.
Bruce Willen is an artist, designer, musician, and creator of Ghost Rivers, a public art project that explores Baltimore’s buried waterways. Principal of Public Mechanics, a studio focused on art, design, and placemaking for public spaces.
Watch this presentation on the BCHS YouTube channel here.
Thursday, February 19, 2026
The Legacy of Trailblazing African American Attorneys of Baltimore City
Presented by Domonique Flowers
For generations, Black lawyers in Maryland have used the legal system to combat racial discrimination. Attorney and historian Domonique Flowers reveals how late-19th-century Black attorneys laid the groundwork with their legal challenges to segregation. The second generation went even further, turning the law into a mechanism to advance Black rights in many arenas.
Domonique Flowers is an attorney whose experience spans the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Adjunct professor of American legal history at the University of Baltimore. Earned a J.D. from Howard University and an M.A. in history from UMBC.
RSVP for February’s event here
Thursday, March 19, 2026
Smash the Color Line: Interracial Working-Class Solidarity in 19th and 20th Century Maryland
Presented by Alexis Cathcart
From Reconstruction through the mid-20th century, Black and white workers—caulkers, dockworkers, and steelworkers—built fragile but powerful alliances that challenged racial segregation and economic inequality. Historian Alexis Cathcart highlights examples of interracial working-class solidarity in Baltimore, showing how shared material conditions and global movements from socialism to communism impacted local labor fights.
Alexis Cathcart is a PhD candidate in history at Morgan State University whose dissertation addresses Black southern migrants and radical politics in the 20th century. Her work has appeared in both scholarly journals and popular outlets.
Thursday, April 16, 2026
The Red Scare in 1950s Baltimore
Presented by Bill Barry
The Red Scare of the 1950s hit Maryland with a special focus on workers at Bethlehem Steel’s Baltimore County plant at Sparrows Point. This talk covers the 1957 HUAC hearings at the Point, attacks on individual workers as well as the steelworkers union, and the lasting impact on children of the accused workers.
Bill Barry is the retired director of labor studies at CCBC-Dundalk, a former union organizer, and a longtime presenter of labor and American history. His ongoing history project on Sparrows Point steelworkers is available online.
Thursday, May 21, 2026
From FOIA Lawsuits to Reparative Actions:
An Archival Process of Uncovering and Confronting Legacies of Oppression
Presented by Andrea Conte
Public records research continues to expose the hidden architectures of state violence in Baltimore: police department conspiracies, the co-opting of local media, and more. Newly formed Maryland commissions dedicated to truth, reconciliation, and reparative justice have begun confronting these revelations, addressing the legacies of state and racial terror, and exploring tangible pathways forward.
Writer, researcher, and media artist Andrea Conte uses public records to illustrate the carceral state and reimagine social and reparative justice. His work has appeared in Hammer & Hope, Film Quarterly, Baltimore Magazine, and the Washington Post.
Thursday, June 18, 2026
The Graffiti Squad: From the Baltimore Mural Program to Graffiti Alley, 1975–Present
Presented by Menika Dirkson
During the 1970s and 1980s, Baltimore youth tagged graffiti on homes, public buildings, and other structures—a form of creative expression legally considered vandalism. The city’s anti-graffiti measures relied on criminal prosecution but also began to include arts-oriented programs to channel youthful creativity. Tracing this more positive approach offers a chance to compare preventive versus punitive strategies.
Menika B. Dirkson is associate professor of African American History at Morgan State University. Her book Hope and Struggle in the Policed City: Black Criminalization and Resistance in Philadelphia was published by NYU Press in 2024.
