Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Md Troopers Assoc #20 & Westminster Md Fire Dept Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Showing posts with label History African-American. Show all posts
Showing posts with label History African-American. Show all posts

Saturday, May 20, 2017

On the Edge of Freedom: Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad in the Borderlands


On the Edge of Freedom: Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad in the Borderlands - Concurrent Session 14: In it Together: UGRR Networks at work. A portion of the National Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Conference. Saturday May 20, 2017

Presentation 1: Tracking Harriet Tubman's network from Maryland to Canada West by Don Papaon.

Presentation 2: by Michael Boston: Platt H. Skinner -  Abolishionist and teacher of Deaf, Blind and Mute Black Children.

Saturday May 20, 2017

See also: Harriet Tubman Museum & Educational Center 20 May 2017

Harriet Tubman Museum & Educational Center
424 Race St, Cambridge, MD 21613


20 May 2017 Saturday for potions of the National Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Conference.


Harriet Tubman Museum & Educational Center


Harriet Tubman Museum & Educational Center
424 Race St, Cambridge, MD 21613

Monday, May 23, 2016

Dayhoff: Historical markers dedicated for the Henryton Nursing School, Tuberculosis Sanatorium


Dayhoff: Historical markers dedicated for the Henryton Nursing School, Tuberculosis Sanatorium

By Kevin Dayhoff May 22, 2016


About 50 folks huddled along the shoulder of Henryton Road at the entrance of the historic Henryton State Hospital complex May 14 to dedicate two roadside historic markers. The sun shined brightly on the ceremonies in a rare reprieve in the recent streak of endless days of rainfall.

No, the celebrants were not there to dedicate an ark, but it nearly took an act of God to get the state of Maryland to tacitly acknowledge the very existence of the historic segregated facility for the treatment of African Americans suffering from tuberculosis and the segregated nursing school that was once located there — far out of sight of urban Baltimore and the seat of state government in Annapolis.

Noted civil rights leader John Lewis Jr., the 2nd vice president of the Carroll County NAACP, was the master of ceremonies. Other community leaders, such as Pam Zappardino, Charles Collyer, Virginia and Charles Harrison, Jean Lewis, Del. Susan Krebs R-District 5, the Rev. Douglas Sands and Maryland NAACP president Gerald G. Stansbury were on hand to share in the ceremonies.


This writer began looking into the history of the hospital in the early 1970s when it caught my attention during an assignment to research the history of hospitals in Carroll County for a project for what was then-Carroll County General Hospital.

Over the years, researching the history of hospital has difficult. What little information on the hospital that was found was often conflicting, inconsistent, and only appeared in anecdotal accounts; often without a comprehensive context. Many historians contacted in the 1970s were barely aware of the facility.


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Baltimore Sun Carroll Eagle: 
Tumblr: Kevin Dayhoff Banana Stems www.kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/
Kevin Dayhoff is an artist - and a columnist for:
Baltimore Sun - Carroll County Times - The Carroll Eagle: www.explorecarroll.com: http://www.explorecarroll.com/search/?s=Dayhoff&action=GO

Smurfs: http://babylonfluckjudd.blogspot.com/
Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/

E-mail: kevindayhoff(at)gmail.com

My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/


See also - Kevin Earl Dayhoff Art www.kevindayhoff.com: Travel, art, artists, authors, books, newspapers, media, writers and writing, journalists and journalism, reporters and reporting, music, culture, opera... Ad maiorem Dei gloriam inque hominum salutem. “Deadline U.S.A.” 1952. Ed Hutcheson: “That's the press, baby. The press! And there's nothing you can do about it. Nothing!” - See more at: http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/#sthash.4HNLwtfd.dpuf
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Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address


18610304 Lincolns First Inaugural Address
Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address Washington, DC
Monday, March 4, 1861
3634 words: On Lincoln's first Inaugural Day, he and his wife Mary rode with the out-going President Buchanan in his open carriage to the East Portico of the Capitol Building. There Chief Justice Roger Taney administered the oath of office as soldiers of General Winfield Scott lined the roof-tops of adjacent buildings, armed and ready for any threat. Due to numerous threats of assassination, the president-elect had arrived in Washington under guard and aboard a secret train, just ten days before his inauguration. The assembled crowd couldn't help but notice the scaffoldings surrounding the Capitol dome which was under construction. Abraham Lincoln chose to refer to the obvious work in his Inaugural Address, casting it as a symbol of union.

Fellow-Citizens of the United States:

IN COMPLIANCE with a custom as old as the Government itself, I appear before you to address you briefly and to take in your presence the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the United States to be taken by the President "before he enters on the execution of this office."

I do not consider it necessary at present for me to discuss those matters of administration about which there is no special anxiety or excitement.

Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican Administration their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that—

I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.

Those who nominated and elected me did so with full knowledge that I had made this and many similar declarations and had never recanted them; and more than this, they placed in the platform for my acceptance, and as a law to themselves and to me, the clear and emphatic resolution which I now read:

Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend; and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes.

I now reiterate these sentiments, and in doing so I only press upon the public attention the most conclusive evidence of which the case is susceptible that the property, peace, and security of no section are to be in any wise endangered by the now incoming Administration. I add, too, that all the protection which, consistently with the Constitution and the laws, can be given will be cheerfully given to all the States when lawfully demanded, for whatever cause—as cheerfully to one section as to another.

