Frostburg, MD
Brownsville and Frostburg State University
The Brownsville Project + Frostburg State University
Brownsville was a post-emancipation Western Maryland community cultivated by formerly enslaved people that began in 1866. Local and state entities launched a targeted displacement campaign over an almost 100 year span for the expansion of Frostburg State University. By 1927, the original Brownsville was erased. By 1959, most Black families were forced out of the area. At that point, people stopped talking about Brownsville. Today, most descendants reference Park Avenue where many families moved in the first wave of displacement. This historic African-American community that once thrived in the Appalachian region of Maryland has now been erased. The Brownsville Project is a grassroots, community-led organization dedicated to reparative work and narrative change that revitalizes the history of Brownsville and shines a light on similar stories of suppressed history across the nation. The Brownsville Project has engaged the Frostburg and surrounding communities in truth and reconciliation work through live performance, social discourse, and public art. In 2024, a public art piece illustrating the cartographic record of Brownsville was erected on Main Street in front of the Frostburg Museum. This marks the first permanent acknowledgement of the Brownsville community beyond the university campus. This art piece, in large part, was made possible by forensic genealogical and historical research, which has led to a collection of deeds, bills of sale, and a historical analysis of Brownsville residents’ displacement for the expansion of Frostburg State University.
Our Work
The Brownsville Project is proud to partner with Solidarity Arts & Education Decolonial Initiatives (SAEDi) Collective on a groundbreaking community-based participatory archiving project. This collaboration is rooted in the belief that Black communities must have the power to reclaim, preserve, and tell their own histories—especially when official records fail to acknowledge the violence of displacement and erasure.
Many African American elders who lived through the dismantling of their communities have never had the opportunity to add their voices to the historical record. This project creates a space where Brownsville descendants can shape the narrative of their community’s past and future through storytelling, artistic interpretation, and archival research.
Through this partnership, we are:
- Facilitating participatory archiving with Brownsville descendants to document family histories and lived experiences.
- Supporting the interpretation of artistic and genealogical research that traces Brownsville’s history.
- Developing best practices for community-led archiving, ensuring that descendants have agency in how their stories are collected and shared.
“Anchors of Endurance” is a sculpture memorializing the history, geography, and impact of the displaced Brownsville/Park Ave community. This community-led art initiative was a collaborative project between The Frostburg Museum, Frostburg First, and the descendants of Brownsville/Park Ave, who hand-stamped the sculpture in a private ceremony. As we continue to reckon with the erasure of Brownsville and displacement of its people, this sculpture is a critical public recognition of Brownsville’s existence and lasting impact.