Civil rights icon turned away at event celebrating black luminaries; Boyd Rutherford calls incident “shameful”

ANNAPOLIS, MD – On Wednesday, Oct. 1, Dr. Helena Hicks, 80, a lifelong Baltimore City resident and civil rights activist was turned away from a Baltimore museum exhibit opening meant to celebrate the lives and accomplishments of civil rights freedom fighters.

The incident took place at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture, where a new exhibit, “Struggle: Portraits of Civil Rights and Black Power,” is on display. The exhibit features portraits of prominent Maryland leaders of the civil rights and black power movements, including Dr. Hicks, Simeon Booker, Dr. Maulana Karenga, and Robert Houston, all of whom were photographed by Maryland photographer J.M. Giordano.

Dr. Hicks is best known for staging, along with her fellow Morgan State classmates, a 1955 impromptu sit-in at the lunch counter of the Read’s drug store at Howard and Lexington streets in Baltimore, peacefully demanding that African-Americans be served. The protest worked: That month, the retail chain began serving all patrons, black and white, at all of its 37 Baltimore-area lunch counters.

The executive director of the museum, Dr. A. Skipp Sanders, had invited Dr. Hicks to be part of an “opening day talk” that would coincide with the Oct. 1 opening of the exhibit. Dr. Hicks objected to participating on the panel with Marshall “Eddie” Conway, a former Black Panther who was convicted of killing a Baltimore police officer.

When Dr. Hicks tried to gain entrance to the museum the evening of Oct. 1 to see the photo exhibit, which featured her portrait, she was turned away by security guards who had been instructed by Dr. Sanders not to let her in because he feared she would be “disruptive” to the event.

Dr. Hicks’ portrait was still unveiled the night of the opening, according to attendees.

“The executive director of the museum and I have a different definition of ‘black power,’” Dr. Hicks said. “To me, black power means blacks working for economic independence, access to quality education, and the right to live where we want to live. Black power is not about power from a gun.”

“I am sickened to learn about the way my friend Helena was treated,” said Boyd Rutherford, a longtime friend of Dr. Hicks and candidate for Lt. Governor of Maryland. “Dr. Hicks helped desegregate a private facility 60 years ago, and yet here she is today, excluded from a public facility. To deny access to Helena, a civil rights icon, because of a difference of opinion is the very antithesis of what the civil rights movement was all about. It’s shameful.”

“When I served as Secretary of the Maryland Department of General Services from 2003 to 2006, my team at DGS managed the contract, budget, and construction of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum, a project of which I am extremely proud,” Rutherford added. “I also had the honor of participating in the groundbreaking ceremony and events surrounding the opening of the museum, which was meant to showcase, through beautiful artwork, the struggles and accomplishments of Maryland’s black leaders. To say I am disappointed in the actions of the museum’s leader is an understatement.”