African American Heritage
A significant part of Annapolis history, and life in Annapolis today, comes from the culture of the African Americans who have shared in this community since its earliest days.
Annapolis has a number of sites and structures that convey the African American experience, from the bondage of slavery, the turmoil of the Civil War, and the Civil Rights movement.
They are found in monuments, historic homes, churches, and museums.
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African-American Heritage in the Historic District
In Annapolis, about 400 of the city's 4000 inhabitants were free blacks and, of those, forty owned real property. Their legacy survives in written records and in cultural resources throughout the city's historic district.
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East Street
Lumber merchants, builders, and grocers who had saved sufficient capital invested in the lots and built "tenements," for the growing working class, largely African-American
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Fleet Street
Fleet Street did not experience substantial development until the late 1800s when 24 of the 27 dwellings were constructed.
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Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Memorial
The Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Memorial, located at the City Dock in historic Annapolis, portrays in word and symbol the triumph of the human spirit in very difficult times and conveys Alex Haley's vision for national racial reconciliation and healing.
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Maynard-Burgess House
Home of two successive African-American families from 1847 to 1900, the Maynard-Burgess House, across from City Hall on Duke of Gloucester Street, is a tribute to the aspirations of the free black population of Annapolis in the 1800s.
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William H. Butler House
According to Anne Arundel County Land Records, in 1863 William H. Butler, "a free person of color" purchased 148 Duke of Gloucester Street, a recently built, stylish example of the urban Italianate townhouse, one of the few in the city.