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audreybeardsley.bsky.social
@audreybeardsley.bsky.social
32 followers 22 following 110 posts
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audreybeardsley.bsky.social
@bmorethical.bsky.social

The Museum of Industry may have been no more than 40, the Spirit of Fort McHenry fired us up enough to feel like 400. Great to be able to encourage runners and protest too.

#NoKingsDay #Baltimoreprotest #BES
Yours Truly standing on Key Highway by the Museum of Industry holding banner featuring the six men killed at the Key Bridge collapse of 2024. Fellow protester at the Museum of Industry with sign telling us "So Bad even the Introverts are Here ". I understand completely. Two fellow protesters at the the Museum of Industry. One woman about my age holds a sign representing reading "Creepy Babies against Fascism". She is joined by a "dinosaur" come back from extinction with a "Fit Check for our No Kings Era!". It's odd, but I didn't see a single armed Antifa operative anywhere. This is a long shot of our modest, but passionate group of registers at the Baltimore Museum of Industry, doubling as cheerleaders for the diverse array of runners as they passed by.
October 19, 2025 at 11:04 AM
audreybeardsley.bsky.social
@bmorethical.bsky.social

Just returning from the Wednesday afternoon weekly protest at 40th and Roland. Walked around Marble Hill area Sunday. Why don't these three historical houses have a plaque at least?

#BaltimoreBlackAttorneys
#Hidden History
#FightforEqualHousing
Three story brick house at 1318 Druid Hill Ave. The only one of four homes Harry Sythe Cummings that still stands in the Marble Hill neighborhood he represented as Baltimore's first Black City Councilman starting 1890. Three story brick house at 1834 Druid Hill Ave. In Baltimore MD, bought by attorney George McMechen in 1910. He was almost lynched by some of his white neighbors, but was protected by fellow attorneys and allies. This led to one of Baltimore's sorriest first in the nation. Modest two story brick house at 1911 Division Street in the Upton area of Baltimore MD. Warner T. McGuinn, law partner with Harry Sythe Cummings, owned and lived in this house through the 1910s and 1920s until his wife Anna died in 1929.
August 13, 2025 at 9:59 PM
audreybeardsley.bsky.social
I need to do more research about Harry Sythe Cummings, the history of one of Baltimore's uglier firsts of the nation, and the part he played in opposing it. I'll be spending a lot of time at Enoch Pratt, and Maryland State Archives. This is only the start.

#HiddenHistory #BaltimoreBlackAttorneys
August 10, 2025 at 3:29 AM
audreybeardsley.bsky.social
Only 1318 Druid Hill Ave. remains. Cummings lived with wife, Blanche, and their son and daughter in the last six years of his life 1911-1917. He died there of a sudden stroke, in September 1917, aged only 51.

#HiddenHistory #BaltimoreBlackAttorneys
Street sign at the corner of Druid Hill Ave. and McMechen Street. The neighborhood is called Marble Hill. Cummings lived in at least four different homes within this area from 1890-1917. Three story brick row home of Harry Sythe Cummings, where he lived from 1911 until his death in 1917. Thin bay windows on the first two floors. Marble front steps with black railings. Modern security door. Full basement. Of the four addresses, this is the only one that still stands today.
August 10, 2025 at 3:25 AM
audreybeardsley.bsky.social
Of the four addresses Cummings called home from 1890-1917, 935 North Eutaw St., 435 Biddle St., 1234 Druid Hill Ave., and 1318 Druid Hill Ave., the first two vanished to build State Center. This is the lot where 1234 Druid Hill Ave. existed.

#HiddenHistory #BaltimoreBlackAttorneys
August 10, 2025 at 3:14 AM
audreybeardsley.bsky.social
I took a walking search around the Marble Hill and Upton neighborhoods seeking the homes where these Attorneys lived. Here is History Detective recording the Scene of the Time.

