MCAAHC Legislative Agenda for the 2024 Maryland General Assembly

The Maryland General Assembly will convene for the 2024 session today, January 10, 2024. Good luck to the legislators and staffers in Annapolis working to make our great state equitable for all. For #MDGA2024, the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture (MCAAHC) has three items that will be on our agenda. Read more below: 

• African American Heritage Non-Capital Grant Program: The MCAAHC proposes to expand the work of the African American Heritage Preservation Program (AAHPP) to include an African American Heritage Non-Capital grant fund. Currently, the AAHPP is a $5 million capital grant that funds African American heritage preservation efforts in the forms of seed, site, and building projects in Maryland. MCAAHC requests an additional $1 million non-capital appropriation to support African American heritage organizations’ operations and programs in Maryland. A non-capital fund will increase the growth and capacity of African American heritage sites throughout Maryland. The funds would be a vital investment in the dynamic, yet underfunded, African American tourism economy in Maryland.

• “Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum” Name Change: The MCAAHC proposes to add Tubman to the naming of the Banneker-Douglass Museum, in honor of Maryland’s freedom fighter, Harriet Tubman.  The addition of Tubman symbolizes the heroic work of Black women abolitionists and civil rights leaders in Maryland that helped shape American democracy for all. As the state’s museum on African American history and culture, the Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum will continue to preserve and share Maryland’s African American history and culture to inspire and educate people of all ages and backgrounds.

• Museum Capital Repairs: The BDM has significant unmet capital needs and we are requesting $1.4 million to complete the final phases of the project, which include historic entrance facade repairs, new wood flooring, permanent exhibition updates, HVAC system updates, and more to improve visitor experience and operations. The Department of General Services (DGS) identified specific items as critical to improving the museum’s physical space and marketability. The State of Maryland’s investment in the BDM is vital to ensuring the viability of the museum’s facilities for the next 30 to 50 years. 

Main Photo: Thurgood Marshall statue at Lawyers Mall in front of the Maryland State House (2015)  /  Bestbudbrian; Wikimedia Commons