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MDMaryland Famous People
Two people born enslaved, twenty five miles apart
Frederick Douglass was born on Tuckahoe Creek in Talbot County in February 1818. Harriet Tubman was born as Araminta Ross in Dorchester County around 1822. The two birthplaces sit roughly twenty five miles apart on Maryland's Eastern Shore, a stretch of tidewater farmland that between them produced the most widely read Black autobiography of the nineteenth century and the best known conductor on the Underground Railroad.
Douglass escaped in September 1838 by boarding a train in Baltimore dressed as a sailor and carrying a free seaman's protection papers borrowed from a friend; the trip to New York took less than a day. His Narrative appeared in 1845. Tubman escaped in 1849, went back roughly thirteen times, brought out about seventy people, and in June 1863 guided the Combahee Ferry raid in South Carolina that freed more than seven hundred. The ground she grew up on is now the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park, whose visitor center at Church Creek opened in 2017. Benjamin Banneker belongs beside them: born free in Baltimore County on November 9, 1731, he published almanacs from his own astronomical calculations and worked on the 1791 survey of the federal district that became Washington.
Two Marylanders on the Supreme Court, pulling opposite ways
Roger B. Taney was born in Calvert County on March 17, 1777, became Chief Justice of the United States, and wrote the 1857 Dred Scott opinion. Thurgood Marshall was born in Baltimore on July 2, 1908, was refused admission to the University of Maryland law school because he was Black, went to Howard instead, argued Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, and in 1967 became the first Black justice on the court Taney had once led. Maryland removed Taney's statue from the State House grounds in Annapolis in 2017. A memorial to Marshall has stood a short walk away on Lawyers Mall since 1996.
No president has been born in Maryland. The highest office a Maryland native has reached is the vice presidency, held by Spiro Agnew, born in Baltimore on November 9, 1918, who went from Baltimore County executive to governor to vice president before resigning in October 1973. Nancy Pelosi was born in Baltimore on March 26, 1940, the daughter of Mayor Thomas D'Alesandro Jr., and grew up in a Little Italy rowhouse that doubled as her father's ward office.
An anthem, a grave, and a filmmaker who never left town
Francis Scott Key was born in Frederick County on August 1, 1779 and watched the British bombardment of Fort McHenry through the night of September 13, 1814 from a truce ship in the Patapsco. The poem he wrote the next morning became the national anthem in 1931. Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, but he wrote in Baltimore, died there on October 7, 1849, and lies in the Westminster Burying Ground, which is why the city's football team is called the Ravens.
Billie Holiday was born in Philadelphia in 1915 and raised in Baltimore, largely around Fells Point. Frank Zappa was born in Baltimore on December 21, 1940. John Waters was born there on April 22, 1946 and has shot nearly everything he ever made inside the city limits, usually starring Divine, born Harris Glenn Milstead in Baltimore in 1945. Barry Levinson, born in 1942, put the same neighborhoods on screen in Diner.
Baltimore's outsized run of athletes
Babe Ruth was born at 216 Emory Street in Baltimore on February 6, 1895 and was sent to St. Mary's Industrial School at seven; the rowhouse is a museum two blocks from Camden Yards. Cal Ripken Jr. was born in Havre de Grace on August 24, 1960 and played 2,632 consecutive games, passing Lou Gehrig's record on September 6, 1995. Michael Phelps was born in Baltimore on June 30, 1985, trained at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club under Bob Bowman, and retired with 28 Olympic medals, 23 of them gold, more than any other athlete in any sport. Kevin Durant was born in Washington and raised in Seat Pleasant, just over the Maryland line in Prince George's County.
Marylanders people place somewhere else
Matthew Henson was born in Charles County on August 8, 1866, sailed with Robert Peary on seven Arctic expeditions, learned Inuktitut well enough to work as the party's interpreter, and was in the small lead group on the 1909 attempt on the North Pole. Upton Sinclair, who wrote The Jungle, was born in Baltimore on September 20, 1878. Jada Pinkett Smith was born in Baltimore in 1971 and attended the Baltimore School for the Arts at the same time as Tupac Shakur, who was born in East Harlem and moved to the city as a teenager. Cass Elliot of the Mamas and the Papas was born Ellen Cohen in Baltimore in 1941.
Frequently asked questions about famous Marylanders
Which US president was born in Maryland?
None. The highest office held by a Maryland native is the vice presidency, by Spiro Agnew of Baltimore, who served from 1969 until he resigned in October 1973.
Was Harriet Tubman from Maryland?
Yes. She was born Araminta Ross in Dorchester County on the Eastern Shore around 1822, escaped in 1849, and returned roughly thirteen times to bring out about seventy people.
Where was Babe Ruth born?
At 216 Emory Street in Baltimore on February 6, 1895. The rowhouse is now the Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum, a short walk from Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
Was Edgar Allan Poe from Baltimore?
He was born in Boston in 1809, but he lived and wrote in Baltimore, died there on October 7, 1849, and is buried at the Westminster Burying Ground. The Baltimore Ravens are named for his poem.
Who is the most decorated athlete from Maryland?
Michael Phelps of Baltimore, born in 1985, who won 28 Olympic medals including 23 gold, the most of any Olympian in any sport.
Annapolis is not the biggest city
Capitals that are not the largest city trip up most players. Statedoku drills them daily.
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