Frederick Douglass is by far Talbot County’s most famous native, and with good reason.  But there’s another Talbot native who survived slavery and went on to make significant and lasting contributions to the citizens of the county that still have impact today.

The name Nathaniel “Nace” Hopkins might not be as familiar as Douglass’s, but he is a Talbot County legend.  His story has been told occasionally through the decades — but it can never be told enough.  What Frederick Douglass was for the Nation, Hopkins was for Talbot County.  He was a well-respected, well liked man of his time who helped the county move forward in the post-Civil War era.  

Nace Hopkins was born an enslaved person near Bellevue and enlisted in the Union Army on November 20, 1863, to serve in the newly formed United States Colored Troops (USCT).  Whether he was still enslaved or a freeman at the time of his enlistment has remained uncertain.  During that period, it was common to free enslaved persons in their early to mid-30’s.  This may not be as altruistic as it seems, since Maryland law required slave owners to care for enslaved persons for the rest of their lives once they reached age 45 or at any earlier age if they became disabled or infirmed.  This led to many emancipations while they were in their early 30’s and still able bodied and was a contributing reason why nearly half of Talbot County’s black population was free at the start of the Civil War.  

Past written accounts of Nathaniel Hopkins record his birth year between 1830 and 1834.  Reviewing Nace’s death certificate and tombstone however, place his date of birth as January 18, 1834.  Additional research and consultation with local historian James Dawson leads to the belief that Nace was most likely enslaved at the time of his enlistment and was probably recruited when the Union was actively recruiting free and enslaved black men on the Eastern Shore. 

Nace’s military career was short.  He was released on furlough on January 4, 1864, for sickness and “varicose veins.”  But sometime things happen for a reason, as the saying goes, and history had other plans for Nace.  Those plans were soon to be revealed. 

Although Nace was illiterate, he was a natural leader and orator.  He was known for being a man of his word and his descendants described Nace as always trying to help people — black and white.  Family members who knew him were quoted as saying, “He accomplished whatever he had to do for his people” and he “planted his feet solidly on the ground and walked tall and strait with a look of determination.”  

His natural leadership abilities, along with the respect of Talbot County citizens that he received, can be seen in the retelling of a story about the arrangements Nace made with a local farmer.  Seeing a large pile of corn in a farmer’s barn, Nace made an agreement that he and some men would husk that corn in exchange for a feast of ham, cakes, and some hard cider.  The farmer agreed to have “Aunt Ruth” cook the ham and provide the meal and cider.  Nace arrived early on the appointed date to begin husking corn but the men he invited never appeared.  Later that evening he heard sounds of revelry across the creek in the direction of Aunt Ruth’s.  Upon investigating, Nace found his invited guests making merry instead of fulfilling their commitment.  After some choice words, he marched them over to the corn pile and kept them at it until the wee hours of the morning and the last ear was husked. 

Nathanial Hopkins is credited for helping to establish the Talbot County school system’s first black school in Trappe in 1878.  Specifically, he’s been noted for his assistance in procuring the land for the school.  Nace was also instrumental in building another school in the black community of Barber, originally called the Manassas School, to which he received a nomination as trustee. 

Hopkins was one of the original members to incorporate the Ashbury Methodist Episcopal Church with the cornerstone laid for the new building in 1869.  The church is now the Scotts United Methodist Church in Trappe and is named for the Rev. Levi Scott, who was the presiding Bishop for the area.  

After the Civil War, many black communities were established throughout Talbot, and Nathanial Hopkins did his part.  He helped procure 23 acres approximately four miles southeast of Trappe to establish the community of Eastfield and worked with the county to establish a proper road to the new town.  In 1888, Hopkins, along with three other black men — Daniel Joshua, James Nixon, and Robinson Sewell, were appointed Road Supervisors for the Trappe district by the Talbot County Commissioners. Nace and these men were essential to maintaining and upgrading the road system in the Trappe area. 

Hopkins also contributed to Talbot County politics.  Although he never ran for political office, Nace put his oratory and organizational skills to good use.   Along with his friend Joe Gray (also a former enslaved person), he worked diligently to “get out the black vote.”  Nace and Joe gave numerous speeches nearing election day and they are greatly credited for getting many Republicans elected to local positions during that period.

