Baltimore: A Not Too Serious History

Ms. Letitia Stockett, a Baltimore teacher in 1928, was successful at giving a cultural view of how Baltimore, Maryland came into existence in her Baltimore: A Not So Serious History. The book is rich in imagery and detail. Ms. Stockett's tour of the Baltimore region began on Charles Street at Mount Vernon Place. When she was finished with an intersection or neighborhood, she went on methodically to the next while covering the years 1500 to 1900. There was a great deal of overlapping and repetition which helped to connect events and people. Ms. Stockett told Baltimore's story as if it were hot news or local gossip--the kind of telling where one wished they were a fly on the wall to be able to witness it for themselves. Her anecdotes were about real Baltimore citizens. Hetty Cary was a famous female Confederate spy. Betsy Patterson married Jerome Bonaparte without Napoleon's permission, and was refused entrance to France in her pregnant condition. John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Lincoln, had a proud family lineage in Baltimore. Fires, riots, inventions, music, art, trees, origin of the Jones Falls, and yellow fever bouts added to the imagery and dispelled some mysteries. But, there were also times when you couldn't tell if quotes belonged to Ms. Stockett or someone else. In her opinion, something historic always had to be destroyed for progress to come. However, no other religion except Christian (in a time of "freedom of religion") or any other race except white accomplished anything by Ms. Stockett's account.