There is much controversy about the delivering up of fugitives from service or labor. The clause I now read is as plainly written in the Constitution as any other of its provisions:

No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall in consequence of any law or regulation therein be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.

It is scarcely questioned that this provision was intended by those who made it for the reclaiming of what we call fugitive slaves; and the intention of the lawgiver is the law. All members of Congress swear their support to the whole Constitution—to this provision as much as to any other. To the proposition, then, that slaves whose cases come within the terms of this clause "shall be delivered up" their oaths are unanimous. Now, if they would make the effort in good temper, could they not with nearly equal unanimity frame and pass a law by means of which to keep good that unanimous oath?

There is some difference of opinion whether this clause should be enforced by national or by State authority, but surely that difference is not a very material one. If the slave is to be surrendered, it can be of but little consequence to him or to others by which authority it is done. And should anyone in any case be content that his oath shall go unkept on a merely unsubstantial controversy as to how it shall be kept?

Again: In any law upon this subject ought not all the safeguards of liberty known in civilized and humane jurisprudence to be introduced, so that a free man be not in any case surrendered as a slave? And might it not be well at the same time to provide by law for the enforcement of that clause in the Constitution which guarantees that "the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States"?

I take the official oath to-day with no mental reservations and with no purpose to construe the Constitution or laws by any hypercritical rules; and while I do not choose now to specify particular acts of Congress as proper to be enforced, I do suggest that it will be much safer for all, both in official and private stations, to conform to and abide by all those acts which stand unrepealed than to violate any of them trusting to find impunity in having them held to be unconstitutional.

It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of a President under our National Constitution. During that period fifteen different and greatly distinguished citizens have in succession administered the executive branch of the Government. They have conducted it through many perils, and generally with great success. Yet, with all this scope of precedent, I now enter upon the same task for the brief constitutional term of four years under great and peculiar difficulty. A disruption of the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, is now formidably attempted.

I hold that in contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national governments. It is safe to assert that no government proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination. Continue to execute all the express provisions of our National Constitution, and the Union will endure forever, it being impossible to destroy it except by some action not provided for in the instrument itself.

Again: If the United States be not a government proper, but an association of States in the nature of contract merely, can it, as a contract, be peaceably unmade by less than all the parties who made it? One party to a contract may violate it—break it, so to speak—but does it not require all to lawfully rescind it?

Descending from these general principles, we find the proposition that in legal contemplation the Union is perpetual confirmed by the history of the Union itself. The Union is much older than the Constitution. It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was matured and continued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was further matured, and the faith of all the then thirteen States expressly plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the Articles of Confederation in 1778. And finally, in 1787, one of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution was "to form a more perfect Union."

But if destruction of the Union by one or by a part only of the States be lawfully possible, the Union is less perfect than before the Constitution, having lost the vital element of perpetuity.

It follows from these views that no State upon its own mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union; that resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally void, and that acts of violence within any State or States against the authority of the United States are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances.

I therefore consider that in view of the Constitution and the laws the Union is unbroken, and to the extent of my ability, I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States. Doing this I deem to be only a simple duty on my part, and I shall perform it so far as practicable unless my rightful masters, the American people, shall withhold the requisite means or in some authoritative manner direct the contrary. I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the declared purpose of the Union that it will constitutionally defend and maintain itself.

In doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or violence, and there shall be none unless it be forced upon the national authority. The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the Government and to collect the duties and imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people anywhere. Where hostility to the United States in any interior locality shall be so great and universal as to prevent competent resident citizens from holding the Federal offices, there will be no attempt to force obnoxious strangers among the people for that object. While the strict legal right may exist in the Government to enforce the exercise of these offices, the attempt to do so would be so irritating and so nearly impracticable withal that I deem it better to forego for the time the uses of such offices.

The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be furnished in all parts of the Union. So far as possible the people everywhere shall have that sense of perfect security which is most favorable to calm thought and reflection. The course here indicated will be followed unless current events and experience shall show a modification or change to be proper, and in every case and exigency my best discretion will be exercised, according to circumstances actually existing and with a view and a hope of a peaceful solution of the national troubles and the restoration of fraternal sympathies and affections.

That there are persons in one section or another who seek to destroy the Union at all events and are glad of any pretext to do it I will neither affirm nor deny; but if there be such, I need address no word to them. To those, however, who really love the Union may I not speak?

Before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruction of our national fabric, with all its benefits, its memories, and its hopes, would it not be wise to ascertain precisely why we do it? Will you hazard so desperate a step while there is any possibility that any portion of the ills you fly from have no real existence? Will you, while the certain ills you fly to are greater than all the real ones you fly from, will you risk the commission of so fearful a mistake?