One of Nathanial Hopkins’s most celebrated accomplishments has had a lasting impact upon all Talbot citizens to this day.  In the summer of 1867, Nace, along with friends Jeremiah Thomas and Morris Trippe, decided to celebrate the Emancipation of Maryland’s enslaved persons, which occurred on November 1, 1864, by organizing a parade and official celebration.  Nace worked diligently towards the endeavor by training local boys and girls to drill with music provided from a drum, flute, accordion, and tambourine, borrowed from neighbors.  He traveled throughout Talbot asking for and securing assistance. 

The citizens of Talbot, both black and white, pitched in providing many needed items and money.  Nace secured permission from the County Commissioners to use the streets of Trappe for his planned parade and celebration.  November 1, 1867 was the designated day for the first celebration. That day, wagons with stoves and food arrived at sunrise.  Some of Trappe’s town folks had placed kitchen stoves in their front yards to prepare meals for the visitors attending the celebration.  The day began with a prayer service and an 11 o’clock church service. 

The parade was led by Nathaniel Hopkins himself, with his Aunt Audy Nixon by his side carrying her bible.  Nace was dressed in his Union uniform with gold epaulettes and sash, a Lincoln styled top hat and a sword from the Knights of Columbus.  Behind Nace and Aunt Audy came the young drill team marching to the beat of the music played by Nace’s sons, Charles and Alexander and the sons of George Brummell playing the borrowed instruments.  Next in line were men in uniform, men on horses, and finally colorfully decorated wagons.  After the parade the celebrants gathered at the church to listen to speeches from many orators, including Nace.  Then the fun began, with games and events for the kids, horse racing and, of course, good Eastern Shore cooking featuring the region’s bounty of food.  

The celebration was so successful it became an annual tradition. Nathaniel Hopkins continued to plan and lead the parade with his Aunt Audy by his side until his death thirty-three years later.  Eventually, the parade became known as the “Nace’s Day” parade and grew with bands and marchers coming from not just the Eastern Shore, but Baltimore, Delaware and New Jersey as well.  The church services, good food and entertainment continued.  After Nace’s death the celebration started including a prayer service at Nace’s gravesite and the playing of taps over his marker.  

The parade and celebration continued every year until it was interrupted by World War I.  The Maryland Emancipation celebration has, however, been held many times since, with the latest in 2019.  Former members of The St Michaels High School Band recall marching in the Nace’s Day parades of the 1980’s.  The 1976 celebration included the unveiling of a roadside marker on Route 50 commemorating Nathaniel Hopkins that reads: “Nathaniel (Nace) Hopkins, Leader of his People Who was Born a Slave circa 1830; Fought for Union in Civil War; Originated Annual Trappe Emancipation Day Celebration, 1867 and Headed it until his Death in 1900.  One of the Founders of Scott’s Methodist Church.  Helped Establish First “Colored Schools” at Trappe and Barber.  Buried in Old Paradise Cemetery on this Site.  

This celebration of Emancipation Day was considered the first and only in the State of Maryland, and one of the first in the United States.  It was an incredible accomplishment for the time.  The history of the citizens of Talbot, both black and white, coming together to organize and celebrate Emancipation Day, is something we all can be proud of. 

I look forward to the next fall day where we again can come together in celebration of Maryland’s Emancipation Day and to celebrate our incredible Talbot ancestor who contributed so much during his life – and to enjoy more of that great Eastern Shore food!

Paul Callahan is a Talbot native, a graduate of Saints Peter & Paul High School and the Catholic University of America and served as an Officer in the United States Marine Corp. 

Sources for this article include “Irregularities in Abundance – An Anecdotal History of Trappe District in Talbot Co Md” by James Dawson which incorporates various other sources, numerous past newspaper accounts to include Easton’s Star Democrat, The Baltimore Sun and The Times Daily (Salisbury Md)

Illustrations by John Raschka

It is not every day that a former student and now good friend gets engaged at the White House, but, on December 13, 2022, Rod popped the question to his partner of eight years, Alex, at the White House signing ceremony for the Respect for Marriage Act. It was great to see their tweet (of course a tweet) and then to read the Religion News Service story about their engagement.   