##HiddenHistory #BaltimoreBlackAttorneys
Panorama of the 1200-1300 blocks of Druid Hill Ave in the Marble Hill neighborhood Harry Sythe Cummings represented as Councilman. A Bethel AME church perches on the corner .
August 10, 2025 at 3:07 AM
audreybeardsley.bsky.social
He hadn't reestablished himself back in his hometown when Harry Sythe Cummings became the first Black Baltimorean elected to the City Council in 1890, aged only 24. I think this photo may have taken about that time.

#HiddenHistory #BaltimoreBlackAttorneys
August 10, 2025 at 2:57 AM
audreybeardsley.bsky.social
This made Harry, born in May 1866, the first freeborn member of the family. His parents dedication to their children's education enabled Harry and his siblings carve out rich productive lives. Harry studied law at the University of Virginia and returned in 1889.
August 10, 2025 at 2:46 AM
audreybeardsley.bsky.social
These are photos of Harry's slave born parents, Henry Cummings Sr. Eliza Jane Davage. Both toiled on a farm in White Marsh owned by the Ridgely family. Both were freed in 1854. Henry worked as a cook in a fancy hotel. Eliza sewed and ran a boarding house.

#HiddenHistory #CummingsFamily
August 10, 2025 at 2:42 AM
Reposted
audreybeardsley.bsky.social
After a nice morning painting, I began my investigative project as an amateur history detective. This research seeks t o uncover "Baltimore's Black Attorneys and the Fight Against Segregated Housing, 1910-1920", starting with this gentleman:
Sepia photograph of Baltimore Attorney Harry Sykes Cummings (1866-1917) taken during his second term as a Baltimore City Council member about 1900. Handsome round face, well groomed mustache, chin clean shaven, well pressed thin striped suit, silk bow tie, stiff white collar. His expression is serious, but not solemn. There's a twinkle of friendliness in his eyes. Brief biography of Baltimore City Councilman and attorney Harry Sythe Cummings (1866-1917).
August 10, 2025 at 2:34 AM
audreybeardsley.bsky.social
After a nice morning painting, I began my investigative project as an amateur history detective. This research seeks t o uncover "Baltimore's Black Attorneys and the Fight Against Segregated Housing, 1910-1920", starting with this gentleman:
Sepia photograph of Baltimore Attorney Harry Sykes Cummings (1866-1917) taken during his second term as a Baltimore City Council member about 1900. Handsome round face, well groomed mustache, chin clean shaven, well pressed thin striped suit, silk bow tie, stiff white collar. His expression is serious, but not solemn. There's a twinkle of friendliness in his eyes. Brief biography of Baltimore City Councilman and attorney Harry Sythe Cummings (1866-1917).
August 10, 2025 at 2:34 AM
audreybeardsley.bsky.social
Starting tomorrow morning however, the history detective Baltimore's Black Attorneys project begins with this guy.
August 6, 2025 at 6:08 PM
audreybeardsley.bsky.social
I couldn't get a bus pass July because until my property tax refund in in my hands, I have to keep making monthly payments to GoDaddy for the vilomah.life website.
MGVM
Join our mission to create a better world for MGVM and beyond.
vilomah.life
August 6, 2025 at 6:05 PM
audreybeardsley.bsky.social
Hello everyone. I'm a self taught painter whose main project is to help grieving people transform suffering through portraiture. Welcome to the Million Gun Victims March!

#art #portrait #artactivism #MGVM
Portrait of Marcus Parks Sr. 1969-2020. Oil on canvas, 11X14. Painted 2020. Marcus is dressed in a luxurious bus driver uniform. A golden Aten sun disk with rays that end in hands holding ankhs adorns his head. Behind him, a magic winged bus glides to a landing, ready for Marcus to take the wheel.
June 22, 2025 at 9:35 AM
audreybeardsley.bsky.social
I'm attending No Kings's event, “No Kings: What's Next in the Fight? (Attendee Debrief Call)” - sign up now to join me! www.mobilize.us/nokings/even...
No Kings: What's Next in the Fight? (Attendee Debrief Call) · No Kings
On June 14, we told our governments and communities: No Kings! Join us on Monday night after the big day for a debrief call for everyone across the movement who attended a No Kings event. We'll talk a...
www.mobilize.us
June 16, 2025 at 11:00 AM
audreybeardsley.bsky.social
I can say that the men are in prison for this. I can also say that this portrait has been delivered into her mother's hands. May it make the lifelong suffering she carries a little less bitter.