All profess to be content in the Union if all constitutional rights can be maintained. Is it true, then, that any right plainly written in the Constitution has been denied? I think not. Happily, the human mind is so constituted that no party can reach to the audacity of doing this. Think, if you can, of a single instance in which a plainly written provision of the Constitution has ever been denied. If by the mere force of numbers a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly written constitutional right, it might in a moral point of view justify revolution; certainly would if such right were a vital one. But such is not our case. All the vital rights of minorities and of individuals are so plainly assured to them by affirmations and negations, guaranties and prohibitions, in the Constitution that controversies never arise concerning them. But no organic law can ever be framed with a provision specifically applicable to every question which may occur in practical administration. No foresight can anticipate nor any document of reasonable length contain express provisions for all possible questions. Shall fugitives from labor be surrendered by national or by State authority? The Constitution does not expressly say. May Congress prohibit slavery in the Territories? The Constitution does not expressly say. Must Congress protect slavery in the Territories? The Constitution does not expressly say.

From questions of this class spring all our constitutional controversies, and we divide upon them into majorities and minorities. If the minority will not acquiesce, the majority must, or the Government must cease. There is no other alternative, for continuing the Government is acquiescence on one side or the other. If a minority in such case will secede rather than acquiesce, they make a precedent which in turn will divide and ruin them, for a minority of their own will secede from them whenever a majority refuses to be controlled by such minority. For instance, why may not any portion of a new confederacy a year or two hence arbitrarily secede again, precisely as portions of the present Union now claim to secede from it? All who cherish disunion sentiments are now being educated to the exact temper of doing this.

Is there such perfect identity of interests among the States to compose a new union as to produce harmony only and prevent renewed secession?

Plainly the central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy. A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people. Whoever rejects it does of necessity fly to anarchy or to despotism. Unanimity is impossible. The rule of a minority, as a permanent arrangement, is wholly inadmissible; so that, rejecting the majority principle, anarchy or despotism in some form is all that is left.

I do not forget the position assumed by some that constitutional questions are to be decided by the Supreme Court, nor do I deny that such decisions must be binding in any case upon the parties to a suit as to the object of that suit, while they are also entitled to very high respect and consideration in all parallel cases by all other departments of the Government. And while it is obviously possible that such decision may be erroneous in any given case, still the evil effect following it, being limited to that particular case, with the chance that it may be overruled and never become a precedent for other cases, can better be borne than could the evils of a different practice. At the same time, the candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the Government upon vital questions affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court, the instant they are made in ordinary litigation between parties in personal actions the people will have ceased to be their own rulers, having to that extent practically resigned their Government into the hands of that eminent tribunal. Nor is there in this view any assault upon the court or the judges. It is a duty from which they may not shrink to decide cases properly brought before them, and it is no fault of theirs if others seek to turn their decisions to political purposes.

One section of our country believes slavery is right and ought to be extended, while the other believes it is wrong and ought not to be extended. This is the only substantial dispute. The fugitive-slave clause of the Constitution and the law for the suppression of the foreign slave trade are each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can ever be in a community where the moral sense of the people imperfectly supports the law itself. The great body of the people abide by the dry legal obligation in both cases, and a few break over in each. This, I think, can not be perfectly cured, and it would be worse in both cases after the separation of the sections than before. The foreign slave trade, now imperfectly suppressed, would be ultimately revived without restriction in one section, while fugitive slaves, now only partially surrendered, would not be surrendered at all by the other.

Physically speaking, we can not separate. We can not remove our respective sections from each other nor build an impassable wall between them. A husband and wife may be divorced and go out of the presence and beyond the reach of each other, but the different parts of our country can not do this. They can not but remain face to face, and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them. Is it possible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory after separation than before? Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens than laws can among friends? Suppose you go to war, you can not fight always; and when, after much loss on both sides and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical old questions, as to terms of intercourse, are again upon you.

This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it. I can not be ignorant of the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens are desirous of having the National Constitution amended. While I make no recommendation of amendments, I fully recognize the rightful authority of the people over the whole subject, to be exercised in either of the modes prescribed in the instrument itself; and I should, under existing circumstances, favor rather than oppose a fair opportunity being afforded the people to act upon it. I will venture to add that to me the convention mode seems preferable, in that it allows amendments to originate with the people themselves, instead of only permitting them to take or reject propositions originated by others, not especially chosen for the purpose, and which might not be precisely such as they would wish to either accept or refuse. I understand a proposed amendment to the Constitution—which amendment, however, I have not seen—has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal Government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of the States, including that of persons held to service. To avoid misconstruction of what I have said, I depart from my purpose not to speak of particular amendments so far as to say that, holding such a provision to now be implied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable.

The Chief Magistrate derives all his authority from the people, and they have referred none upon him to fix terms for the separation of the States. The people themselves can do this if also they choose, but the Executive as such has nothing to do with it. His duty is to administer the present Government as it came to his hands and to transmit it unimpaired by him to his successor.

Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people? Is there any better or equal hope in the world? In our present differences, is either party without faith of being in the right? If the Almighty Ruler of Nations, with His eternal truth and justice, be on your side of the North, or on yours of the South, that truth and that justice will surely prevail by the judgment of this great tribunal of the American people.

By the frame of the Government under which we live this same people have wisely given their public servants but little power for mischief, and have with equal wisdom provided for the return of that little to their own hands at very short intervals. While the people retain their virtue and vigilance no Administration by any extreme of wickedness or folly can very seriously injure the Government in the short space of four years.

