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Baltimore was settled in the early 17th century and founded as a town in 1729. It was named after Lord Baltimore, the founder of Maryland. In recent decades the redevelopment of the Inner Harbor, and the gentrification of rundown neighborhoods have been major factors in Baltimore's resurgence.
Baltimore was settled in the early 17th century and founded as a town in 1729. It was named after Lord Baltimore, the founder of Maryland. In recent decades the redevelopment of the Inner Harbor, and the gentrification of rundown neighborhoods have been major factors in Baltimore's resurgence.
==People==
The 2008 population of the city was 637,000; Baltimore County had 786,000. The Baltimore Metropolitan Area had 2.7 million residents, making it the 20th largest in the country. The Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area has a population of 8.3 million.
The 2008 population of the city was 637,000; Baltimore County had 786,000. The Baltimore Metropolitan Area had 2.7 million residents, making it the 20th largest in the country. The Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area has a population of 8.3 million.
The city's s population is nearly 60% black and also includes many people of Italian, German, and central European ancestry. From the 1840s to the 1950s the citry was dominated by [[German Americans]].
The city's population rose from 20% black in 1940 to 60% today, and includes many [[German Americans]], [[Italian Americans]], [[American Jews]] and [[Polish Americans]]. From the 1840s to the 1950s the city was dominated by [[German Americans]].
In the 1940s Jews were concentrated in northwest Baltimore. Germans, Poles, and Italians —operatives and skilled workers in the city's diversified industries - lived in the south and east, near the harbor. The immigrants' well-defined row house neighborhoods in East Baltimore and Highland-town gave the city its ethnic flavor. The rowhouses in the south and southwest parts of the city, collectively known as South Baltimore, were homes to well-established Germans and Irish.
Until 1964, [[Jim Crow]] was enforced both legally and socially, although the schools were integrated in the late 1950s.
==Industry==
==Industry==
Baltimore was the first city to use manufactured coal gas for energy following the creation of the Gas Light Company of Baltimore, Maryland, in 1816. Thereafter, gas plants were developed throughout the United States.
Baltimore was the first city to use manufactured coal gas for energy following the creation of the Gas Light Company of Baltimore, Maryland, in 1816. Thereafter, gas plants were developed throughout the United States.
===Gilded Age ===
===Gilded Age ===
Maryland was not subject to [[Reconstruction]], but the end of slavery meant heightened racial tensions as free blacks flocked to the city and many armed confrontations erupted between blacks and whites. Rural blacks who flocked to Baltimore created increased competition for skilled jobs and upset the prewar relationship between free blacks and whites. As black migrants were relegated to unskilled work or no work at all, violent strikes erupted. Denied entry into the regular state militia, armed blacks formed militias of their own. In the midst of this change, white Baltimoreans interpreted black discontent as disrespect for law and order, which justified police repression.<ref>Richard Paul F uke, "Blacks, Whites, and Guns: Interracial Violence in Post-emancipation Maryland," ''Maryland Historical Magazine'' 1997 92(3): 326-347 </ref>
Expanded economic activity brought many immigrants from the countryside and from Europe after the Civil War. Concerns for young, single Protestant women alone in cities led to the growth of the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) movement. Given the practice of segregation in Baltimore, however, two YWCA's emerged, the (white) Baltimore YWCA founded in 1883 and the Colored YWCA founded in 1896. They merged in 1920.
Expanded economic activity brought many immigrants from the countryside and from Europe after the Civil War. Concerns for young, single Protestant women alone in cities led to the growth of the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) movement. Given the practice of segregation in Baltimore, however, two YWCA's emerged, the (white) Baltimore YWCA founded in 1883 and the Colored YWCA founded in 1896. They merged in 1920.
