Baltimore Community Fellowships
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Baltimore, Maryland
2006
Historian Philip J. Merrill was fortunate to attend Friends School and Loyola College in Baltimore. But at both places, he never learned about African-American history and, as a result, felt a big hole in his sense of himself. Instead, he learned about his roots through stories from his grandmother “Nanny Jack.”
Merrill, 44, realized that many young African-American kids don’t have a connection to a proud heritage. So, he will use his fellowship to offer the "Know History, Know Self" program to 21 African-American boys in grades 6 to 8 at an alternative program, called Rising Scholars Academy, at Garrison Middle School. These boys face big challenges: they have failed classes and repeated grades; some have even been incarcerated.
Together, Merrill and the boys will establish the Great Room, a storehouse of African American artifacts collected by the students as well as artifacts on loan from the archives of Nanny Jack and Co., Merrill's company. Examples might include: rare Ku Klux Klan items, old slave restraints, and stereotypical dolls. To understand the significance of the artifacts, Merrill’s students will do other activities, such as listening to the oral history of a former slave.
Merrill hopes to build a cultural and historical foundation that will help the boys develop self-respect, confidence and the desire to achieve. "I want my boys to talk proudly and intelligently about themselves, their school, the community and African-American history," he says.
