Streets of Royalty: African-American Music and Memorialization in West Baltimore

Summary

Popular music heritage holds a meaningful place in public memory and in the construction of social identities. Sites associated with musical legacies that have significant meaning to a community are often memorialized to emphasize their connection with a particular place. This paper explores the relationship between music, heritage, and placemaking in the historic African-American neighborhood of West Baltimore, where decades of racism, economic decline, and failed urban-renewal plans have erased the dozens of theaters, bars, and jazz clubs that once made up a vibrant black entertainment district on Pennsylvania Avenue. Today, murals and monuments along "The Avenue" memorialize many of the neighborhood’s musicians and venues, as well as depict past and present struggles against racial inequality and systemic violence. These material reminders serve to reinforce pride in the community’s musical and social achievements, but also reflect feelings of anger and loss over widespread destruction and social injustices.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018   •
• "You Can Feel It All Over" - Places of Popular Music Performance in Historical and Contemporary Archaeology

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 846