Baltimore Murals: A vibrant voice amongst the gritty streets
- Kimberly Angle
- Mar 15, 2023
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 23, 2023
Baltimore is eclectic city with many areas that were once full of life, businesses and entertainment, now reduced many abandoned properties in shambles or even just vacant without businesses or people living within. The area of Pennsylvania Avenue and Upton, The black art district, was once full of music night clubs. The likes of Cab Calloway would perform into the late night with it bringing happiness, fun, prosperity full of vigor and vibrance. Now the same structures are shells of houses row homes that are burned out or left empty for so many years they are rotting away with one or two row homes have any living tenants. These tenants are much older elderly African-Americans who have lived in these areas since the heyday.
According to a Johns Hopkins study thee city could also benefit from at least $24 million in additional income tax revenue and over $12 million in additional water and sewer revenue if 15,000 vacant properties were occupied. These costs are also highly inequitable as they are largely by majority Black neighborhoods and Black home owners. Baltomore’s vacant properties weigh on the city’s economic and social potential with measurable costs that far exceed the investment needed to bring them back to productive use. The city’s recorded inventory of 15,000 vacant properties is dynamic, with properties entering and leaving vacancy every year, but hovering between 7 and 8% of total city properties.
Even with so many negative aspects many residents understand why Baltimore’s nickname is Charm City. Residence find pride in their neighborhoods, and they’re blocks and do the best attempt to beautify them and keep them clean. “Man, I’ll never forget riding by that mural of Martin Luther King painted on the side of the Barbare shop on North Avenue, and wanted to be that little boy poppin’ a wheel on his face. There was something that made me comfortable about that odd painting. Awful problem because MLK was so I can die for my civil rights and a little boy made me feel like he did it for the children he did it for mem” said Gunner, Gunner is a native of Baltimore’s Cherry Hill neighborhood. Gunner proceeded “I was born and raised here, and I have seen many changes in my 36 years of life but to this day the MLK mural is still there. It reminds me of my childhood and always fight for what I believe in. These murals are timeless, some depict people from history ,some a message to the positivity of hope and love, some of this crazy ass artwork that you don’t even know what it is, a lot of it is showcasing the beauty of people of our community and how the diversity comes together to love our blocks.”
Almost 50 years ago The Baltimore Mural Program was started to give Baltimore’s neighborhood a sense of beauty and pride, combat gang graffiti and crime, help employ local artists, get children interested in the beautification of their blocks. Working with the artists, neighborhood groups/associations and funding sources, the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) coordinates and directs this ongoing program that has produced more than 250 murals across the city. Not all murals are part of the Baltimore Mural program.
You will now get to take a look at some of the murals located in the black arts District of Pennsylvania Avenue, along with the West Baltimore neighborhoods of Penn-North, Sandtown, Upton, Fulton, and Druid Heights. You may recognize some of these neighborhoods from the hit show The Wire ,which was based on the gritty streets, the crime, the drama, the love, the politics, the drugs, the guns and most of all the people. It was filmed and the script and story is about living in West Baltimore. Absorb the messages of hope and love, the amazing artwork, local businesses that use these murals to advertise with and realize that sometimes a picture and or a painting is worth 1000 words.
The Pennsylvania Avenue Black Arts & Entertainment District's mission is that the Black Arts District through an anti-displacement framework empowers Black creatives and continues the community-based revitalization efforts in West Baltimore through culture, arts, and entertainment. Our vision of the Black Arts District is to bl e a model of Black creative autonomy. photo credit Kim Angle
the Black Arts District is uniquely designed to highlight and celebrate the cultural productions of African Americans and create a new destination centered and catered to black arts, entertainment and culture photo credit- Kim Angle
The Black Arts District is dedicated to the empowerment of Black creatives and their communitieshrough Events and Activities, Training and Development, Advocacy and Education, Creative Placemaking. photo credit- Kim Angle
Jubilee Arts is a community program providing arts classes to the residents of the Sandtown-Winchester, Upton, and surrounding neighborhoods in Baltimore, Maryland. Jubilee Arts is located on Pennsylvania Avenue, an area with a rich history of African-American culture, and is helping to bring the arts back to life in the community. Photo Credit : Kimberly Angle
The Pennsylvania Avenue Black Arts & Entertainment District's rich culture and legacy of community building and black autonomy continues through enhanced cultural production, historic preservation, and social development. The work is centered in Love, Unity, Shared Purpose, and Respect for our People. photo credit- Kim Angle
A mural at West North and Woodbrook avenues over the Phaze Two Barber Shop is a likeness of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with the image of a young man wearing a flag shirt. Gunner mentions this in the story as a life long favorite mural. photo credit - Kim Angle
Druid Ave and Gold St once vibrant but now just run down desolate Block previous to this intersection and was the childhood home of Cab Calloway. photo credit - Kim Angle
Marble Hill, the community to which these blocks belong, was home to Baltimore’s most elite black residents, including Thurgood Marshall, who would later join the Supreme Court, and civil rights lawyer Clarence Mitchell Jr. photo credit - Kim Angle
This initiative helps black ownership and autonomy at all levels: residential, commercial and institutional, seeking to empower black residents, not to push them out of their community photo credit-Kim Angle
The Pennsylvania Avenue Black Arts & Entertainment District's is the choice destination for high-quality arts, culture, food, and entertainment in Baltimore.. It's the vision of the Black Arts District. to be a model of Black creative autonomy. photo credit- Kim Angle
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