My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there be an object to hurry any of you in hot haste to a step which you would never take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking time; but no good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now dissatisfied still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and, on the sensitive point, the laws of your own framing under it; while the new Administration will have no immediate power, if it would, to change either. If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the right side in the dispute, there still is no single good reason for precipitate action. Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty.

In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend it."

I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

*****
Two weeks before Abraham Lincoln recited his Inaugural Speech and took the oath of office, another President was inaugurated in the United States. In Montgomery, Alabama Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as the first president of the Confederate States of America on February 18, 1861. At the time of Abraham Lincoln's Inauguration on March 4th, SEVEN Southern States had joined the new Confederation. Sixty-four days later the last of the Southern States to secede from the Union had entered the Confederacy under President Jefferson Davis, bringing the total number to 11.

18610304 Lincolns First Inaugural Address posted SDOSM 20090121
Kevin Dayhoff www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/

Saturday, April 05, 2008

20080402 Westminster Eagle articles by Kevin Dayhoff and Heidi Schroeder on Carroll County Board of Education Jeff Morse’s resignation

Westminster Eagle articles by Kevin Dayhoff and Heidi Schroeder on Carroll County Board of Education Jeff Morse’s resignation:

Jeff Morse incident is a lost opportunity by Kevin E. Dayhoff

April 2, 2008

Over the past few weeks it was revealed that Carroll County Board of Education member Jeff Morse used a racial slur while describing a rock formation during a review of construction at the new Manchester Valley High School.

The incident ultimately led to Mr. Morse resigning from his position with ...

[Read full story]


School board eyes options after Morse resignation By Heidi Schroeder Friday, April 04

The chair of the Carroll County Human Relations Commission said this week that while Board of Education member Jeffrey Morse's recent use of a racial slur was "stupid" and "insensitive," she was sorry that the incident ended with his resignation on March 26.

"It was a stupid thing to do, it was an... [Read full story]



Jeff Morse incident is a lost opportunity by Kevin E. Dayhoff

April 2, 2008

Over the past few weeks it was revealed that Carroll County Board of Education member Jeff Morse used a racial slur while describing a rock formation during a review of construction at the new Manchester Valley High School.

The incident ultimately led to Mr. Morse resigning from his position with the school board last week.

The events have brought up a fair amount of talk about the history of race relations in Carroll County.

One of the topics in subsequent community discussion has been the persistent rumor of Ku Klux Klan activity in Carroll County -- an urban legend which is not supported by history.

Some confusion regarding the KKK in our county may stem from a instance in August 1998 in which a KKK rally was held in Carroll County, Virginia -- not here in Maryland. A Klan member was subsequently prosecuted for burning a cross.

The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, Virginia v. Black, where the decision was overturned. The white defendant's attorney, by the way, was David P. Baugh, an African-American.

This brings to mind Supreme Court Justice Hugo Lafayette Black, whose enduring legacy is his steadfast advocacy for equal rights.

Justice Black figured prominently in three landmark cases involving civil rights issues: Chambers v. Florida, 1940; Gideon v. Wainwright, 1963; and Betts v. Brady, a 1942 case which involved the right to legal counsel (that case did originate in Carroll County).

Justice Black had been nominated to the Supreme Court in 1937. His confirmation was difficult after allegations surfaced that he was a former Ku Klux Klan member (a fact which Justice Black admitted in a famous speech in October 1937 after he was confirmed).

The work of civil rights in our nation would have suffered a serious setback if Justice Black had been denied a seat on the Supreme Court.

One advantage we have in living in Carroll is that it is still small enough to hold our leadership to high standards.

So it was that after Mr. Morse offended and hurt our friends and neighbors with his remark that the community demanded that he be held accountable.

Mr. Morse made a terrible mistake, for which he apologized and then put action to words. He resigned last Wednesday, but the following evening he attended a Carroll County NAACP meeting with Superintendent Dr. Charles Ecker and school board President Cynthia Foley.

Mr. Morse's remark comes at a time when folks are beginning to realize that while we may not have "KKK running around," we just may have very polite prejudice -- and we need to talk about it.

Yet, many folks are reluctant to talk about race for fear of making a mistake and being branded a racist. After all, "No good deed goes unpunished" is the motto of many community activists in Carroll County.

Nevertheless, the Carroll County NAACP is working hard to facilitate meaningful conversation about racial relations in Carroll County.

Please do not confuse the local NAACP chapter with the national NAACP's Baltimore chapter, which seemingly finds racists hiding in every difficult moment.

When the national and Baltimore chapters wanted to brand Carroll County racist as a result of the Bowling Brook incident, it was the Carroll chapter who stood up for our county.

And so it was true that the Carroll County NAACP chapter did NOT call for Mr. Morse's resignation -- and for good reasons.

Nelson Mandela said it best. To not forgive is the same as us taking poison ... and then waiting for our enemies to die.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that," observed Martin Luther King Jr. "Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. ... (T)oughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction."

By many accounts Mr. Morse is not a racist. He has just received a crash course in sensitivity and, if he had remained on the board, all indications were that Mr. Morse would have taken the lessons learned and put them to work for all of us.

Now, we will never know.

