Thurgood Marshall, the first black Supreme Court justice, attended a segregated elementary school at 1315 Division St. in Baltimore, but people would never know today.
The abandoned building?s historical significance is masked among the brick homes and boarded-up doorways that surround it.
But a commission announced Wednesday by Mayor Sheila Dixon, members of which include Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and schools chief Andres Alonso, is charged with finding the best way to preserve the run-down building and, with it, Marshall?s legacy.
“What better way to inspire our young people than by preserving the very spot where many local and national leaders began their legendary journeys?” Dixon said.
The commission?s 21 members met for the first time Wednesday and said they are keeping open minds on plans for the 130-year-old building.
James Hamlin, a commission member and president of the nonprofit Pennsylvania Avenue Redevelopment Collaborative, said the school would serve as one of 25 stops on a historic tour of Baltimore he is helping coordinate.
“This is huge,” Hamlin said, “to utilize it to economically empower the community, to change the community.”
Judith Thomas, a teacher who grew up in the neighborhood and still lives there, said she wanted the building preserved as a tribute. Marshall, she said, did not follow the crowd but did what he thought was right, and preserving his legacy could teach adults and children a lesson.
“Sometimes as a people we give up on people who don?t fit the mold,” Thomas said. “We shouldn?t let that happen.”
