“Maryland atmosphere served up southern ‘fried’” from May Day page

“Maryland atmosphere served up southern ‘fried’” from May Day page

UMD & Systemic Racism

May Day festivities were a prominent celebration each year at the Maryland State College and the University of Maryland. University Archives retain photographs of such celebrations including maypole dances, diaphanous costumes reminiscent of Roman antiquity, and the awarding of the “May Queen” title with a triumphal march from the Main Administration Building. Other activities, such as those shown here–“Southern ‘fried’”–reflect the disparaging realities that align with such celebrations in a school just south of the Mason-Dixon line. Black communities along the Route 1 corridor less than five miles from campus, including Lakeland, North Brentwood, and Muirkirk, celebrated May Day as a celebration of the coming of spring, rather than as a moment to reinforce racist biases at the core of contemporary society.

The Terrapin Yearbook,1947, p.197
Courtesy of University of Maryland archives