The history of Native Americans in Baltimore and what is now

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

dates back at least 12,000 years. As of 2014, Baltimore is home to a small Native American population, centered in East Baltimore. The majority of Native Americans now living in Baltimore belong to the

Lumbee The Lumbee, also known as People of the Dark Water, are a mixed-race community primarily located in Robeson County, North Carolina, which claims to be descended from myriad Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands who once inhabited th ...

Piscataway Piscataway may refer to: *Maryland (place) **Piscataway, Maryland, an unincorporated community ** Piscataway Creek, Maryland ** Piscataway Park, historical park at the mouth of Piscataway Creek ** Siege of Piscataway, siege of Susquehannock fort sou ...

, and

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

peoples. The Piscataway people live in

Southern Maryland Southern Maryland, also referred to as SoMD, is a geographical, cultural and historic region in Maryland composed of the state's southernmost counties on the Western Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. According to the state of Maryland, the region incl ...

and are recognized by the state of Maryland. The Lumbee and Cherokee are Indigenous to

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

and neighboring states of the

Southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also known as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical List of regions in the United States, region of the United States located in the eastern portion of the Southern United States and t ...

. Many of the Lumbee and Cherokee migrated to Baltimore during the mid-20th century along with other migrants from the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

, such as

African-Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

and

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

Appalachians The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America. The term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range, and its surrounding terrain ...

. The Lumbee are state recognized in North Carolina as the

Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is a state-recognized tribe in North Carolina. The tribe represents Lumbee people. They have federal recognition as a Native American tribe but do not receive the benefits accorded to most other federally-recog ...

, but have no state recognition in Maryland. The

Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), (Cherokee language, Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᏱ ᏕᏣᏓᏂᎸᎩ, ''Tsalagiyi Detsadanilvgi'') is a List of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States, federally recognized Indian Tribe, ...

in North Carolina are a federally recognized tribe. There are three state recognized tribes in Maryland; the

Piscataway-Conoy Tribe of Maryland The Piscataway Conoy Tribe of Maryland is a Native American tribe recognized by the state of Maryland. They identify as descendants of the Piscataway people. History Prior to European contact, the Piscataway Conoy Tribe was a part of a confedera ...

, the

Piscataway Indian Nation and Tayac Territory The Piscataway Indian Nation ( or ,), also called Piscataway Indian Nation Inc. is a state-recognized tribe in Maryland who identify as descendants of the historic Piscataway people. At the time of European encounter, the Piscataway was one of t ...

, and the

Accohannock Indian Tribe The Accohannock Indian Tribe, Inc. is a state-recognized tribe in Maryland and a nonprofit organization of individuals who identify as descendants of the Accohannock people. The Accohannock Indian Tribe is not federally recognized as a Native A ...

. Maryland has no federally recognized tribes.

Demographics

As of the 2000 United States Census, there were 6,976 Native Americans in the

Baltimore metropolitan area The Baltimore–Columbia–Towson Metropolitan Statistical Area, also known as Central Maryland, is a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in Maryland as defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB). It is part of the larger ...

, making up 0.3% of the area's population. In 2013, 370

people and 87

Navajo people The Navajo or Diné are an Native Americans in the United States, Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Navajo language, Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Din ...

lived in Baltimore city, 0.1% and 0.0% of the population respectively. No residents of Baltimore were Chippewa or

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin ( ; Dakota/ Lakota: ) are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations people from the Great Plains of North America. The Sioux have two major linguistic divisions: the Dakota and Lakota peoples (translati ...

. As of September 2014, speakers of

Native American languages The Indigenous languages of the Americas are the languages that were used by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas Pre-Columbian era, before the arrival of non-Indigenous peoples. Over a thousand of these languages are still used today, while m ...

were the twenty-seventh largest group of language speakers in Baltimore.

Pre-history

The Baltimore area had been inhabited by Native Americans since at least the

10th millennium BC The 10th millennium BC spanned the years 10,000 BC to 9001 BC (c. 12 ka to c. 11 ka). It marks the beginning of the transition from the Palaeolithic to the Neolithic via the interim Mesolithic (Northern Europe and Western Europe) a ...

, when

Paleo-Indians Paleo-Indians were the first peoples who entered and subsequently inhabited the Americas towards the end of the Late Pleistocene period. The prefix ''paleo-'' comes from . The term ''Paleo-Indians'' applies specifically to the lithic period in ...

first settled in the region. One Paleo-Indian site and several Archaic period and

Woodland period In the classification of :category:Archaeological cultures of North America, archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 BC to European contact i ...

archaeological sites have been identified in Baltimore, including four from the

Late Woodland period In the classification of archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 BC to European contact in the eastern part of North America, with some arch ...

