Fighting for Civil Rights at Sparrows Point

Learn about the fight for civil rights at Sparrows Point through this discussion based on the podcast Sparrows Point: an American Steel Story. Co-hosted by the Baltimore Museum of Industry and the North Point Branch of Baltimore County Public Library as part of the Smithsonian traveling exhibition Voices & Votes: Democracy in America tour of Baltimore County, this virtual discussion will take place on Zoom. This session will be recorded.

This program took place on Saturday, January 22, 2022. Watch the recording here.

About the Program and Partners

Voices & Votes is based on a major exhibition currently on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. This Museum on Main Street adaptation will be on view at the Art Gallery at the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC), located 7200 Sollers Point Road, Baltimore, MD 21222, from December 4-January 22.

Resources for Exploring this Topic
Roots of Steel: Boom and Bust in an American Mill Town – by Deborah Rudacille

Making Steel: Sparrows Point and the Rise and Ruin of American Industrial Might – by Mark Reutter

Have Angels Done More? The Steel Industry’s Consent Decree, by Casey Ichniowski, published in the Cornell Institute of Labor Relations Review, Vol. 36 No. 2 Jan-1983 pp. 182-198.

Gateway to Hell: African American Coking Workers, Racial Discrimination, and the Struggle Against Occupational Cancer, by Alan Derickson, published in the Journal of African American History, 2016.

All We Do Is Talk Steel: Oral Histories of Sparrows Point, Volumes 1 and 2 – by Bill Barry, available at the BMI Gift Shop

The Baltimore Museum of Industry celebrates the dignity of work, and can provide a forum for exploring such issues as workers’ rights and workplace equity, providing historical context for contemporary issues that impact our community.

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