For me, a member of the LGBTQ+ community, the day had double significance—not only did good friends become engaged, but now a federal statute requires states to recognize same-sex and interracial marriages. The act also invalidates the Defense of Marriage Act which had defined marriage as between “one man, one woman” and had permitted states to not recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. Passage of the act was a positive note to end 2022. 

And yet, many challenges remain in 2023. Despite the Respect for Marriage Act, should the Supreme Court overturn its Obergefell v. Hodges decision (2015) that established a federal constitutional right to marry someone of the same sex, then that right would be in question in 35 states that have either a state statute, a state constitutional amendment or both prohibiting same sex marriages. The Obergefell decision, decided by only a 5-4 majority, was authored by Justice Kennedy whose seat now is filled by Justice Gorsuch. There is at least one justice who thinks the Court should revisit Obergefell, namely Justice Thomas, who said as much in his concurrence in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision which overturned the fifty-year precedent of Roe v. Wade.

The Court remains a focus for other reasons. The very same week that the House passed the final version of the Respect for Marriage Act the Court heard arguments in 303 Creative v. Elenis in which a Colorado web designer and evangelical Christian who does not support same sex marriage is arguing that she should not be required to design a wedding website for same sex couples because to do so would violate her freedom of speech. Colorado law prohibits businesses from discriminating against LGBTQ+ persons. Court observers predict that the conservative majority will side with the web designer.

And then there is the wave of state legislation and local school regulations targeting the rights of transgender and nonbinary persons.  A Washington Post article noted that in 2022 more anti-transgender laws were proposed than in any other year, laws which would limit participation on school sports teams to use of bathrooms to gender-affirming medical care.

Maryland, however, continues to protect its transgender and non-binary youth. In February 2022, the House of Delegates Ways and Means Committee unfavorably reported out HB 757 also known as the “Save Women’s Sports Act”  which would have barred transgender youth from participating on sports teams that reflected their gender identity and not their biological sex.

In May, our state enacted a law which requires private schools that receive state aid to not discriminate against students based on “race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.” 

Even more sobering than laws that target trans and non-binary youth is the rate of suicide among LGBTQ+ youth. Just three days after the Respect for Marriage Act was signed Henry Berg-Bousseau, the 24-year-old, transgender son of Dr. Karen Berg, a Kentucky state senator , committed suicide. Henry had been  a deputy press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT+ advocacy group. According to The Trevor Project’s 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health, “45% of LGBTQ youth considered attempting suicide in the past year” and “fewer than 1 in 3 transgender and nonbinary youth found their home to be gender-affirming.” 

And the violence against the LGBTQ+ community continues. Right-wing militia groups, such as the Patriot Front, have targeted the LGBTQ+ community. This past June, thirty-one Patriot Front members were arrested in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho before they were going to interfere with a Pride Festival there. And, in November, at the Colorado Springs LGBT club, Club Q, an assumed haven for the LGBTQ community, five persons were gunned down, among them two transgender persons. 

Safe havens are so important. I was encouraged to read that the three LGBTQ+ organizations at Washington College are active again after the effects of Covid on campus clubs. I hope that Kent County LGBTQ+ youth have safe havens where they can be who they are and be celebrated for who they are. 

I began this piece with Rod and Alex. Let me end with them. On June 26, 2015, the three of us were outside the Supreme Court with hundreds of others, waiting to hear what the Court had decided in the Obergefell case. I had flown in from Spokane, Washington where I was teaching and was at the Court with a dear friend. I’ll never forget the cheers that erupted when the crowd learned of the outcome. It was a joyful moment. The signing of the Respect for Marriage Act on December 13 was also a joyful moment. Yes, much has changed for the better, but meanness and discrimination and violence continue. Much work remains to achieve full equality. 

Kathryn Lee (Ph.D., J.D.), is  the former chair of the Political Science Department and Director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at Whitworth University in Spokane, WA. Kathryn was recently profiles in the New Yorker which can be read here. She retired to Chestertown last July.

