<![CDATA[Explore 91Ƶ]]> /items/browse?output=rss2&tags=Parade Wed, 12 Mar 2025 12:13:36 -0400 info@baltimoreheritage.org (Explore 91Ƶ) 91Ƶ Zend_Feed http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss <![CDATA[I Am an American Day Parade]]> /items/show/663

Dublin Core

Title

I Am an American Day Parade

Subject

Immigration

Creator

Eli Pousson

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Subtitle

Immigration and the Making of the East Baltimore Documentary Photography Project

Lede

East Baltimore's "I Am An American Day" parade is captured in a unique 1981 news program from WJZ-TV and a book of documentary photographs showing the people and places of East Baltimore in the late 1970s. The book collected photos from the East Baltimore Documentary Photography Project which was inspired after the photographer and creator of the project Linda attended the parade in 1975.

Story

The first "I Am An American Day" parade in Baltimore started at Thirty-third Street and The Alameda on May 17, 1942. The event (and similar marches and rallies across the country) was promoted by the Hearst Corporation, then owner and publisher of the Baltimore News American newspaper, as a way to celebrate the U.S. Constitution. Some accounts suggest the initial idea for "I Am An American Day" came from Arthur Pine, head of a New York public relations firm, after he was asked to promote a new song, “I Am An American,” by Gary Gordon. In 1940, William Randolph Hearst succeeded in pushing the U.S. Congress to name the third Sunday in May as “I Am An American Day” as a way to recognize immigrants who had received U.S. citizenship. The date was moved to September 17 in 1952 and, in 2004, an amendment by Senator Robert Byrd led congress to rename the event from “I Am An American Day” to “Constitution Day.”

In Baltimore, the annual parade moved to the streets around Patterson Park and quickly began to draw thousands of participants. The 1944 march saw an estimated 23,000 people. The next year, around 75,000 people came out to see 100 groups of marchers along with 50 "bands and drum, fife and bugle corps" By the 1970s, the parade had steady attendance from church groups, veterans organizations, and politicians developed into what the Baltimore Sun writer Liz Atwood later called "an opportunity for Baltimoreans to show their pride in being Americans." By the mid-1990s, the parade followed a naturalization ceremony for new citizens. Over the years, special guests at the parade included actors from popular soap operas and Hollywood movies. Huge crowds gathered for the route to watch and hear local high school marching bands and out-of-town draws like the Philadelphia Mummers Quaker City String Band. At the parade's height, the event drew over 300,000 people and lasted four hours or more.

In 1975, Maryland Institute College of Art photography professor Linda G. Rich was among the crowd. According to the Maryland Historical Society, Rich was new to Baltimore and was "struck not only by the patriotic display of the celebration but by the unique characteristics of the surrounding neighborhood: the rows of clean, white marble steps, the vibrant painted screens, the window displays full of religious and patriotic iconography." The next year, Rich, along with her students Joan Clark Netherwood and Elinor B. Cahn started what became the four-year-long East Baltimore Documentary Photography Project that captured over 10,000 photographs capturing the area's strong sense of community and unique identity.

Southeast Baltimore has changed in radical ways since the 1970s and the "I Am An American Day" parade changed as well. Unfortunately, in 1993, the city's effort to raise fees for the event led parade organizers to threaten to move the event away from Highlandtown and Patterson Park. Edwin F. Hale, Sr., then chairman of Baltimore Bancorp, wrote a check to cover that year's extra expenses but, in 1994, no other benefactor came forward and organizers moved the event to Dundalk in southeastern Baltimore County where it continues to be held through at least 2014.

Related Resources

Talbot, Damon, underbelly, Maryland Historical Society, January 30, 2014.

Rich, L. G., Netherwood, J. C., & Cahn, E. B. (1981). . 7 (3), 58-75.

