Advocates, historians urge rethinking Key Bridge name ‘for generations yet unborn’

BALTIMORE — The future rebuilding of the Francis Scott Key Bridge will create an opportunity for Maryland to rethink what it stands for, some advocates, legislators and historians say.

Local, state and federal officials have already vowed to rebuild the steel structure that once spanned the Baltimore skyline and collapsed March 26 when the cargo ship Dali crashed into it in the early morning hours, sending six construction workers to their deaths.

Some advocates have demanded that part of that process include rethinking what the rebuilt bridge should be called. Originally known as the Outer Harbor Bridge, it was named after Key in 1976 before opening in 1977.

While the bridge’s namesake is probably best known for writing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” Key was also a slaveholder who found himself fighting both for and against Black freedom in his lifetime.

Addressing that contradiction with a name change isn’t about erasing the past said Carl Snowden, convener atop the Caucus of African American Leaders. It’s about fighting for the future, Snowden said, and that’s especially true in this case, as the six victims of the collapse were all Latino.

“They died literally on that bridge,” Snowden said. “To rebuild a bridge to someone who did not see people of color as their equal, I think sends the wrong message — not for this generation, but for generations yet unborn.”

William G. Thomas III is one of three authors who spoke on a panel April 17 at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Key’s alma mater. All the panelists said the state should consider renaming the Key Bridge.

“Naming is an opportunity for the community to consider who it honors and who it commemorates,” Thomas said. “I think naming a bridge or a building … should tell a story that helps us understand who we are and call forth a vision of who we aspire to be.”

The Caucus of African American Leaders, a statewide consortium of civil rights organizations, unanimously passed a resolution in April calling for renaming the bridge after the late U.S. Rep. Parren J. Mitchell, the first Black Marylander elected to Congress.

Snowden and Daryl Jones, who leads a national voting rights and social justice organization called the Transformative Justice Coalition, have been pushing the state to name something after Mitchell for “several years,” Jones said. But when the Key Bridge collapsed, “it presented the opportunity to rename this bridge for a very deserving American and a very deserving Marylander,” Jones said.

Mitchell does already have some recognition. On April 24, state and federal lawmakers gathered at the Parren Mitchell Event and Cultural Center to present $500,000 that will be used to restore Mitchell’s family home, according to a news release.

Baltimore City Councilman John T. Bullock represents the district where that home is located and was also present at the event. Bullock said building a new bridge creates an opportune time to open up a debate, which should include community voices both for and against retaining Key’s name.

“I think it’s worth having a conversation about the name of the bridge and what folks would like to see going forward,” Bullock said. “If we look [at] what the vision is in terms of the future of Baltimore and where we are now, I mean, I couldn’t imagine not having at least Parren Mitchell be part of that conversation if we’re going to go down that road.”

While Mitchell may be the first choice for the Caucus of African American Leaders, Snowden said what he really wants are public hearings where Marylanders can voice their views. The ongoing debate has already brought into the conversation Gloria Richardson, a civil rights leader best known for her work along the Eastern Shore, though she was born in Baltimore.

The new bridge would fall under the purview of the Maryland Transportation Authority, which means any naming or renaming process would require approval from that entity and the Maryland Board of Public Works, the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) said in a statement.

“While it is premature to consider renaming the Francis Scott Key Bridge, MDOT shares in the belief that the bridge rebuilding effort should incorporate a way to honor the lives of transportation workers and reflect the strength of the Baltimore community that the bridge serves,” MDOT said.

The bridge could also bear a new name if the General Assembly took legislative action.

When asked about renaming the bridge at a news conference April 19, Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, reiterated his commitment to four core objectives, which include rebuilding the bridge — but not necessarily changing the name.

“Even if they are important conversations, they are not now conversations,” Moore said.

But state Sen. Jill P. Carter, a Democrat representing Baltimore City and a long-standing proponent of racial justice who pushed for the removal of a statue of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney, is ready to open up dialogue as part of a larger national movement to “remove these vestiges and symbols of racism, slavery, white supremacy.” Carter was in part referring to the removal of some Confederate statues from public view, including in Baltimore, and pushback against those efforts, which have sometimes turned violent.

“It would stand to reason that if we deal with the initial crisis, and once we are on the course of reconstructing the bridge, that we would strongly not just consider but advocate and actually change the name of the bridge from Francis Scott Key,” Carter said. “To preserve that name, you are preserving a reminder of a time when we were not even considered human, not even considered people, not considered citizens with any rights.

“Even though it’s a long time ago, it is still a painful history,” she added.

And when it comes to Key, it’s a complicated one.

Thomas is a history professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who researches freedom suits, lawsuits brought by enslaved people against slaveholders for their emancipation.

Key represented enslaved families in some of those lawsuits — only to later make public comments that disparaged Black freedom and suggested he regretted his role in those lawsuits, Thomas said. And that isn’t simply because Key is a product of his time, Thomas added.

“Enslaved people sought freedom and many people spoke out against slavery in the founding era,” Thomas said. “The ideals of the American nation were in direct contradiction to the perpetuation of American slavery. And neither Key nor many others sought to resolve that contradiction in any meaningful way.”

Carter said a name change wasn’t appropriate to consider during the last General Assembly session, which concluded two weeks after the Key Bridge collapse. Legislators had to focus on passing emergency relief, such as the PORT Act, she said.

As that bill was passing the House, Del C.T. Wilson, a Charles County Democrat, said in response to concerns raised by a House Republican that because the language notes the structure as the Francis Scott Key Bridge, there was “no doubt” the rebuilt bridge would bear the same name. Wilson declined to comment.

But since the bridge is projected to be rebuilt in just over four years, the PORT Act, which provides economic relief to workers and businesses affected by the slowdown of activity at the Port of Baltimore and creates a scholarship fund for the children of the collapse’s six victims, may no longer be a factor.

Carter said a rename could not only be possible but “necessary” in 2025, though she noted support will be needed from the Legislative Black Caucus, federal officials and the public.

“I think that it is still very much taken for granted … how much so much of the history that we are forced to accept as all of our history is actually a history that was counter to the interests of Black people,” Carter said.

But the renaming effort is also sure to receive some pushback. U.S. Rep Andy Harris, a Republican representing Maryland’s 1st Congressional District and a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said in an emailed statement that he supports retaining the bridge’s current name and “will seek to require it as a condition of any federal funding.”

Thomas said that even if the bridge is renamed, Key’s connection to American patriotism via “The Star-Spangled Banner” won’t disappear. But at the same time, “collectively, the story that monuments and named buildings and bridges tell right now across America often do not reflect the complete history of our communities or of the nation.”

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