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Dr. Al Hathaway: Gwynn Oak Park Desegregation, Baltimore
In the spring of 2022, Baltimore artist and participatory-history specialist Lauren Muney hand-created custom silhouettes(profile portraits)of Baltimore City, Maryland, residents for long-term public installation at the Peale. These faces will encircle several rooms of the historic Peale walls, giving visitors, residents and guests the opportunity to feel the Baltimore ‘family’ all around them. The exhibition will be installed in August 2022. Some sitters also contributed stories about their lives and experiences in Baltimore.
Speaker 1 (00:01): Okay.
Dr. Al Hathaway (00:02): Dr. Al Hathaway. I'm happy to just to share a little snippet of Baltimore. Born and raised here. I had the opportunity to serve as the pastor of Union Baptist Church, a part of that rich history and trans tradition. I just remember the excitement back in 1963 of the Gwynn Oak Park desegregation. There was this activity going on. There were ministers, people from all over the country were there.
Dr. Al Hathaway (00:30): They wanted to make certain that the young children of that era had the opportunity to play in an amusement park. That was right off of Gwynn Oak Avenue. At that time, I was just 12 years old. And I remember riding the bus line and looking out the window, not being able to see and participate in the excitement that was going on right on the other side of the fence. And then they had this glorious day in July when they opened up Gwynns Falls Park and young people could enter in.
Dr. Al Hathaway (00:56): And I was a part of that early group that entered into Gwynn Oak Park and had the opportunity to ride on the swan ride in the water, to ride on the merry go round, which in that day you had visions of being a cowboy. So you got on the horse and a horse went up and down. It was so powerful that experience that it told me the power of how civil disobedience, how protests can make change.
Dr. Al Hathaway (01:23): And then what I realized going back years later, I've taken my children on the National Mall and I was able to show them that same merry go round that I rode as a child there in Gwynn Oak Park is now on the National Mall where people from now forever can memorize that protest that happened here in Baltimore City in 1963, which was the prelude to the great March on Washington that was in August of 1963. Just an amazing experience. Baltimore is an amazing city and I'm so proud to be a native of this city.
Speaker 1 (01:55): Thank you.
Asset ID: 2022.11.02
Silhouette of Beth by Lauren Muney, Silhouettes by Hand. All rights reserved.
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By The PealeIn the spring of 2022, Baltimore artist and participatory-history specialist Lauren Muney hand-created custom silhouettes(profile portraits)of Baltimore City, Maryland, residents for long-term public installation at the Peale. These faces will encircle several rooms of the historic Peale walls, giving visitors, residents and guests the opportunity to feel the Baltimore ‘family’ all around them. The exhibition will be installed in August 2022. Some sitters also contributed stories about their lives and experiences in Baltimore.
Speaker 1 (00:01): Okay.
Dr. Al Hathaway (00:02): Dr. Al Hathaway. I'm happy to just to share a little snippet of Baltimore. Born and raised here. I had the opportunity to serve as the pastor of Union Baptist Church, a part of that rich history and trans tradition. I just remember the excitement back in 1963 of the Gwynn Oak Park desegregation. There was this activity going on. There were ministers, people from all over the country were there.
Dr. Al Hathaway (00:30): They wanted to make certain that the young children of that era had the opportunity to play in an amusement park. That was right off of Gwynn Oak Avenue. At that time, I was just 12 years old. And I remember riding the bus line and looking out the window, not being able to see and participate in the excitement that was going on right on the other side of the fence. And then they had this glorious day in July when they opened up Gwynns Falls Park and young people could enter in.
Dr. Al Hathaway (00:56): And I was a part of that early group that entered into Gwynn Oak Park and had the opportunity to ride on the swan ride in the water, to ride on the merry go round, which in that day you had visions of being a cowboy. So you got on the horse and a horse went up and down. It was so powerful that experience that it told me the power of how civil disobedience, how protests can make change.
Dr. Al Hathaway (01:23): And then what I realized going back years later, I've taken my children on the National Mall and I was able to show them that same merry go round that I rode as a child there in Gwynn Oak Park is now on the National Mall where people from now forever can memorize that protest that happened here in Baltimore City in 1963, which was the prelude to the great March on Washington that was in August of 1963. Just an amazing experience. Baltimore is an amazing city and I'm so proud to be a native of this city.
Speaker 1 (01:55): Thank you.
Asset ID: 2022.11.02
Silhouette of Beth by Lauren Muney, Silhouettes by Hand. All rights reserved.