Last night, Easton’s Prager Family Center for the Arts held a concert featuring Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero, violinist Joshua Bell, and soprano Larisa Martinez. It was, in short, magic. The featured musicians were at the top of their game. The program was eclectic and charming. The acoustics were superb. I felt privileged to be in attendance.

During one introduction to the selected program, Joshua Bell mentioned that he had never played in a venue quite like this one. It reminded him of the salons of days gone by. He is right.  It is a unique experience to be so close to the artists in an environment with such amazing sound quality. 

Gabriela Montero is a renowned pianist who gave her first concert when she was only five years old. She has performed at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, as well as concert halls in Munich, Berlin, Bern, Amsterdam and other venues across the globe. Montero sometimes introduces improvisations into standard classical pieces, a practice that Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart also incorporated into their concerts. Montero also has composed many original compositions and released several albums. Her 2015 album won her the Latin Grammy award for best classical album.  Her mastery of the eclectic pieces played on Saturday evening was pure perfection. 

On Saturday’s performance, Joshua Bell was not front and center, as the concert truly showcased his wife, soprano Larisa Martinez. But, as usual, he did not disappoint. Bell made his Carnegie debut at the age of 17. His instrument is the Gibson ex Huberman, a Stradivarius made in 1713 during the Stradivari’s Golden Era. The violin was stolen twice and is the subject of a documentary The Return of the Violin. Bell, considered one of the greatest violinists of all time, has won numerous awards and has produced albums featuring Brahms, Prokofiev, Gershwin, Bernstein, Vivaldi, Mendelssohn and many more. 

In 2019, Puerto Rican-born soprano Larisa Martinez made both her Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall debuts—the same year she married Bell. Martinez appeared in her first opera when she was 19 as the shepherd in the third act of Tosca.  She studied vocal performance at the Conservatory of Music in Puerto Rico and obtained her master’s degree from the Mannes School of Music in New York City. Martinez has performed in New York and other operatic stages in the United States and Europe.  In recent years, she has performed with Andrea Bocelli where she typically sings one aria and then joins the tenor in four operatic duets. 

Saturday’s program at the Prager included works by Mendelssohn, Schubert, Chopin, and Bernstein, as well as some Spanish and Puerto Rican pieces. The standouts of the evening were the Chopin Sarasate I Nocturne, Op. 9, No. 2, and the concluding Bernstein West Side Story suite with outstanding performances by Montero, Bell and Martinez. 

Easton owes a debt of gratitude to the Prager Family for bringing these amazing artists to a truly outstanding venue. Thank you. 

Maria Grant was principal-in-charge of a federal human capital practice at an international consulting firm. While on the Eastern Shore, she focuses on writing, reading, piano, gardening, and nature.

Maybe it’s because Halloween is lurking, but I am scared that something creepy is going on in our public schools. I’m referring to the mission creep that is occurring as teachers are asked more and more to add mental health and social-emotional learning to their already grueling workloads.

Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore) recently identified school mental health as a priority in the wake of the pandemic. The U.S. surgeon general warns that “the challenges today’s generation of young people face are unprecedented and uniquely hard to navigate. And the effect these challenges have had on their mental health is devastating.” Students’ anxiety, depression and suicide symptoms doubled during the pandemic.

The saving grace is the remarkable policy response. In Maryland, federal COVID and state funds are dedicated to a dizzying array of programs, including school-based health coordinators, teacher training, community schools and partnerships linked to schools, restorative practices, and social and emotional learning (SEL) in classrooms.

SEL, which has the most potential direct impact on classroom teachers, has been around for decades. The leading national organization on SEL calls it the process through which students “acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.”

In an article “Should Schools Embrace Social and Emotional Learning?” Johns Hopkins expert Robert Balfanz notes the “strong case for taking an integrated approach to the social, emotional, and academic development of children rather than focusing on academics in isolation.” It should be a win-win for students and teachers.

Yet, it isn’t that simple. SEL and related mental health programs raise vexing questions. Are they a proper role for schools or should they be left to families, communities, and mental health providers?

