The 2024 Program Consisted of the Following Baltimore History Evenings:
Thursday, February 15, 2024, at 7pm via Zoom
“Baltimore Jazz History”
Presented by Charles Funn
Charles Funn, a graduate of Morgan Stage College, is a noted professional musician and a retired band instructor (44 years) with the Baltimore City Public School System. He has played behind and with Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Sammy Davis Jr., Gladys Knight, The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Dells, Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, The Morgan State University Concert and Jazz Bands and the Howard University Jazz Ensemble. He currently performs with the Dr. Phil Butts Big Band, Bowie State University Community Jazz Ensemble, The New World Outreach Jazz Orchestra, The Clarence Knight Orchestra, and The Charles Funn Big Band. His career awards include numerous mayoral citations, the Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Hero Award for 2015, The Benny Golson Jazz Masters Award for 2018 presented by Howard University, and the Baltimore Jazz Alliance Award for 2022. Mr. Funn started, trained and developed countless future musicians as he nurtured and guided the musical development of Baltimore.
Watch this presentation on the BCHS YouTube channel here.
Thursday, March 21, 2024, at 7pm via Zoom
Baltimore’s Historic Sharp-Leadenhall Neighborhood
Presented by Betty Bland-Thomas
Ms. Bland-Thomas is a neighborhood historian and community activist who preserves the history of Sharp-Leadenhall. The neighborhood is located between M&T Bank Stadium and Federal Hill, in historic South Baltimore. It was established by formerly enslaved residents and German immigrants about 1790 and is rich with African American history. The community was home to significant churches, the Baltimore Abolitionist Society and the African Academy of Baltimore.
Thursday, April 18, 2024, at 7pm via Zoom
“Doing Queer History in Public” — Baltimore’s LGBTQ+ History
Presented by Kate Drabinski, Ph.D.
Dr. Kate Drabinski is Principal Lecturer of Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. She is also the Director of the Women Involved in Learning and Leadership (WILL+) program, a co-curricular program and Living-Learning community sponsored by GWST. Her research interests include transgender studies, critical pedagogy, public history, and theories of activism. She is on the Editorial Board of the journal Radical Teacher and the Baltimore Heritage LGBT History Committee.
Watch this presentation on the BCHS YouTube channel here.
Thursday, May 16, 2024, at 7pm via Zoom
“Searching for ‘Precious Stones’:
An Exploration of Baltimore's Arts, Culture & Health Efforts from 1968-2023”
Presented by David O. Fakunle, Ph.D.
Dr. Fakunle serves as Assistant Professor in the Public Health Program at the Morgan State University School of Community Health & Policy, Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Florida Center for Arts in Medicine, and Associate Faculty in the Mental Health department of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. His interests include stressors within the built environment, societal manifestations of racism, and the use of arts and culture to strengthen health, equity and ultimately, liberation.
Thursday, June 20, 2024, at 7pm via Zoom
“Introspection”
Presented by Dr. Joyce J. Scott
Joyce J. Scott is a Baltimore multidisciplinary artist and a MacArthur Fellow who holds three honorary doctorates from institutions including the Johns Hopkins University and the Maryland Institute College of Art. A 50-year retrospective of her work is on exhibition March 24 - July 15 at The Baltimore Museum of Art: Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams, curated by Cecilia Wichmann and Catharina Manchanda.
Watch this presentation on the BCHS YouTube channel here.