===Progressive era===
===Progressive era===
When in 1918 the US government reversed its draft exemption for married workers and required all men to work in essential occupations or serve in the military, professional baseball players either enlisted or joined industrial baseball leagues. Company leagues included those of Bethlehem Steel, which had recreational leagues on both coasts that by 1918 represented a major-league level of competition. Sparrows Point, Maryland, a Bethlehem Steel company town, had a Steel League team, whose results Baltimore baseball fans followed closely. At the same time, fans also followed the draft status and 1918 season of Baltimore native [[Babe Ruth]], then playing with the Boston Red Sox and considering his own options, including joining an industrial league team. In September Bethlehem Steel, fearing competition with other leagues over professional talent, disbanded the Steel League. When the war ended in November, players such as Ruth were free to re-sign with their major league teams.<ref> Peter T. Dalleo, and J. Vincent Watchorn, III, "Baltimore, the 'Babe,' and the Bethlehem Steel League, 1918," ''Maryland Historical Magazine'' 1998 93(1): 88-106, </ref>
When in 1918 the US government reversed its draft exemption for married workers and required all men to work in essential occupations or serve in the military, professional baseball players either enlisted or joined industrial baseball leagues. Company leagues included those of Bethlehem Steel, which had recreational leagues on both coasts that by 1918 represented a major-league level of competition. Sparrows Point, Maryland, a Bethlehem Steel company town, had a Steel League team, whose results Baltimore baseball fans followed closely. At the same time, fans also followed the draft status and 1918 season of Baltimore native [[Babe Ruth]], then playing with the Boston Red Sox and considering his own options, including joining an industrial league team. In September Bethlehem Steel, fearing competition with other leagues over professional talent, disbanded the Steel League. When the war ended in November, players such as Ruth were free to re-sign with their major league teams.<ref> Peter T. Dalleo, and J. Vincent Watchorn, III, "Baltimore, the 'Babe,' and the Bethlehem Steel League, 1918," ''Maryland Historical Magazine'' 1998 93(1): 88-106, </ref>
===Depression and War: 1929-1950===
War mobilization brought federal pressure to unionize the work force, and by 1941 the leftist [[CIO]] had organized most of Baltimore's major industries. The biggest operations were Bethlehem Steel's Fairfield Yard, on the southeastern edge of the harbor, which built Liberty ships; its work force peaked at 46,700 in late 1943. Even larger was Glenn Martin, an aircraft plant located 10 miles northeast of downtown. By mid-decade, labor unions and ethnics had taken over local politics and liberal mayors enjoyed black as well as white support.<ref> The machine was led by Italian Catholic politicians such as [[Nancy Pelosi]]'s father, Thomas D'Alesandro, Jr., who was mayor in 1947-59; her brother, Thomas D'Alesandro III, was mayor from 1967 to 1971. She moved to San Francisco in the late 1960s.<ref>
===Urban Crisis: 1950-1990===
In the 1950s and 1960s, white Southern racial politics moved north into Baltimore and other cities. White Southerners came to Baltimore by the thousands during World War II, permanently altering the city's political landscape. Southern whites built on existing racial restrictions in Maryland to approximate the customary lines of demarcation further south. Working whites mobilized to prevent school integration after the 'Brown' decision of 1954. They believed that their interests were being sacrificed to those of black Americans. As working-class whites began to feel increasingly embattled in the face of federal intervention into local practices, many turned to the 1964 presidential primary campaign of [[George Wallace]] who swept the white working class vote. Durr (2003) explains the defection of white working-class voters in Baltimore to the Republican Party as being caused by their fears that the Democratic Party's desegregation policies posed a threat to their families, workplaces, and neighborhoods.<ref>Kenneth Durr, "When Southern Politics Came North: the Roots of White Working-class Conservatism in Baltimore, 1940-1964," ''Labor History'' 1996 37(3): 309-331; Durr, ''Behind the Backlash: White Working-Class Politics in Baltimore, 1940-1980'' (2003) </ref>
Integration of Baltimore city schools at first went smoothly, but by the 1970s new problems had surfaced. White flight transformed formerly white schools into mostly black schools, though whites still made up most of the faculty and administration. Worse, the school system had become dependent on federal funding. In 1974, these circumstances led to two dramatic incidents. A teachers' strike highlighted the city's unwillingness to raise teachers' salaries because a hike in property taxes would further alienate white residents. A second crisis revolved around a federally mandated desegregation plan that also threatened to alienate the remaining white residents. The crises were caused by federal policy.<ref>Edward Berkowitz, "Baltimore's Public Schools in a Time of Transition," ''Maryland Historical Magazine'' 1997 92(4): 412-432, </ref>
===Recent===
===Recent===
==Religion==
==Religion==
Baltimore has long been a major center of the Catholic Church. Important bishops include John Carroll (1735-1815, in office 1789-1815), Francis Kenrick (1796- 1863, in office 1851-65), and especially James Cardinal Gibbons (1834—1921, in office 1877-1921).
