Reports
Consistent with the Maryland’s Managing for Results (MFR) Program, certain strategies and action plans will allow a well-considered allocation of resources, and permit the Commission to reach its goals and objectives. These goals and objectives include networking, seeking support for important initiatives, pressing for public and private funding, identifying and monitoring certain resources, advising the Governor and General Assembly on prospective commemorations, monitoring research, oversight, and public outreach and education.
The following are the strategies and action plans for the Commission to Coordinate the Study, Commemoration, and Impact of Slavery’s History and Legacy in Maryland:
NETWORKING
By FY 2003, improve the current web page and establish a mailing list by which general knowledge about the work of the Commission, slavery, and other shared interests can be disseminated.
By FY 2003, establish a student internship program that will permit three college or university students interested in the history and legacy of slavery to work on special projects with the Commission.
By FY 2003, establish a roster of radio sources, television sources, and popular and scholarly print sources to keep the public informed about general and/or special developments concerning the history and legacy of slavery and about the Commission.
By FY 2004, reach a decision on the feasibility of establishing a statewide support group interested in the history and legacy of slavery.
OUTREACH AND INITIATIVES
By FY 2003, begin scheduling hearings with stakeholders statewide who have special needs and/or concerns that fall within the mission of the Commission.
By FY 2003, set grantsmanship priorities and establish targets.
By FY 2004, commission a survey on the nature of educational materials being used in public secondary schools statewide to teach about slavery.
The Task Force applauds the honoring of those who fought to save the Union, white and black alike. The Task Force notes that we seem little concerned with recognizing that the services of multitudes of others who volunteered to save the Union were refused in the spirit that they were unworthy solely on the basis of race. ln Maryland there presently exists a Maryland Veterans Commission which oversees a Civil War Cemetery, a Maryland Civil War Heritage Commission which in involved with the protection of battlefields, a Governors Commission of Military Monuments, and a Maryland Historical Trust which is largely concerned with the preservation of historic districts, buildings and archaeological sites. ln addition, there exists a Corporation for the Maryland Museum of African American Culture and History in charge of directing the operations a new museum to be constructed in Baltimore near the Inner Harbor and the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture which, to date, has been mostly involved in directing the operations of the Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis and in sponsoring an annual Dr. Martin Luther King Concert in Baltimore each February. At present, there exists no state commission or other body specifically mandated to coordinate the study, commemoration, and understanding of history and legacy of slavery in Maryland for the benefit of all populations and all regions of Maryland as a whole with a mandate to especially include the civilian casualties of slavery.