In light of Mr. Morse's resignation it is hard to find a win-win in this difficult series of events. One thing that we have learned is that the Carroll County NAACP is part of the solution.

Hopefully, we can also learn that good folks make mistakes. And if we bestow such dire consequences to good folks, what are we going to do when we are faced with a real racist in our community?

I'm just asking.

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster. E-mail him at kdayhoff@carr.org.

####



School board eyes options after Morse resignation

04/02/08 By Heidi Schroeder

The chair of the Carroll County Human Relations Commission said this week that while Board of Education member Jeffrey Morse's recent use of a racial slur was "stupid" and "insensitive," she was sorry that the incident ended with his resignation on March 26.

"It was a stupid thing to do, it was an insensitive thing to do, he should never have said it," said Virginia Harrison, chair of the Human Relations Commission, of the comment, but added, "but I just felt like ... as a community we should have been able to resolve the issue."

Morse submitted his resignation following the school board's March 26 meeting.

The resignation followed an apology to the board last week for making an "inappropriate comment" during a tour of the under-construction Manchester Valley High School. The school board did not reveal what the statement was, but acknowledged that someone on that tour had lodged a complaint, which led to a board review.

In a statement from the school board, officials noted Morse's apology to those on the tour and to citizen groups, including the NAACP and Human Relations Commission, but said that after hearing citizen comments on the issue at the board meeting, Morse determined it was in the best interest of the board to resign.

Carroll County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Charles Ecker said that at the March 26 meeting, six or seven residents requested to speak. After those comments -- of which Ecker said some were in favor of Morse's resignation and some were opposed -- the board met in closed session and accepted Morse's resignation.

Harrison said she was sad that the situation reached that conclusion.

"I was very sorry that he resigned, because I felt that it was something that could have been resolved," Harrison said.

She was among those to whom Morse apologized following the comment, and Harrison said that his willingness to meet with community leaders and discuss his comment was "courageous."

Morse had been selected by Gov. Martin O'Malley from a field of 22 applications to join the board in May 2007 following Thomas Hiltz's resignation.

In the event of a vacancy -- such as Hiltz's -- the governor is responsible for appointing a new representative to the vacant post.

However, given the proximity of the November election -- when voters will elect candidates for Morse's former seat and the seat currently held by board president Cynthia Foley -- Ecker said he plans to propose to Gov. Martin O'Malley that the board operate with four members until the election occurs.

####

Thursday, April 03, 2008

20080402 Westminster Eagle articles by Kevin Dayhoff and Heidi Schroeder on Carroll County Board of Education Jeff Morse’s resignation

20080402 Westminster Eagle articles by Kevin Dayhoff and Heidi Schroeder on Carroll County Board of Education Jeff Morse’s resignation

Westminster Eagle articles by Kevin Dayhoff and Heidi Schroeder on Carroll County Board of Education Jeff Morse’s resignation:
April 2, 2008
Over the past few weeks it was revealed that Carroll County Board of Education member Jeff Morse used a racial slur while describing a rock formation during a review of construction at the new Manchester Valley High School.
The incident ultimately led to Mr. Morse resigning from his position with ...

School board eyes options after Morse resignation By Heidi Schroeder Friday, April 04
The chair of the Carroll County Human Relations Commission said this week that while Board of Education member Jeffrey Morse's recent use of a racial slur was "stupid" and "insensitive," she was sorry that the incident ended with his resignation on March 26.
"It was a stupid thing to do, it was an... [Read full story]