Baltimore has long been a major center of the Catholic Church. Important bishops include John Carroll (1735-1815, in office 1789-1815), Francis Kenrick (1796- 1863, in office 1851-65), and especially James Cardinal Gibbons (1834—1921, in office 1877-1921).
*[[Johns Hopkins University]]
*[[Johns Hopkins University]]
==Further reading==
==Further reading==
* Argersinger, Jo Ann E.
* Argersinger, Jo Ann E. ''Toward a New Deal in Baltimore: People and Government in the Great Depression'' (1988)
* Argersinger, Jo Ann E. ''Making the Amalgamated: Gender, Ethnicity, and Class in the Baltimore Clothing Industry, 1899-1939'' (1999) 229 pp.
* Argersinger, Jo Ann E. ''Making the Amalgamated: Gender, Ethnicity, and Class in the Baltimore Clothing Industry, 1899-1939'' (1999) 229 pp.
*Arnold, Joseph L. "Baltimore: Southern Economy and a Northern Culture," in Richard M. Bernard, ed., ''Snowbelt Cities: Metropolitan Politics in the Northeast and Midwest since
World War II'' (1990)
* Bilhartz, Terry D. ''Urban Religion and the Second Great Awakening: Church and Society in Early National Baltimore''
* Bilhartz, Terry D. ''Urban Religion and the Second Great Awakening: Church and Society in Early National Baltimore''
* Durr, Kenneth D. ''Behind the Backlash: White Working Class Politics in Baltimore, 1940-1980'' (2003)
* Durr, Kenneth D. ''Behind the Backlash: White Working Class Politics in Baltimore, 1940-1980'' (2003) [http://www.questia.com/read/106480718?title=Behind%20the%20Backlash%3a%20%20White%20Working-Class%20Politics%20in%20Baltimore%2c%201940-1980 online edition]
* Elfenbein, Jessica I.''The Making of a Modern City: Philanthropy, Civic Culture, and the Baltimore YMCA'' (2001) 192 pp.
* Elfenbein, Jessica I.''The Making of a Modern City: Philanthropy, Civic Culture, and the Baltimore YMCA'' (2001) 192 pp.
* Hayward, Mary Ellen and Shivers, Frank R., Jr., eds. ''The Architecture of Baltimore: An Illustrated History'' (2004). 408 pp.
* Hayward, Mary Ellen and Shivers, Frank R., Jr., eds. ''The Architecture of Baltimore: An Illustrated History'' (2004). 408 pp.
* Phillips, Christopher. ''Freedom's Port: The African American Community of Baltimore, 1790-1860'' (1997)
* Phillips, Christopher. ''Freedom's Port: The African American Community of Baltimore, 1790-1860'' (1997)
* Rockman, Seth. ''Scraping By: Wage Labor, Slavery, and Survival in Early Baltimore'' (2009), 368 pp. social history [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=24171 online review]
* Rockman, Seth. ''Scraping By: Wage Labor, Slavery, and Survival in Early Baltimore'' (2009), 368 pp. social history [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=24171 online review]
* Sheads, Scott Sumpter and Daniel Carroll Toomey. Baltimore during the Civil War. (1997). 224 pp. Popular history
* Steffen, Charles. ''Mechanics of Baltimore''
* Steffen, Charles. ''Mechanics of Baltimore''
* Sutton, William R. ''Journeymen for Jesus: Evangelical Artisans Confront Capitalism in Jacksonian Baltimore'' (1998) 351 pp. [www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=3302 online review]
* Sutton, William R. ''Journeymen for Jesus: Evangelical Artisans Confront Capitalism in Jacksonian Baltimore'' (1998) 351 pp. [www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=3302 online review]
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