Ford’s Theater Protest, 1947

Protesting Jim Crow Admissions Policy at Ford’s Theatre, by Paul S. Henderson (1899-1988), 1948, Maryland Center for History and Culture, H. Furlong Baldwin Library, Paul S. Henderson Collection, HEN.00.A2-1596.

In 1947, the Baltimore chapter of the NAACP, supported by students, began a picketing campaign against Ford’s Theater and its segregated seating policies. Many national and international stars, including Paul Robeson, joined the protest. The discriminatory policy continued for years despite the toll the continued protest took on the finances of the theater. In February of 1952, after five years of picketing and with the protest gaining support from Governor Theodore McKeldin, a step he was reluctant to take as Mayor of Baltimore when the protest began, Ford’s Theatre finally stopped its segregated seating policies.