And no surprise, SEL is now a political flashpoint. One prominent conservative opponent told a New York Times reporter that while SEL “sounds positive and uncontroversial in theory, in practice SEL serves as a delivery mechanism for radical pedagogy, such as critical race theory and gender deconstructionism.” Republicans are far more disapproving of SEL than Democrats.

However, apart from its political weaponization by conservatives, it’s hard to know what is really going on because there are so many question marks. How is SEL delivered? Do teachers have the right training and skills? Is it effective? (The scant research on effectiveness seems divided.)

And, in my view, here’s the toughest question of all: is SEL diverting teachers from their core academic mission? Does it change the role of the teacher, as one analyst pondered, “from a pedagogue to something more closely resembling a therapist, social worker, or member of the clergy?” In one poll, 81% of teachers said they were spending more time than ever on SEL.

Teachers had back-breaking jobs before the pandemic. According to a recent survey, “a typical teacher works a median of 54 hours per week. But just 46% of their time in the school building is spent teaching.”

No wonder the mental health of teachers, like students, is going downhill. Another survey revealed that teachers and principals suffer from job-related stress at a rate roughly double that of other working adults.

It’s also hard to predict the future course of SEL and related programs. SEL, in particular, comes in many different modes. For example: specialized SEL curricula, teacher-led discussion groups, and the infusion of SEL into all school courses.

Student mental health problems and programs are soaring in Maryland. Inquiries to several local school districts reveal an impressive assortment of efforts, notably SEL in the early grades where relationships between teachers and children are especially crucial.

One thing for sure: teachers strongly support the goals and values of SEL and other mental health programs. The kids need SEL. But that still begs vexing questions about its net effect on classroom teaching and student achievement.

Fortunately, there are straightforward ways to take the time and pressure off of teachers. One is for SEL and related mental health services to be provided largely by inside school staff who are mental health specialists like social workers, psychologists and counselors. Better still, the full panoply of mental health services can be best provided outside the regular school day.

The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future commendably blazes the outside trail, expanding “Coordinated Community Supports” and especially outside “wraparound services” for families and children. The rub, as I’ve analyzed elsewhere, is that wraparound programs compete with in-school academic instruction and mental health specialists for scarce education funds.

How, then, should the mental health crisis of students be resolved? Throughout U. S. history, reformers have often tried to lay society’s ills on the doorstep of the schoolhouse and on the shoulders of teachers. It typically hasn’t worked well, and today, more than ever, public schools face existential challenges.

That’s why policymakers must not be Halloween scaredy-cats and shy away from the challenges of mission creep. At the very least, the next Maryland governor and General Assembly should substantially increase funding for in-school psychologists, social workers and counselors, while sustaining support for outside wraparound programs. An analysis of federal data shows that Maryland ranks near the bottom of all states in the ratio of psychologists and counselors to students.

And the Maryland State Department of Education must follow through on its recent thorough overview of ongoing mental health efforts. There should be follow-up comprehensive planning, collection of data, monitoring and evaluation, including whether in-school mental health programs like SEL put undue pressure on teachers at the expense of academic instruction.

We’ll all be feeling healthier about the future of our schoolchildren if these challenges are met.

Kalman Hettleman was a member of the Maryland Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education (also known as the Kirwan Commission), a former Baltimore City school board member, a former deputy mayor of Baltimore and a former Maryland secretary of Human Resources.

The little town of Quarrelsville lies on the outskirts of Malberg. The speed limit posted on Main Street is 25 mph, but most drivers passing through are too impatient to comply. Several children have been knocked off their bikes and injured. Thankfully, none have been killed.

The town council is equally divided, as they are on most issues, on what to do. Camp Blue, noting that speed signs are ignored, wants to put in three-inch-high, yellow-painted speed bumps.

Camp Orange disagrees. Three-inch speed bumps would exceed the town’s budget. Two-and-a-half-inch speed bumps would be acceptable, but only if they’re orange. 

“Okay,” said Camp Blue, “we’ll agree to your proposal. Will you now vote for it?”

“No,” said Camp Orange, “we still don’t like it.” 

“Why?”

“Because you’ll take credit for the idea.” 

