Historic Maryland home that once housed Freedom Fighters, facing foreclosure
By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior
National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia
A piece of Maryland and Black history teetering on the edge of foreclosure is a home that holds important significance.
Once a refuge for the Freedom Riders, a group of activists who challenged segregation on buses and at bus terminals, the historical dwelling currently serves as the residence of prominent Civil Rights leader Janice Grant.
Grant, the former Harford County NAACP Chapter president, helped pave the way for African Americans to exercise their right to vote in the United States. Sadly, her historic and cherished abode, encapsulating decades of rich history, may soon slip away if she can’t raise $50,000 by the end of July.
“I want the young people to know their history,” Grant said in an interview with WJZ TV in Aberdeen, emphasizing the importance of preserving this historical landmark.
Now 90, Grant eagerly shared stories with the television station about the venerable home.
She said her family acquired the house in 1917, and it subsequently became a gathering place for civil rights activists.
“The Freedom Riders used to meet at that house,” she exclaimed.
Grant herself is a celebrated Civil Rights icon, joining forces with Andrew Goodman and James Chaney in Mississippi to help register Black voters.
Reflecting on the challenges faced during the 1960s civil rights movement, Grant recalled racial discrimination and voter suppression as significant obstacles. During that tumultuous period, her house assumed a pivotal role in shaping history.
While churches in the area feared arson attacks for supporting the movement, Grant’s home welcomed Freedom Riders like Mickey Schwerner.
“They would come from various states and there was nowhere else for them to meet at that time,” Grant said.
“The Freedom Riders knew this was a house they were welcomed.”
According to the Harford Civil Rights Project at Harford Community College, Freedom Riders staged protests on Route 40 and the surrounding the area in 1961 to prevent racial segregation and exclusion in restaurants and hotels.
The Congress of Racial Equality and others negotiated, and many venues promised to abolish segregation in reaction to high-profile instances involving African diplomats, but not all establishments did so.
To end the region’s companies’ continued racism, young people drove in and sat in Whites-only restaurants and other establishments.
There were arrests made, and clashes between protesters and counter-protesters.
The Public Accommodations statute of Maryland, which forbade racial discrimination in businesses, was passed in 1963 because of the occurrences involving African diplomats and the Freedom Riders protests.
Now, 60 years later, Grant’s symbolic piece of history faces its own tribulations, standing on the precipice of foreclosure.
In the same televised interview, Grant’s neighbor Patricia Cole expressed distress.
“I thought it was very tragic,” she said. “Because it has such a rich history, it would be such a loss to be lost to foreclosure.
“I want the young people to know their history. I don’t care what color their skin is.”
As of the latest update, a community-led Go Fund Me has raised just over $4,000 of the needed $50,000. The deadline of July 31 to gather the funds is fast approaching.
