I would nominate Will Schwarz for Marylander of the Year, and not because he’s a friend of mine — and producer of my 1990’s TV show and director of my play, “Baltimore, You Have No Idea.” But because of what he did to enlighten his fellow Marylanders and stir our collective conscience. Will, who had a long career as a television and video producer, served these past seven years as president of the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project. He devoted countless hours to a statewide reckoning, leading others in an effort to get the people of Maryland alive today to recognize the racist horrors that were committed by earlier generations.

I wrote a couple of Sun columns about the project, the whole time awed by my friend’s commitment to this cause. Will has written his last newsletter as the project’s president — he has just resigned — and I thought the best way to make you aware of his work was to reprint it here.

It has been the privilege of a lifetime to lead this organization for nearly seven years. After raising my three children it is by far the most important work I’ve ever done. The MLMP was founded in March 2018, just weeks after we held a soil collection in Towson, in cooperation with the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), at the old Baltimore County Jail, the site where 15-year-old Howard Cooper was lynched in 1885. Despite the lack of publicity, about 25 people showed up on a cold, grey February morning to honor the memory of that child and to call attention to the racial terror that killed him. The turnout at the soil collection surprised me, but I was absolutely stunned a few months later when hundreds of people showed up for our first “Lynching in Maryland” conference. 

The shameful history of racial terror in this country had been ignored or dismissed for generations. The crowd at our first conference demonstrated a genuine hunger to learn about it and an expectation that it should be reckoned with.  It was an exciting day, and an inspiring one. There’s something very energizing about being in a room with total strangers who share your values. There is no doubt that first conference galvanized interest in the subject in Maryland. Within days we began fielding calls from groups all over the state who were interested in forming local coalitions to pursue “truth and reconciliation” work. 

Here are some of the achievements that have been realized since that 2018 conference:

— There are now coalitions working in 14 of the 17 counties where we know lynchings took place. The MLMP created or helped form almost all of them and offers coalitions a host of benefits, including fiscal sponsorship; individual coalition websites and donation pages; funding and support for community remembrance projects; a platform for coalitions to share news of events and achievements.

Thanks to the leadership of Del. Joseline Peña-Melnyk, the state government created the Maryland Lynching Truth & Reconciliation Commission (MLTRC), the first of its kind in the country.

MLMP and the Lewis Museum recently opened the permanent Lynching in Maryland exhibit at the Lewis. Soil collected at 24 of the 38 known lynching sites in the state is on display at the Lynching in Maryland exhibit.

EJI historical markers are now installed in five locations around the state. Three independent historical markers are installed in Montgomery County.

Two award-winning films we produced on the Armwood (1933) and Cooper (1885) lynchings have been viewed more than 164,000 times on YouTube.

MLMP created a digital archive of documents and artifacts related to lynching in Maryland.

Inspired by a class of 8th graders in Baltimore County, former Governor Larry Hogan issued posthumous pardons for 34 lynching victims, acknowledging that Maryland failed to protect them or provide the due process to which they were entitled.

MLMP helped fund the Maryland Lynching Oral History Project and trained coalition members to conduct interviews in their own communities.

MLMP and the coalitions offer a robust schedule of public programming on the topic of racial terror and other social justice issues. Events include film and book panels, town halls, bus tours, etc.It is clear from this record that Marylanders have embraced a culture of accountability about the state’s history of racial terror and have shown the courage and determination to confront it.  

I am grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of this reckoning. That it has come late in my life makes it that much sweeter. None of this would have been possible without the love and support of my wife, Nancy Grace, and my sister, Barbara Gaines.

Strangely, I feel less jaded and more hopeful today, at the end of my tenure, than I did at the beginning. It’s an unexpected benefit of having the good fortune to meet and work with so many kind, decent and dedicated people. I’m not sure what I expected when I started out, but I never imagined the joy it would bring. It’s a gift. 

In January, Amy Millin will become the President of the MLMP. Many of you already know Amy as our Treasurer, a co-leader of the Baltimore County LMP and an “at-large” Commissioner on the MLTRC. Amy is a skilled leader: tireless, responsive, thorough, committed, thoughtful and kind. I appreciate everything she has done to support MLMP and thankful she has agreed to serve as our next President. Above all, I am grateful for her friendship. 

To everyone who has shared this journey: Thank you for supporting MLMP over the past seven years. Thank you for your kindness and your friendship. Thank you for working to advance the cause of racial reconciliation and, in doing so, affirming the values we share and that bring us together still: justice, dignity and decency.

Truth first.
Will

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Published by Dan Rodricks

Dan Rodricks is a former long-time columnist for The Baltimore Sun, winner of numerous national and regional journalism awards, a radio and TV personality, podcaster and fly angler. His narrative memoir, "Father's Day Creek," was published in May 2019 by Apprentice House at Loyola University Maryland.

5 thoughts on “Among Maryland’s great citizens: Will Schwarz”

  3. It’s just remarkable how one can seize a topic like this and develop it into an idea and movement that raises awareness at a time when others have ignored or forgotten what racism and persecution can do to people and society. Thank you, Will, for enlightening us, and thank you, Dan, for sharing.

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  4. Thank you for sharing Will’s newsletter. such dedication to truth is inspiring!   Constance D. Robinson115 Spring Valley DriveAnnapolis, MD 21403410-990-0118 home410-533-0991 cell “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”

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