I guess you can see the parallel to the vote just tallied in the US Senate. All fifty Democrat Senators voted for the Inflation Reduction Act; all fifty Republican Senators voted against it.

What? 

In part one of Gulliver’s Travels, shipwrecked Gulliver finds himself in the land of the little people of Lilliput. A civil war is about to begin over disagreement on the proper end of the egg to break. Obviously satire, Swift is trying to show the stupidity of the extent to which a silly, nit-picking argument can lead.

Our present situation is not so trivial. Our Congress is staunchly divided on a bill that would lower healthcare costs for all Americans and mitigate global warming that threatens all life on Earth. And one side is hung up on who gets credit for the progress!

Has there ever been an argument more inane? Objectors are saying “We don’t like your plan that saves our grandchildren because it makes you look too good. (Note: here I am assuming that the nay-sayers are actually educated enough to be aware that there is a problem). 

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. 

For those who may doubt we have a problem, I would be happy to elucidate. Though I myself am not a climate scientist, one of my best friends, now semi-retired, was head of NOAA’s global greenhouse gas monitoring system for many years. I could provide a not-too-technical translation of his summary of the global warming problem if you email me at khufubob@gmail.com.

This is not time to worry about the scorecard.

Bob Moores retired from Black & Decker/DeWalt in 1999 after 36 years. He was the Director of Cordless Product Development at the time. He holds a mechanical engineering degree from Johns Hopkins University.

The last Republican state comptroller in Maryland was one Phillips Lee Goldsborough, who served from 1898 to 1900, when William McKinley was president of the United States. So the odds definitely favor Brooke Lierman (D), the Baltimore City delegate, in the general election for comptroller this fall.

Not only does Lierman have history and party registration on her side, but she’s an indefatigable campaigner brimming with ideas for the office, who is poised to make history as the first woman elected independently to a statewide position in Maryland government. That fact alone gets a lot of people excited.

Lierman’s Republican opponent, Harford County Executive Barry Glassman, is the most solid and qualified GOP nominee in several generations. In addition to his eight years as executive, he has served in the General Assembly and local government. He’s a sheep farmer and also had a long career working for BG&E. He’s well known and well liked in Maryland political circles.

But all that could be blotted out by the turn the state Republican Party has taken this election, nominating seemingly unelectable candidates for governor and attorney general. That puts the squeeze on Glassman, who must figure out how to distance himself from Del. Dan Cox, the GOP gubernatorial nominee, and former Anne Arundel County councilmember Michael Anthony Peroutka, the GOP candidate for attorney general, without completely alienating base Republican voters.

You can imagine a scenario where day after day, Glassman will be asked to answer for the extreme positions and conspiracy theories espoused by his running mates. It cannot be a happy circumstance for one of the few bipartisan happy warriors left in Maryland politics.

But could this in fact be an unanticipated opportunity for Glassman, one that no one really imagined just a couple of weeks ago?

Consider an alternative reality in which former State Commerce Secretary Kelly Schulz, the choice of the Gov. Larry Hogan wing of the GOP, won the Republican nomination for governor. All the attention, money, and political energy would be behind Schulz, who would surely be a tougher general election opponent for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Wes Moore than Cox will prove to be.

Under that scenario, Glassman, like all Republican nominees for comptroller decade after decade, would be subject to the vagaries of the state’s typical partisan performance. The comptroller’s race would be overshadowed by the gubernatorial election, and Glassman’s arguments for himself would undoubtedly be ignored. He might benefit from the resources devoted to Schulz’s campaign and the notion that she had a decent shot of winning, but would very much be the second or third banana in the overall Republican conversation.

Now, however, Glassman is a man on his own, and that has its advantages and disadvantages. Yes, he may have undesirable ballot mates in the eyes of many political professionals, but he also has an opportunity to chart his own course. Perhaps some of the GOP establishment enthusiasm that would have been attached to Schulz’s campaign can now be focused his way.

Glassman can credibly argue that he’s the last sane Republican standing — and the only Republican standing in the way of Democratic hegemony in Annapolis. He can pledge to be a nonpartisan fiscal steward of Maryland’s treasury, and hint that Lierman’s agenda is too woke and too costly — and that she’ll try to use the job as a stepping stone to higher office. Some editorial boards will no doubt be responsive to this argument.