Street Address

East Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD
East Baltimore Documentary Survey Project
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Thu, 06 Dec 2018 11:04:43 -0500
<![CDATA[Mayor's Christmas Parade]]> /items/show/320

Dublin Core

Title

Mayor's Christmas Parade

Subject

Neighborhood Traditions

Description

William Donald Schaeffer approached Tom Kerr, head of the old Hampden Business Association, in 1972 to organize the Mayor's Christmas Parade. The parade would be Schaeffer's answer to the Hochschild-Kohn Toytown Parade which drew thousands of spectators for thirty years on Thanksgiving Day, but stopped running in 1966. Schaeffer wanted the parade to be held downtown but Kerr insisted on having it in Hampden.

Kerr hoped the parade would bring positive attention to Hampden. Mt. Vernon Mill Company closed its last remaining mill in Hampden-Woodberry that year, marking the end of the textile industry in the area. The first parade was far more modest than the department store extravagance of the Toytown parade, and Kerr was only able to secure a single Santa Claus float and six marching bands. Nonetheless, the parade drew a large crowd and was considered a success. As of 2013, Kerr has been organizing the event for forty-one years.

Every year the parade elects a Grand Marshall. Past prominent figures to hold the title include baseball legend Brooks Robinson in 1978, and more recently, John Astin, famous for his role as Gomez in The Addams Family. Schaeffer made a number of appearances as mayor and came back as Grand Marshall after becoming governor. In 1980, spectators were baffled to see his yellow Cadillac moving toward Thirty-sixth Street without him. The convertible left while he was giving a speech and he quickly darted across the street, ran through an alley, and ducked under a police barrier to cut off the ride for his own parade.

Today, the two-and-a-half mile long parade attracts nearly 25,000 spectators, 160 marching units, and a variety of eclectic floats. Although the parade has grown, it continues to be a community effort. Ninety-five percent of Hampden businesses donate money to the parade. Kerr, who is locally known as the unofficial mayor of Hampden, has recently expressed interest in stepping down from his position, but doubts he will ever be completely detached from the parade.

Creator

Nathan Dennies

Relation

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

William Donald Schaeffer approached Tom Kerr, head of the old Hampden Business Association, in 1972 to organize the Mayor's Christmas Parade. The parade would be Schaeffer's answer to the Hochschild-Kohn Toytown Parade which drew thousands of spectators for thirty years on Thanksgiving Day, but stopped running in 1966. Schaeffer wanted the parade to be held downtown but Kerr insisted on having it in Hampden.

Kerr hoped the parade would bring positive attention to Hampden. Mt. Vernon Mill Company closed its last remaining mill in Hampden-Woodberry that year, marking the end of the textile industry in the area. The first parade was far more modest than the department store extravagance of the Toytown parade, and Kerr was only able to secure a single Santa Claus float and six marching bands. Nonetheless, the parade drew a large crowd and was considered a success. As of 2013, Kerr has been organizing the event for forty-one years.

Every year the parade elects a Grand Marshall. Past prominent figures to hold the title include baseball legend Brooks Robinson in 1978, and more recently, John Astin, famous for his role as Gomez in The Addams Family. Schaeffer made a number of appearances as mayor and came back as Grand Marshall after becoming governor. In 1980, spectators were baffled to see his yellow Cadillac moving toward Thirty-sixth Street without him. The convertible left while he was giving a speech and he quickly darted across the street, ran through an alley, and ducked under a police barrier to cut off the ride for his own parade.

Today, the two-and-a-half mile long parade attracts nearly 25,000 spectators, 160 marching units, and a variety of eclectic floats. Although the parade has grown, it continues to be a community effort. Ninety-five percent of Hampden businesses donate money to the parade. Kerr, who is locally known as the unofficial mayor of Hampden, has recently expressed interest in stepping down from his position, but doubts he will ever be completely detached from the parade.

Official Website

Street Address

W. 36th Street, Baltimore, MD 21211
Mayor's Christmas Parade (2012)
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Mon, 09 Dec 2013 16:08:29 -0500