The earliest record of an enslaved person residing in the Flag House can be found in the 1810 census. Their gender and age are unknown. Maryland’s enslaved population was considered taxable property, giving us varying degrees of information for those owned by Mary Pickersgill during her time at the Flag House. From 1810 and over the following fifty-five years, many more enslaved persons, some as young as 3, are listed in Mary Pickersgill’s tax records and deed to her daughter Caroline Purdy.

In 2020, the Flag House received an Institute of Museum and Library Services Inspire! Grant for Small Museums in support of a reimagining of our interpretive plan. A museum’s interpretive plan is a blueprint that guides a mission-based communication process that forges emotional and intellectual connections between the interests of the audience and the meanings inherent in the resource. Facilitating meaningful, relevant, and inclusive experiences that deepen understanding, broaden perspectives, and inspire engagement with the world around us. A small but impactful part of the interpretive planning process was conducting new research to build upon the institutional timeline. The Flag House and historian Dr. Stephen T. Whitman had already made one groundbreaking discovery when the indenture for free African American apprentice Grave Wisher was discovered in the early 2000s, challenging what was previously known about the Flag House’s residents and subverting the founders of the Flag House Association’s attempts to whitewash the history of the Flag House in their attempts to Americanize (civilize) and nationalize Baltimore’s students and immigrant population. As the interpretive planning and research process began, it was clear that the story of the Flag House and the making of the Star-Spangled Banner had been purposefully simplified in an effort to make Mary Pickersgill an American “founding-mother” figure in the early part of the twentieth century.

The team discovered 8 to 10 enslaved people living alongside free Black and white indentured persons. In an effort to rectify their previous exclusion from the Flag House’s historical narrative, these individuals are listed below, with their gender and age listed if known. Their perceived monetary worth is listed as a reminder that enslaved persons were considered property and taxable under Baltimore tax assessments.

• 1 enslaved person, unknown – 1810 census
• 1 enslaved black female, under 10 | 1 enslaved black female, 24 – under 36 – 1830 census
• 3 male slaves under 10 – 1840 census
• 2 enslaved people: Emily, age 16, and Julia, age 12 – 1846 tax assessment
• 1 black enslaved female, age 20 (possibly Emily listed in the 1846 tax assessment) – 1850 Slave Schedule
• 2 enslaved women: Emily, age 23 ($300), and Julia, age 19 ($200) – 1852 tax assessment
• Emily (30), Jane (24), Julia (24), and Maurice/Morris (3) – 1857 deed of Mary Pickersgill to Caroline Pickersgill Purdy

By 1860 Baltimore’s enslaved population had dwindled to 2,218 (1,541 female; 667 male). Caroline Pickersgill Purdy was one of 1,296 Baltimore households to hold someone in slavery. Emily and Maurice were still enslaved by Caroline at the time of the emancipation of Maryland’s enslaved population in November 1864.

In the summer of 2022, volunteer researcher Jacky Shin discovered what the interpretive planning team had considered only a long shot – she located Maurice/Morris Brooks (Morris will be used from this point forward as this is the name most common in records after 1870). Born into slavery at the Flag House on February 24, 1855, to Emily (enslaved by Mary Pickersgill beginning around 1846), had remained with Caroline Purdy as late as 1870. In the 1870 census Caroline Purdy, aged 70, is listed with four other members of the household: Emily Brooks, 40, house servant; Morris Brooks, 16, M, drives wagon; Joseph Brooks, 8; and infant girl with no name, 2 months. In earlier tax assessments and the 1857 deed, Emily is listed as “mulatto.” Presuming that Emily and Morris were white-passing, it makes sense that they are listed as such in the 1870 census, and it stands to reason that up until this point, they have been overlooked. But it seems clear that these are the same Emily and Morris enslaved by Pickersgill and Purdy before emancipation.    

Throughout the late 19th century and into the 20th, the Brooks family have close ties with the Poppleton neighborhood and Sarah Ann Street, home to working-class African Americans throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Morris and possibly Joseph appears to have been employed by political boss Joe Kelly, a saloon owner, and staunch anti-prohibitionist.

In 1878, Morris Brooks, driver, and Joseph Brooks, laborer, living at 86, Harmony Lane. In 1880 Morris Brooks, a driver is living at 84 Harmony Lane with his wife, Hannah, laundress, and Joseph Brooks, driver. The two brothers stay close to each other their whole lives. According to the 1880 census, Morris Brooks, 23, M, B, laborer, is living with his wife Hannah, 19, F, B, keeping house; Joseph, 18, M, B, laborer; and Emma, 48, F, B, mother, washerwoman (widowed).  

In the 1890 directory, Morris Brooks, laborer, and Joseph J. Brooks, waiter, are listed as living at 934 Sarah Ann. In 1892 Emily and Joseph were living at 1110 N Parish, and Morris, Laborer at 919 Sarah Ann. In 1898 Morris Brooks, a driver is at 1113 Sarah Ann. In 1901 he was living at 222 n Carlton, and Joseph is living at 1109 Sarah Ann. In 1905 both brothers were arrested; they are involved in an altercation over politics. According to the police report, Joseph is 42 and a laborer; Morris is 51 and a laborer; both are married. Joseph and Morris Brooks are described in The Baltimore Sun (reporting on their arrest) as living at 313 North Poppleton Street.

Morris Brooks and his brother Joseph Brooks are buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery, a historically Black cemetery in east Baltimore. 

From Resurrecting Mount Auburn Cemetery:

Located in the Westport/Mount Winans community of Baltimore, Mount Auburn Cemetery is one of the city’s largest African American cemeteries. Founded in 1872 by Reverend James Peck, the cemetery is the final resting place for former slaves, clergymen, teachers, doctors, military veterans, and Civil Rights leaders, as well as countless African-American families.

Notable burials include:

• Lille Mae Jackson Carroll (1889-1975) – Civil Rights leader and President of the Baltimore branch of the NAACP
• Joseph Gans (1874-1910) – the first African American lightweight boxing champion
• Joseph “Tunnel Joe” Holmes (d. 1973) – the only inmate of the Maryland Penitentiary to escape by digging his way out with a spoon
• John Henry Murphy (d. 1922) – the founder of the Afro-American newspaper
• Dr. N. Louise Young (1907-1997) – the first African American woman to practice medicine in Maryland
• Dr. Howard E. Young – Maryland’s first African American pharmacist

Over the years, the cemetery suffered from periods of neglect and vandalism. Articles and photographs published in the Afro-American revealed the deteriorating condition of the cemetery. Dense, overgrown briars prevented family members from locating the graves of loved ones. In October 1944, the Afro-American reported that “The graves themselves present a contrast of raw clay mounds, sunken pits, muddy trenches and weedy plots above which the marble and granite markers made a desperate effort toward dignity.” Periodically, volunteers attempted to clear dense brush and mow the grass, but maintaining a cemetery is a year-round, expensive endeavor – reportedly costing $25,000 per year – and the cemetery lacks a perpetual care fund. Without a regular maintenance plan, the landscape quickly became overgrown and weed-choked once again.

Recently, access to the cemetery has been made possible through the efforts of the inmates participating in the state prison system’s Public Safety Works program. Thanks to their hard work clearing debris, cutting down overgrown brush, and mowing grass, families are now able to visit the graves of loved ones. The worn boundary wall has been replaced with new fencing, and a new arch adorns the entrance on Waterview Avenue.

For more information about Mount Auburn Cemetery, a listing of burials, and information about the Lost Neighborhoods Project, visit – Maryland State Archives, Lost Neighborhoods Project, Resurrecting Mount Auburn Cemetery, http://mountauburn.msa.maryland.gov/