Key Bridge name should change, civil rights groups say

The Caucus of African American Leaders unanimously voted to ask that two bridges in the state, including the Francis Scott Key Bridge, be renamed. The consortium of Civil Rights groups includes the NAACP, the National Coalition of 100 Black Women and others. The groupsaid they voted to change the name of the Key Bridge because it honors a man who enslaved African Americans and wrote lyrics that scholars have found “demeaned Black people.” The caucus is now calling on Gov. Wes Moore and the Maryland General Assembly to rename the bridge after the late Congressman Parren J. Mitchell, the first African American from Maryland elected to the United States House of Representatives. The caucus is also asking that the Senator Frederick Malkus Memorial Bridge, a beam bridge over the Choptank River in Dorchester County, be renamed for the late Gloria Richardson, a Civil Rights pioneer and leader in Maryland. The late Governor Harry R. Hughes opposed naming the bridge after Malkus, who was resistant to desegregation in the 1960s and 1970s, according to the group. The Baltimore Banner thanks its sponsors. Become one. In addition, the group has also called on Moore to create a memorial to those who died...