Glassman will need some Democratic validators, and there are probably a few of them out there, mostly older white men. He will have Hogan and some of Hogan’s top advisers on his side, and that can’t hurt. But he’ll need the media to pay attention, which will be a challenge with all the Republican crazy to keep tabs on.

You wouldn’t want to bet against Lierman in the general election. But you might want to pay attention to Glassman and how he operates in the spotlight. Sounding a warning against Lierman is still the longest of long shots, but it’s the only play he has.

Maryland Matters founding editor Josh Kurtz is a veteran chronicler of Maryland politics and government. He began covering the State House in 1995 for The Gazette newspapers, and has been writing about state and local politics ever since. He was an editor at Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, for eight years, and for eight years was the editor of E&E Daily, which covers energy and environmental policy on Capitol Hill. For 6 1/2 years Kurtz wrote a weekly column on state politics for Center Maryland and has written for several other Maryland publications as well.

Prior to the onslaught of the COVID-19 Pandemic, rural areas of the United States were seeing modest economic growth, while most populations stayed at 2010 levels. The national total of rural residents was some 46 million or about 14% of the US total., These statistics rather sharply contrast with the urban data, which showed considerably higher increases in both categories. 

In terms of poverty rates, there was a similar result. Rural poverty rates declined from a high of 18.4% (2013) to 16.1% (2018), still higher than urban rates at the time, on average about 12.6%.  

And then Covid struck in the winter of 2019 – 2020, leading eventually to over 1 million American deaths and a national economic crisis that only began to abate in spring 2022. In July 2022 the economic concern is inflation. The spread of Covid infections and deaths over the past 2 plus years has also differed at different times in rural and urban regions  

Initially, the cities were harder hit, while the non-metro regions reflected a more predictable 14%  of national cases and 11% of the deaths. These figures eventually rose to 21% and 27% respectively in 2021.  

The general explanations offered for the later, persistent spikes in rural areas, include: (1) more residents with underlying health conditions, (2) fewer people with health insurance, (3) longer distances to hospitals and (4) substantially fewer vaccinated/boosted people.  Other  contributing factors creating “super spreader” situations in both city and farm country, has been crowded work and home environments and too many mask-less people at indoor holiday and other events. 

Yes, the Pandemic severely affected lives in Kent, Somerset, Dorchester and Talbot Counties, but it only exacerbated conditions existing in the four. It is those conditions that over years can and do  lead to shrinking demographics. The following chart provides background data on each county, offering  facts to review and tentative answers to be offered.  

The following provides four important national and Maryland data points from the 2020 Census  to provide a partial basis for comparison with the counties.  

One common measure of a community’s health and well being is its “viability”, that is will it continue to work as a functioning place for people to live. The answer is “it depends” because age, health, job opportunities, available training and education, affordable housing and quality of life all affect residents’ opinions.   

All four counties are losing residents and those remaining are, to a significant extent, senior citizens. These are not, per se, encouraging viability factors. Economic development in all four is something of an issue, but particularly for Dorchester, Somerset and Kent, as is evident by their lagging median incomes. 

These three have also lost businesses, i.e., employers, that have not been replaced, nor have many new ventures opened. Affecting the latter, may be the level of skill sets and experience offered by  local work forces. 

The relatively high poverty rates and median ages translate into heavier demand for county, city and town public services. In 2022, the costs of providing them are rising, particularly for public school systems. Shrinking numbers of taxpayers, clearly impact public revenue streams.   

It is clear, these counties need to understand the dimensions of the work required to reverse current adverse demographic trends and to satisfy the shifting needs of their populations in the decades ahead. I have no doubt their leaders comprehend the work that lies ahead and will meet the viability tests.

Tom Timberman is an Army vet, lawyer, former senior Foreign Service officer, adjunct professor at GWU, and economic development team leader or foreign government advisor in war zones. He is the author of four books, lectures locally and at US and European universities. He and his wife are 24 year residents of Kent County.