. During the Late Woodland period, the

archaeological culture An archaeological culture is a recurring assemblage of types of artifacts, buildings and monuments from a specific period and region that may constitute the material culture remains of a particular past human society. The connection between thes ...

that is called the "Potomac Creek complex" resided in the area from Baltimore to the

Rappahannock River The Rappahannock River is a river in eastern Virginia, in the United States, approximately in length.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 It traverses the enti ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, primarily along the

Potomac River The Potomac River () is in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and flows from the Potomac Highlands in West Virginia to Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography D ...

downstream from the

Fall Line A fall line (or fall zone) is the area where an upland region and a coastal plain meet and is noticeable especially the place rivers cross it, with resulting rapids or waterfalls. The uplands are relatively hard crystalline basement rock, and the ...

Early history

In the early 1600s, the immediate Baltimore vicinity was sparsely populated, if at all, by

Native Americans Native Americans or Native American usually refers to Native Americans in the United States. Related terms and peoples include: Ethnic groups * Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the pre-Columbian peoples of North, South, and Central America ...

. The Baltimore County area northward was used as hunting grounds by the

Susquehannock The Susquehannock, also known as the Conestoga, Minquas, and Andaste, were an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian people who lived in the lower Susquehanna River watershed in what is now Pennsylvania. Their name means “people of the muddy river.” T ...

s living in the lower

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River ( ; Unami language, Lenape: ) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, crossing three lower Northeastern United States, Northeast states (New York, Pennsylvani ...

valley who "controlled all of the upper tributaries of the Chesapeake" but "refrained from much contact with

Powhatan Powhatan people () are Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands who belong to member tribes of the Powhatan Confederacy, or Tsenacommacah. They are Algonquian peoples whose historic territories were in eastern Virginia. Their Powh ...

in the Potomac region." Pressured by the Susquehannocks, the

Piscataway tribe The Piscataway or Piscatawa , are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. They spoke Algonquian Piscataway, a regional dialect similar to Nanticoke. The neighboring Haudenosaunee, called them the Conoy, with whom they partly me ...

Algonquians The Algonquians are one of the most populous and widespread North American indigenous American groups, consisting of the peoples who speak Algonquian languages. They historically were prominent along the Atlantic Coast and in the interior reg ...

stayed well south of the Baltimore area and inhabited primarily the north bank of the

in what is now

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...

and southern Prince George's south of the

as depicted on John Smith's 1608 map which faithfully mapped settlements, mapped none in the Baltimore vicinity, while noting a dozen

Patuxent River The Patuxent River is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay in the state of Maryland. There are three main river drainages for central Maryland: the Potomac River to the west passing through Washington, D.C., the Patapsco River to the northeas ...

settlements that were under some degree of Piscataway

suzerainty A suzerain (, from Old French "above" + "supreme, chief") is a person, state (polity)">state or polity who has supremacy and dominant influence over the foreign policy">polity.html" ;"title="state (polity)">state or polity">state (polity)">st ...

. In 1608, Captain John Smith traveled 210 miles from Jamestown to the uppermost

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Ea ...

, leading the first European expedition to the

Patapsco River The Patapsco River ( ) mainstem is a river in central Maryland that flows into the Chesapeake Bay. The river's tidal portion forms the harbor for the city of Baltimore. With its South Branch, the Patapsco forms the northern border of Howar ...

, a word used by the

Algonquin language Algonquin (also spelled Algonkin; in Algonquin: or ) is either a distinct Algonquian languages, Algonquian language closely related to the Ojibwe language or a particularly divergent Ojibwe language dialects, Ojibwe dialect. It is spoken, alon ...

natives who fished shellfish and hunted. The name "Patapsco" is derived from ''pota-psk-ut'', which translates to "backwater" or "tide covered with froth" in Algonquian dialect. The

was named after the

Chesapeake Chesapeake most often refers to: *Chesapeake people, a Native American tribe also known as the Chesepian *Chesapeake Bay *Delmarva Peninsula, also known as the Chesapeake Peninsula Chesapeake may also refer to: Populated places In Virginia * ...