April 2, 2008
Over the past few weeks it was revealed that Carroll County Board of Education member Jeff Morse used a racial slur while describing a rock formation during a review of construction at the new Manchester Valley High School.
The incident ultimately led to Mr. Morse resigning from his position with the school board last week.
The events have brought up a fair amount of talk about the history of race relations in Carroll County.
One of the topics in subsequent community discussion has been the persistent rumor of Ku Klux Klan activity in Carroll County -- an urban legend which is not supported by history.
Some confusion regarding the KKK in our county may stem from a instance in August 1998 in which a KKK rally was held in Carroll County, Virginia -- not here in Maryland. A Klan member was subsequently prosecuted for burning a cross.
The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, Virginia v. Black, where the decision was overturned. The white defendant's attorney, by the way, was David P. Baugh, an African-American.
This brings to mind Supreme Court Justice Hugo Lafayette Black, whose enduring legacy is his steadfast advocacy for equal rights.
Justice Black figured prominently in three landmark cases involving civil rights issues: Chambers v. Florida, 1940; Gideon v. Wainwright, 1963; and Betts v. Brady, a 1942 case which involved the right to legal counsel (that case did originate in Carroll County).
Justice Black had been nominated to the Supreme Court in 1937. His confirmation was difficult after allegations surfaced that he was a former Ku Klux Klan member (a fact which Justice Black admitted in a famous speech in October 1937 after he was confirmed).
The work of civil rights in our nation would have suffered a serious setback if Justice Black had been denied a seat on the Supreme Court.
One advantage we have in living in Carroll is that it is still small enough to hold our leadership to high standards.
So it was that after Mr. Morse offended and hurt our friends and neighbors with his remark that the community demanded that he be held accountable.
Mr. Morse made a terrible mistake, for which he apologized and then put action to words. He resigned last Wednesday, but the following evening he attended a Carroll County NAACP meeting with Superintendent Dr. Charles Ecker and school board President Cynthia Foley.
Mr. Morse's remark comes at a time when folks are beginning to realize that while we may not have "KKK running around," we just may have very polite prejudice -- and we need to talk about it.
Yet, many folks are reluctant to talk about race for fear of making a mistake and being branded a racist. After all, "No good deed goes unpunished" is the motto of many community activists in Carroll County.
Nevertheless, the Carroll County NAACP is working hard to facilitate meaningful conversation about racial relations in Carroll County.
Please do not confuse the local NAACP chapter with the national NAACP's Baltimore chapter, which seemingly finds racists hiding in every difficult moment.
When the national and Baltimore chapters wanted to brand Carroll County racist as a result of the Bowling Brook incident, it was the Carroll chapter who stood up for our county.
And so it was true that the Carroll County NAACP chapter did NOT call for Mr. Morse's resignation -- and for good reasons.
Nelson Mandela said it best. To not forgive is the same as us taking poison ... and then waiting for our enemies to die.
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that," observed Martin Luther King Jr. "Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. ... (T)oughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction."
By many accounts Mr. Morse is not a racist. He has just received a crash course in sensitivity and, if he had remained on the board, all indications were that Mr. Morse would have taken the lessons learned and put them to work for all of us.
Now, we will never know.
In light of Mr. Morse's resignation it is hard to find a win-win in this difficult series of events. One thing that we have learned is that the Carroll County NAACP is part of the solution.
Hopefully, we can also learn that good folks make mistakes. And if we bestow such dire consequences to good folks, what are we going to do when we are faced with a real racist in our community?
I'm just asking.
Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster. E-mail him at kdayhoff@carr.org.
####


04/02/08 By Heidi Schroeder
The chair of the Carroll County Human Relations Commission said this week that while Board of Education member Jeffrey Morse's recent use of a racial slur was "stupid" and "insensitive," she was sorry that the incident ended with his resignation on March 26.
"It was a stupid thing to do, it was an insensitive thing to do, he should never have said it," said Virginia Harrison, chair of the Human Relations Commission, of the comment, but added, "but I just felt like ... as a community we should have been able to resolve the issue."
Morse submitted his resignation following the school board's March 26 meeting.
The resignation followed an apology to the board last week for making an "inappropriate comment" during a tour of the under-construction Manchester Valley High School. The school board did not reveal what the statement was, but acknowledged that someone on that tour had lodged a complaint, which led to a board review.
In a statement from the school board, officials noted Morse's apology to those on the tour and to citizen groups, including the NAACP and Human Relations Commission, but said that after hearing citizen comments on the issue at the board meeting, Morse determined it was in the best interest of the board to resign.
Carroll County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Charles Ecker said that at the March 26 meeting, six or seven residents requested to speak. After those comments -- of which Ecker said some were in favor of Morse's resignation and some were opposed -- the board met in closed session and accepted Morse's resignation.
Harrison said she was sad that the situation reached that conclusion.
"I was very sorry that he resigned, because I felt that it was something that could have been resolved," Harrison said.
She was among those to whom Morse apologized following the comment, and Harrison said that his willingness to meet with community leaders and discuss his comment was "courageous."
Morse had been selected by Gov. Martin O'Malley from a field of 22 applications to join the board in May 2007 following Thomas Hiltz's resignation.
In the event of a vacancy -- such as Hiltz's -- the governor is responsible for appointing a new representative to the vacant post.
However, given the proximity of the November election -- when voters will elect candidates for Morse's former seat and the seat currently held by board president Cynthia Foley -- Ecker said he plans to propose to Gov. Martin O'Malley that the board operate with four members until the election occurs.
####

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

20070228 Remember the Maine








Online Images of USS Maine

USS Maine (ACR-1), the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the state of Maine, was a 6682-ton second-class pre-dreadnought battleship originally designated as Armored Cruiser #1.

El USS Maine (ACR-1) fue un acorazado de la marina de los Estados Unidos que zozobró en el puerto de La Habana en febrero de 1898 a causa de una explosión.

"Remember the Maine"

February 28th, 2007

My latest Tentacle column is up on the web: "Remember the Maine."
It’s a piece that has been in my head for quite sometime. Many folks are eager to compare the war in Iraq with the Vietnam War. To be certain, there are parallels available; however for the student of history, comparisons abound with the Spanish-American War. Read on – see what you think…

February 28, 2007

"Remember the Maine"

Kevin E. Dayhoff

Essentially unnoticed a couple of weeks ago was the anniversary of a dark day in American history that in its day was considered by our great grandparents as horrific as Pearl Harbor or 9/11.

It was on February 15, 1898, that a mysterious explosion sunk the USS Maine in the harbor of Havana, Cuba. Of its approximately 400 American seamen, 260 died.

The events of 1898 provide many instructive parallels to the events of the past several years and - at a minimum - to "Remember the Maine" gives us great insight from where we have come and why we are where we are today.


Go here to read the rest of the column.




