Renaissance and Resilience in Maryland

Living in Virginia for most of my life, I have traveled to Maryland dozens of times. In 7th grade, we took a charter bus to the Baltimore Harbor Aquarium but hit a massive traffic jam and we only got to spend about 30 minutes in the aquarium. We all got back on the bus defeated and settled in for the 3 plus hour ride home. In my 20’s, I made trips to decidedly much different neighborhoods to see punk shows. In all honestly, I never thought much about Maryland for most of my life. Outside of watching The Wire, it was never really on my radar. In recent years, I’ve discovered several Maryland connections to my tribe.

The Powhatan Confederacy stretched from the top of Maryland to the outer Banks of North Carolina. There was a village of Pamunkey people, alongside the Piscataway and Susquehannock among other tribes. After colonization, many of the tribes in what was once called Tsenacomacah had moved or were completely eradicated. The surviving tribes in Maryland had to assimilate with the Europeans to survive and, similar to my tribe, lost a lot of their culture.  They were moved to reservations before colonizers ultimately dissolved all reservations and pushed them largely out of Maryland.  But some smaller families were able to survive on their homeland. It wouldn’t be until 2012 that two bands of the Piscataway tribes, Piscataway Indian Nation and Piscataway Conoy Tribe, were finally recognized by the state of Maryland.  The Accohannock tribe was recognized by state in 2017.

Interestingly, in the 20th century, East Baltimore saw a renaissance of Native American community and business.  Native Americans from various tribes on the East Coast relocated to Baltimore and opened businesses and fostered a community of Native culture.  A large influx of Lumbee tribal members settled in Baltimore City and the area came to be known as “the reservation”.   Lumbee citizen, Ashley Minner, put together a historical walking tour and accompanying website that details the neighborhoods and places that were part of the once vibrant Native American community.

Maryland does not have any Federally-recognized tribes today but the state-recognized tribes continue to educate and advocate for their culture and the descendants of the East Baltimore reservation continue to preserve their history.  I can only hope that the current national focus on Native American and Indigenous culture can help spark another renaissance and ensure that more of Maryland’s stories are told.  I think I may need to make a trip North soon.