tribe of Virginia. "Chesapeake" is derived from the Algonquian word ''Chesepiooc'' referring to a village "at a big river." It is the seventh oldest surviving English place-name in the U.S., first applied as "Chesepiook" by explorers heading north from the

Roanoke Colony The Roanoke Colony ( ) refers to two attempts by Sir Walter Raleigh to found the first permanent English settlement in North America. The first colony was established at Roanoke Island in 1585 as a military outpost, and was evacuated in 1586. ...

into a Chesapeake tributary in 1585 or 1586. In 2005, Algonquian linguist Blair A. Rudes "helped to dispel one of the area's most widely held beliefs: that 'Chesapeake' means something like 'Great Shellfish Bay.' It does not, Rudes said. The name might actually mean something like 'Great Water,' or it might have been just a village at the bay's mouth." Soon after John Smith's voyage, English colonists began to settle in Maryland. The English were initially frightened by the Piscataway because of their body paint and war regalia, even though they were a peaceful tribe. The chief of the Piscataway was quick to grant the English permission to settle within Piscataway territory and cordial relations were established between the English and the Piscataway. Beginning in the 1620s, English settlers from the

Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia was a British Empire, British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776. The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colo ...

began to trade with the Algonquians, in particular the

of Southern Maryland. Because the northern part of the Chesapeake Bay area had more trees, there were also more beavers. The colonists from Virginia traded English cloth and metal tools in exchange for beaver pelts. This trade was supported by Lord Baltimore, who felt that more revenue could be gained from taxation of the fur trade than from tobacco farming. Lord Baltimore also wanted to maintain friendly relations with the native Algonquians in order to create a buffer from the

, an

Iroquoian The Iroquoian languages () are a language family of indigenous peoples of North America. They are known for their general lack of labial consonants. The Iroquoian languages are polysynthetic and head-marking. As of 2020, almost all surviving I ...

-speaking tribe to the north that was hostile to the English presence. In exchange for cooperation with the English colonists, tribes on the Eastern Shore of the United States were given grants from English proprietors that protected their lands. The tribes paid for the grants by exchanging beaver belts. A number of English fur traders help pay the rents for Native Americans in order to prevent tobacco farmers from driving Native Americans off of their lands. Nonetheless, English tobacco farmers gradually acquired more and more land from Native Americans, which hindered Native Americans from moving around freely in search of food. While the English had established treaties with Native Americans that protected their rights to "hunting, fowling, crabbing, and fishing", in practice the English did not respect the treaties and Native Americans were eventually moved to reservations. In 1642, the

Province of Maryland The Province of Maryland was an Kingdom of England, English and later British colonization of the Americas, British colony in North America from 1634 until 1776, when the province was one of the Thirteen Colonies that joined in supporting the A ...

declared war on several Native American groups, including the

s. The Susquehannocks were armed with guns they had received from Swedish colonists in the settlement of

New Sweden New Sweden () was a colony of the Swedish Empire between 1638 and 1655 along the lower reaches of the Delaware River in what is now Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Established during the Thirty Years' War when Sweden was a g ...

. The Swedes were friendly with the Susquehannock and wanted to maintain a trading relationship, in addition to wanting to prevent the English from expanding their presence further into

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

. With the assistance of the Swedes, the Susquehannock defeated the English in 1644. On July 5 of 1652, the Susquehannock signed a treaty with the colonists and ceded large tracts of land to the colony. The tribe had suffered a recent loss in a war with the Iroquois, and could not maintain two wars at once. Because both the Susquehannock and the English considered the Iroquois to be their enemy, they decided to cooperate to prevent Iroquois expansion into their territories. This alliance between the Susquehannock and the English lasted for 20 years. However, the English badly treated their Susquehannock allies. In 1674, the English forced the Susquehannock to relocate to the shores of the

Modern history

The

are originally from

, where they are concentrated in

Robeson County Robeson County ( )Talk Like a Tarheel
, from the North Carolina C ...

. The Lumbee are recognized as the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina by the state of North Carolina, but do not have

federal recognition This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes are legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United States.