The Sampson Board meets aboard the Lighthouse Tender MANGROVE. At the table from left to right, the men are Capt. French Chadwick, Capt. William Sampson, Lt. Cmdr. William Potter, Ens. Powelson, and Lt. Cmdr. Adolph Marix (judge advocate). Powelson was present to provide testimony based on the findings of the divers working aboard the wreckage of the MAINE

To read the “Sampson Board Report” (U.S.S. IOWA, First Rate, Key West, Fla., Monday, March 21, 1898. After full and mature consideration of all the testimony before it, the court finds as follows:…) go here.

####
Kevin

Saturday, November 11, 2006

20061110 Happy Birthday USMC

Happy Birthday USMC

November 10th, 2006 by Kevin Dayhoff (909 words)

November 10th is the birthday for the United States Marine Corp.

Yes the Marine Corps was born in a bar. It was on November 10, 1775, that the Continental Congress commissioned Samuel Nicholas to raise several Battalions of Marines. Nicholas established a recruiting station at “Tun Tavern” in Philadelphia.

Carroll County has a role in Marine Corps history. It was on June 11, 1898, according to local historian Jay Graybeal, that United States Marine Sgt. Charles Hampton. Smith from Smallwood was killed during the capture of Guantánamo Bay in the Spanish-American War.

In a 1996 published account, Mr. Graybeal wrote that Sgt. Smith was born near Smallwood, Carroll County on January 15, 1867. He had left the county and joined the Marine Corps in 1893 after a brief stint with a Baltimore insurance firm.

Dr. Milton D. Norris, who maintained a medical practice in Eldersburg for so many years, also served as “Acting Assistant Surgeon, U.S. Volunteers, during the Spanish-American War. Another “Acting Assistant Surgeon,” John Blair Gibbs was killed on June 11, the same night that Sgt. Smith was killed. Marine Privates William Dumphy and James McColgan, along with Sgt. Smith were the some of the first U. S. casualties of the war.

Another Carroll Countian, Harry Huber, “dubbed “Westminster’s Sailor Boy,” by the Democratic Advocate, according to Jay Graybeal, participated in the Spanish-American War. On May 14, 1898, the paper published two letters detailing his participation in naval engagements at the beginning of the war.

The Marines refer to a portion of the military actions to capture Guantánamo Bay as the “Battle for Cuzco Well,” and the battle is commemorated every year to this day at the sprawling American Guantánamo Bay military base in Cuba

On the base at McCalla Hill, there is a monument dedicated to the Marines that died, including Carroll Countian Sgt. Smith. The accompanying picture was taken from the June 16, 2006 Guantánamo Bay Gazette which covered this year’s observances. Mr. Graybeal has reported that the “monument consists of a captured bronze cannon and a bronze plaque bearing the names of the five Marines and the Navy surgeon killed in action.”

It was in April 1898 that the tension between the United States and Spain over the fate of Cuba erupted into the Spanish-American War. A revolution had broken out on the island of Cuba in 1895 and President William McKinley was under great pressure to defend the 50 million dollars' worth of American investment in Cuba, primarily in the sugar, tobacco, and iron industries. A very young Winston Churchill traveled to Cuba in 1895 to observe the fighting.

Originally President McKinley (R) was against the war. He was supported by the Speaker of the House, Thomas Reed (R.) But in March of 1898, Democrats, religious and business groups joined forces with a changing mood in Congress and demanded action on humanitarian grounds, which at the time, was a unique departure for countries to go to war.

In an April 19, 1998 article in the Carroll County Times, Jay Graybeal wrote that in Carroll County, “local reformer” Mary B. Shellman, Georgia Buckingham and Denton Gehr promoted the cause of “Free Cuba” in 1898 “in a play at the Westminster Odd Fellows Hall.”

The very first ground military action occurred on June 10, 1898 as Marines were sent in to establish a base at Guantánamo Bay. It was on the second day of military operations that Carroll Countian Sgt. Charles H. Smith was killed. Total combat casualties for the United States were 379 troops lost however, over 5,000 American military personnel dies from disease.

The Spanish-American War is often referred to as the first “media war.” Newspapers owned by Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst had agitated for war for quite sometime in an effort referred to by history as “yellow journalism.”

Additionally, it was in 1898 that the very first use of film as propaganda was used. A ninety second film was produced in 1898. Entitled, “Tearing Down the Spanish Flag;” it was a rudimentary propagandist film developed for the purpose of inspiring patriotism and hatred for the Spanish.

The Spanish-American War is also significant as it marked the arrival of the United States as world power. Spain, which had been in economic chaos before the war, never recovered and after three centuries of world influence, the war ended its role as a super-power. The 1898 war helped avert a civil war in Spain at the time, only to see the country deteriorate into a disastrous civil war in the 1930s.

For the Americans, most of the combatants were sons of northern and Confederate soldiers of the American Civil War. The 1898 war helped with a difficult reconciliation process that had only begun to take place in the early 1890s.

Not often reported is the fact that 33 African-American seaman died in the destruction of the USS Maine on February 15, 1898. In the subsequent military actions, African-Americans gained a great deal of respect among military elite, for their conduct and valor during the war.

