A group of signs that read “Negro Mountain,” dotted along roads in western Maryland, which have been criticized as racially pejorative have been removed, state highway officials confirm.
According to the Cumberland Times-News, Sunday, an agency spokeswoman for the State Highway Administration revealed that the signs were taken down back in April due to complaints from the public regarding a lack of racial sensitivity.
READ MORE: Maryland has created a truth commission on lynchings – can it deliver?
“We continue to work with the Association for the Study of African American Life and History and the local community to better understand the interests of all stakeholders,” SHA spokeswoman Lora Rakowski said in a statement about the two of the signs that stood along Interstate 68 and the other pair had stood on U.S. Alternate Route 40.
While the exact origin of the mountain’s name isn’t officially documented, locals say the mountain was named after a Black man who died in a skirmish with Native Americans in the area.
I always wondered what the story was behind this place. Whether its a good story or a bad one, I'm sure it's important. Now we'll prob never know. #erasingblackhistory ‘Negro Mountain’ signs removed by Maryland State Highway Administration https://t.co/qm7KZ0dIod
— Eric Stephenson (@buildingbmore) September 9, 2019
Lost to history
Approximately thirteen years ago, Maryland’s National Historic Road officials installed a marker that reads, “Nemesis, a black frontiersman … was killed here while fighting Indians with Maryland frontiersman Thomas Cresap in the 1750s. Legend tells us that he had a premonition of his death. In his honor, they named this mountain after him.”
In another version of the area’s folklore, Captain Andrew Friend and his companions were hunting on the mountain when they were attacked by Native Americans. During the melee, Friend’s African American servant was killed and the mountain was named in the servant’s honor.
READ MORE: Family of first enslaved Africans in America marks 400 years
“I have heard both stories but I’ve never seen corroborating facts to support either and would be interested to know more,” said Clory Jackson, who created “The Brownsville Project” to help people uncover and heal from suppressed history. “In my opinion, the name ‘Negro Mountain’ is antiquated. I’d love to see the community use transformative justice to choose a new name that helps us remember Blacks in Appalachia.”
Historian Lynn Bowman, who has authored multiple books on African American history in Allegany County, also told the Times-News that she learned through her research that there’s an area on the west side of the mountain called [N-word] Hollow, where lynchings took place.
The post ‘Negro Mountain’ road signs removed by Maryland State Highway officials appeared first on theGrio.
from theGrio https://ift.tt/3045AEB