. During the early and mid-20th century, the same wave of migration that brought large numbers of

African Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa ...

from the

Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion of the Southern United States. The term is used to describe the states which were most economically dependent on Plantation complexes in the Southern United States, plant ...

and

poor white Poor White is a sociocultural classification used to describe economically disadvantaged Whites in the English-speaking world, especially White Americans with low incomes. In the United States, Poor White is the historical classification f ...

people from

Appalachia Appalachia ( ) is a geographic region located in the Appalachian Mountains#Regions, central and southern sections of the Appalachian Mountains in the east of North America. In the north, its boundaries stretch from the western Catskill Mountai ...

also brought many people from the Lumbee tribe. The

Baltimore American Indian Center The Baltimore American Indian Center, Inc. (BAIC) is a center for History of the Native Americans in Baltimore, American Indians that is located in Upper Fell's Point, Baltimore, Maryland. The center was founded in 1968 as the "American Indian ...

was established in 1968 in order to serve the needs of this community. In 2011 the center established a Native American heritage museum, including exhibits on Lumbee art and culture. The

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

Lumbee and other Native Americans in Baltimore are concentrated in the 6 blocks around

Baltimore Street This is a list of notable streets in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. A B D E F G K M P R Numbered streets See also * List of roads in Baltimore County, Maryland References {{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Stre ...

in East Baltimore. This community is the largest Lumbee community outside of the Lumbee's tribal territory. As of 1993 there were 4,300 Lumbee in Maryland, 2,500 of whom resided in Baltimore between Fleet and Fayette streets, Broadway and Milton Avenue. At the time, the South Baltimore Baptist Church at 211 S. Broadway had a congregation that was approximately 95% Lumbee. The Lumbee tend to be poor. Native Americans in Baltimore, the vast majority of whom are Lumbee, have the lowest income level of any ethnic or racial group, including white people, African-Americans, Asians, and Hispanics. High levels of unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse, and domestic violence are problems that plague the community. Over a third fall below the poverty line and the average Lumbee only has an eighth grade level education. In 2017, Native American activists in Baltimore urged the city council to replace

Columbus Day Columbus Day is a national holiday in many countries of the Americas and elsewhere, and a federal holiday in the United States, which officially celebrates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas. He went ashore at ...

with

Indigenous Peoples' Day Indigenous Peoples' Day may refer to: * International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, a United Nations event recognised as a public holiday in various countries observed annually on 9 August * Indigenous Peoples' Day (United States) Indi ...

. The Baltimore American Indian Center co-hosts an Indigenous Peoples' Day event. Bills to replace Columbus Day have so far been unable to pass the Baltimore City Council. In August 2017, a monument to Christopher Columbus was vandalized. The unidentified vandals declared the monument to be racist and denounced "European capitalism" and claimed that Christopher Columbus symbolizes "terrorism, murder, genocide, rape, slavery, ecological degradation and capitalist exploitation" directed against Native Americans and African Americans. The

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is the public health graduate school of Johns Hopkins University, a private university, private research university primarily based in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded as the Johns Hopkins ...

have a

land acknowledgement A land acknowledgement (or territorial acknowledgement) is a formal statement that acknowledges the indigenous peoples of the land. It may be in written form, or be spoken at the beginning of public events. The custom of land acknowledgement is p ...

which states that the institution is located on "unceded lands of the Piscataway and Susquehannock peoples" and which recognizes "the enduring presence of more than 7,000 indigenous peoples in Baltimore City, including the Piscataway, Lumbee, and Eastern Band of Cherokee community members." The statement also states that the institution acknowledges "the history of genocide and ongoing systemic inequities while respecting treaties made on this territory..." so that the university community can be held "accountable to tribal nations."

Notable Native Americans from Baltimore

Shan Goshorn Shan Goshorn (July 3, 1957 – December 1, 2018) was an Eastern Band Cherokee artist, who lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her interdisciplinary artwork expresses human rights issues, especially those that affect Native American people today. Goshorn use ...

, an

Eastern Band Cherokee The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), (Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᏱ ᏕᏣᏓᏂᎸᎩ, ''Tsalagiyi Detsadanilvgi'') is a federally recognized Indian tribe based in western North Carolina in the United States. They are descended from the small ...

artist.

References

External links

A wow of a Pow Wow
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Best Ways To Celebrate Native American History And Culture In BaltimoreFreddie Gray and Baltimore's Urban Indians
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Indian Country Today Media Network ''ICT'' (formerly known as ''Indian Country Today'') is a nonprofit, multimedia news platform that covers the Indigenous world, with a particular focus on American Indian, Alaska Native and First Nations communities across North America. Fo ...

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Is Baltimore Like a Reservation for Non-Indians?
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Native American LifeLines Baltimore

Native Americans keep culture aliveThe dance of history
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'' {{Native Americans in Maryland

History of Baltimore