##MGVM ##artactivism ##Marcherstories
June 13, 2025 at 7:35 PM
audreybeardsley.bsky.social
Whoever was the intended target, a car full of shooters were firing recklessly enough that McKenzie was struck and died immediately. The porch was not enough protection. All attempts to resuscitate failed. Her sparkle was doused forever.

##MGVM ##artactivism ##Marcherstories
June 13, 2025 at 7:32 PM
audreybeardsley.bsky.social
Such was the case with Mackenzie Elliot. She was three years old in 2014, just finding out the excitement in being able to form complex thought into speech. The whole block loved her bright eyes and happy ways.

#MGVM #artactivism #Marcherstories
Portrait of Mckenzie Elliot (2011-2014), oil on canvas 11X14, painted 2014. The three year old stands in a flower garden, trellis with her name and dates behind her. Her braids are held together with colored beads. Her dress is bright green decorated with butterflies. She wears bright red buckle shoes. A deep blue sash is tied around her waist. She holds a baby rabbit in her arms as she gazes straight at the viewer. The mother rabbit perches beside her, watchful, ready to defend. McKenzie Elliot was born in the Asian year of the Rabbit, hence the symbol.
June 13, 2025 at 7:28 PM
audreybeardsley.bsky.social
There's nothing like the laughter of small children. Joyous, gurgling with pure glee, before the struggles of growing up take place. Over years, the pure mirth vanishes. Or it could stop suddenly.

#MGVM #artactivism #Marcherstories
June 13, 2025 at 7:16 PM
audreybeardsley.bsky.social
@volcheck.bsky.social

Audrey and I following you now. Kimberly
May 31, 2025 at 6:13 PM
audreybeardsley.bsky.social
The breakthrough is that I begin to somehow detach from my own identity enough to allow the subject themselves to "communicate " who they were freely. I become a true messenger in paint. I owe Truc Thi Ly Nguyen a great debt for this.

#MGVM #artactivism #Marcherstories
May 24, 2025 at 11:00 AM
audreybeardsley.bsky.social
All I realize is that I somehow captured an expression of serene peace and calm on her face. For the first time, a portrait subject exudes a quality I as artist don't think I have. I'm not really a calm person.
Portrait of Truc Thi Ly Nguyen (1971-2014), oil on canvas 9"X 12". Truc Thi Nguyen sits in her salon chair, a soft peachy colored wall behind her. Her left arm stretches over the tools of her manicurist trade, fingers spread wide to showcase her engagement ring, which she gazes at lovingly. Her expression exudes a joyous tranquility. Her right hand holds a sample of wedding veil lace to her breast. This presents a moment of a sweet dream.
May 24, 2025 at 10:54 AM
audreybeardsley.bsky.social
Why did her portrait enable an advance in art? Was it because I mainly painted her outdoors at Fort McHenry Park during lovely spring days?

#MGVM #artactivism ##Marcherstories
May 24, 2025 at 10:40 AM
audreybeardsley.bsky.social
That modest dream was shattered when a shooter carrying out a hit job on her customer burst into the salon, gun blazing. Her head took a bullet, killing her instantly. Her customer was wounded, but survived.

#MGVM #artactivism ##Marcherstories
May 24, 2025 at 10:34 AM
audreybeardsley.bsky.social
Her name was Truc Thi Ly Nyugen (1971-2014). She is the 40th Marcher to join the crusade. She worked every at a salon as a manicurist in East Baltimore. She and her fiance arrived in America with hopes of working hard for a house of their own, so they could marry.

#MGVM #Marcherstories
May 24, 2025 at 10:25 AM