Sidney Clifton, Senior Vice President of Animation and Mixed Media at the Jim Henson Company and daughter of Lucille Clifton uses her mother’s poetry as a background to describe her life growing up in Baltimore with her famous mother. Lucille Clifton was a Maryland Poet Laureate, feminist and proud Black woman. An artist herself, Sidney is now preserving their West Baltimore home, Clifton House, as a space for other artists in her mother’s memory.

By Neetu Dhawan Gray, Johns Hopkins University, Center for Talented Youth and Odyssey Program

As the director of the Department of Aging for Baltimore City, Neetu Dhawan Gray first knew Rosalie Abrams as a mentor and the director of the Maryland Office on Aging, but her presentation follows Abrams beyond that into state government noting her many firsts: as first woman to be majority leader of the Maryland State Senate, chair of the Maryland Senate Finance Committee and the Maryland Democratic party. As a former nurse, Abrams’ interests and influence spanned broad areas from healthcare to women’s issues and mental health.

Dr. Ida Jones, historian and archivist at Morgan State University presents the discarded but now redeemed legacy of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, a poet, lecturer and reformer. Harper, born a free Black woman in Baltimore in 1825, became an anti-slavery activist using her published poetry and outstanding oratorical skills on the lecture circuit throughout the northern states, drawing both Black and white audiences. She also championed women’s rights, supporting the women’s suffrage movement. Her lasting legacy is the relevance of her works continuing today.