Since 1775, Marines have been involved in every armed conflict in American history. There are many Marines in Carroll County and of course we understand that, as was the case in the Spanish-American War, the Marine Corps was established to always faithfully be available to show the way and pull the Army and Navy’s behind out of the fire.

Happy Birthday Marines. For Corps and Country, Semper Fidelis.

Friday, November 10, 2006

20061110 Happy Birthday USMC

Happy Birthday USMC

See also:

20061110 Today of the birthday of the United States Marine Corps

November 10th, 2006 by Kevin Dayhoff (909 words)

November 10th is the birthday for the United States Marine Corp.

Yes the Marine Corps was born in a bar. It was on November 10, 1775, that the Continental Congress commissioned Samuel Nicholas to raise several Battalions of Marines. Nicholas established a recruiting station at “Tun Tavern” in Philadelphia.

Carroll County has a role in Marine Corps history. It was on June 11, 1898, according to local historian Jay Graybeal, that United States Marine Sgt. Charles Hampton. Smith from Smallwood was killed during the capture of Guantánamo Bay in the Spanish-American War.

In a 1996 published account, Mr. Graybeal wrote that Sgt. Smith was born near Smallwood, Carroll County on January 15, 1867. He had left the county and joined the Marine Corps in 1893 after a brief stint with a Baltimore insurance firm.

Dr. Milton D. Norris, who maintained a medical practice in Eldersburg for so many years, also served as “Acting Assistant Surgeon, U.S. Volunteers, during the Spanish-American War. Another “Acting Assistant Surgeon,” John Blair Gibbs was killed on June 11, the same night that Sgt. Smith was killed. Marine Privates William Dumphy and James McColgan, along with Sgt. Smith were the some of the first U. S. casualties of the war.

Another Carroll Countian, Harry Huber, “dubbed “Westminster’s Sailor Boy,” by the Democratic Advocate, according to Jay Graybeal, participated in the Spanish-American War. On May 14, 1898, the paper published two letters detailing his participation in naval engagements at the beginning of the war.

The Marines refer to a portion of the military actions to capture Guantánamo Bay as the “Battle for Cuzco Well,” and the battle is commemorated every year to this day at the sprawling American Guantánamo Bay military base in Cuba

On the base at McCalla Hill, there is a monument dedicated to the Marines that died, including Carroll Countian Sgt. Smith. The accompanying picture was taken from the June 16, 2006 Guantánamo Bay Gazette which covered this year’s observances. Mr. Graybeal has reported that the “monument consists of a captured bronze cannon and a bronze plaque bearing the names of the five Marines and the Navy surgeon killed in action.”

It was in April 1898 that the tension between the United States and Spain over the fate of Cuba erupted into the Spanish-American War. A revolution had broken out on the island of Cuba in 1895 and President William McKinley was under great pressure to defend the 50 million dollars' worth of American investment in Cuba, primarily in the sugar, tobacco, and iron industries. A very young Winston Churchill traveled to Cuba in 1895 to observe the fighting.

Originally President McKinley (R) was against the war. He was supported by the Speaker of the House, Thomas Reed (R.) But in March of 1898, Democrats, religious and business groups joined forces with a changing mood in Congress and demanded action on humanitarian grounds, which at the time, was a unique departure for countries to go to war.

In an April 19, 1998 article in the Carroll County Times, Jay Graybeal wrote that in Carroll County, “local reformer” Mary B. Shellman, Georgia Buckingham and Denton Gehr promoted the cause of “Free Cuba” in 1898 “in a play at the Westminster Odd Fellows Hall.”

The very first ground military action occurred on June 10, 1898 as Marines were sent in to establish a base at Guantánamo Bay. It was on the second day of military operations that Carroll Countian Sgt. Charles H. Smith was killed. Total combat casualties for the United States were 379 troops lost however, over 5,000 American military personnel dies from disease.

The Spanish-American War is often referred to as the first “media war.” Newspapers owned by Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst had agitated for war for quite sometime in an effort referred to by history as “yellow journalism.”

Additionally, it was in 1898 that the very first use of film as propaganda was used. A ninety second film was produced in 1898. Entitled, “Tearing Down the Spanish Flag;” it was a rudimentary propagandist film developed for the purpose of inspiring patriotism and hatred for the Spanish.

The Spanish-American War is also significant as it marked the arrival of the United States as world power. Spain, which had been in economic chaos before the war, never recovered and after three centuries of world influence, the war ended its role as a super-power. The 1898 war helped avert a civil war in Spain at the time, only to see the country deteriorate into a disastrous civil war in the 1930s.

For the Americans, most of the combatants were sons of northern and Confederate soldiers of the American Civil War. The 1898 war helped with a difficult reconciliation process that had only begun to take place in the early 1890s.

Not often reported is the fact that 33 African-American seaman died in the destruction of the USS Maine on February 15, 1898. In the subsequent military actions, African-Americans gained a great deal of respect among military elite, for their conduct and valor during the war.

Since 1775, Marines have been involved in every armed conflict in American history. There are many Marines in Carroll County and of course we understand that, as was the case in the Spanish-American War, the Marine Corps was established to always faithfully be available to show the way and pull the Army and Navy’s behind out of the fire.

Happy Birthday Marines. For Corps and Country, Semper Fidelis.

####

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