Turner Station, a little-known historic Black community in Maryland, struggles after Key Bridge collapse

DUNDALK, Maryland — The country held its breath as it watched the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in the wee hours of March 26th. The deaths of six construction workers marked a sadly memorable tragedy. But along with the loss of life and the threat to businesses that relied on the bridge is the harm to one tiny Black community already struggling to survive. Turner Station, a neighborhood in Dundalk, Maryland, that is 66 percent Black, exists in what was the shadow of the Key Bridge. There was a time when Turner Station was thriving, when Black people moved to town to work at Bethlehem Steel. Henrietta Lacks, the Black woman who became famous after her death because her cells helped create the HPV and polio vaccines, lived in Turner Station with her husband. They moved from Virginia so he could work at the Sparrows Point Shipyard. U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-Md., represents the area and lived there as a child. But today, there are less than 3,000 people left in Turner Station. Bethlehem Steel is gone. The neighborhood is plagued by flooding. Condos are encroaching. And now, the bridge has collapsed, creating more challenges for residents, who...