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LOCAL News :: Culture : History
Christmas Day 2004 in Southern Maryland
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Date Created
- 17 Jan 2005
Date Edited
- 17 Jan 2005 02:57:29 AM
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And though time may have changed whenever I revisit Southern Maryland as I did on Christmas Day 2004 it is almost as if ... I've stepped back in time. When I grew up in the lower part of St. Mary's County in the 50's and 60's St. Michaels Catholic Church and School was where whites congregated and were educated. Cardinal Gibbons Institute, associated with St. Peter Claver Catholic Church, was where blacks, including myself, were segregated.
Both have always had outstanding reputations for serving their communities. However, I do remember my grandmother and the various priests often commenting that the Archdiocese was always quicker to respond to the needs and wishes of St. Michaels long before they'd attend to those of St. Peter. If at all.
Now a memorial park, reportedly due to financial difficulties, Cardinal Gibbons would close in 1972. As would many previoulsy self-owned and self-sufficient black businesses and institutions with the onset of integration.
And as I now reflect on the past ... having always been one to practice integration and, in the process, travel throughout the country ... as a 51 year old gay black man I, therefore, have a keen understanding of the impact that integration has had not only on 'communities of color' in St. Mary's County but throughout the world.
______________________
an excerpt from "Christmas Day in Southern Maryland, 25 December 2004" by Elvert Xavier Barnes
www.geocities.com/elvertbarnes/ChurchCemeterySMD-25dec4.html
Photos taken on 25 December 2004 at the St.Peter Claver Catholic Cemetery in St. Inigoes MD by Elvert Xavier Barnes.
Now a memorial park, reportedly due to financial difficulties, Cardinal Gibbons would close in 1972. As would many previoulsy self-owned and self-sufficient black businesses and institutions with the onset of integration.
And as I now reflect on the past ... having always been one to practice integration and, in the process, travel throughout the country ... as a 51 year old gay black man I, therefore, have a keen understanding of the impact that integration has had not only on 'communities of color' in St. Mary's County but throughout the world.
______________________
an excerpt from "Christmas Day in Southern Maryland, 25 December 2004" by Elvert Xavier Barnes
www.geocities.com/elvertbarnes/ChurchCemeterySMD-25dec4.html
Photos taken on 25 December 2004 at the St.Peter Claver Catholic Cemetery in St. Inigoes MD by Elvert Xavier Barnes.
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