Context
In 1885, a Black fifteen-year-old named Howard Cooper was dragged from his jail cell and hanged by a mob of seventy-five white men. It was an act of racial terror lynching, meaning a person---because of their race---became a victim of unlawful and lethal violence in an effort to terrorize an entire community. According to research conducted by the Equal Justice Initiative and the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Maryland played host to at least 38 victims of racial terror lynchings between the years 1854 and 1933.
Howard Cooper’s life was taken in Baltimore County. Howard was waiting to appeal a conviction to the Supreme Court when the mob took the law into their own hands. The lynching denied Howard his rights and his life. The fear evoked by the act attempted to silence his community. Howard's story has been kept from entering Maryland classrooms...until now.
Prompt
The Baltimore County LMP invites students of Baltimore County to use Howard’s lynching as inspiration to combat tactics that deny truths about racism in our state. Students interested in this contest must compose a poem that expresses a perspective on or personal experience with racism. Like the historical marker that was installed for Howard Cooper in 2021, the original poem must bring public attention to injustice as a necessary step toward achieving racial harmony.
Eligibility and Guidelines
Racial Justice Poetry Contest for students in grades 6-12 who attend Baltimore County public, parochial, and independent schools. The contest is also open to 6th-12th graders who receive their education in homeschool communities in Baltimore County. Students are limited to one entry.
Entries must meet the following criteria:
A title
Size 11 or 12 font
No longer than three pages
Submitted no later than 11:59 pm on March 1, 2024 - The 2024 Contest has closed, please check back this fall for information on the 2025 Contest.
PLEASE NOTE: Entries that are not the original work of the student or fail to meet the above criteria will be rendered ineligible.
All entries for the Racial Justice Poetry Contest must be submitted HERE by 11:59 pm on March 1, 2024---the 2024 Contest has closed.
Winners
All entries will be adjudicated by high school seniors from the Carver Center for the Arts and Technology. The top winning entries were announced on April 8, 2024 via email, the MLMP website, and Instagram @racial_justice_poetry.
Top entrees will receive the following:
$100 (first place in each grade division) and $50 (second place winners in each grade division)
Publication on the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project (MLMP) website
An invitation to read their poems at the Racial Justice Poetry Exhibition on April 26, 2024
A free poetry recitation workshop with DewMore Baltimore.
Questions? Contact Justin DePrima at racialjusticepoetrycontest@gmail.com
Bryan Stevenson, founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative has said of racial justice work, “We cannot heal the deep wounds inflicted during the era of racial terrorism until we tell the truth about it.”
Participants in the Racial Justice Poetry Contest will explore these truths through poetry, a literary genre capable of uplifting the powerful voices of youth, encouraging them to continue to learn and to act on behalf of racial justice in Baltimore County.