Harriet Tubman left Dorchester County without a trace, covertly returning again and again to shepherd away slaves, so maybe it’s appropriate that such an underground legend still casts something of a fleeting image in her native region. There are, in fact, no elaborate memorials to Tubman in Dorchester, just a storefront museum in downtown Cambridge, a mural off Route 50 near the Food Lion, and a historic marker outside of town. If you turn off Route 50 onto Bucktown Road and drive the winding two-lane past the Bay Country Trailer Park and the old barrel factory near Indian Bone Road, you’ll come to the marker. Erected at the edge of a field surrounded by forest, it reads, “The ‘Moses of her people,’ Harriet Tubman of the Bucktown District found freedom for herself and some three hundred other slaves whom she led north. In the Civil War she served the Union Army as a nurse, scout and spy.”

It’s simple and dignified, and on a blustery day, two tourists from Western Massachusetts—Jonathan (who declined to give his last name) and his young son, Steven—stand before it. Returning from a trip to Chincoteague, Jonathan wanted to show Steven the birthplace of “a true American hero” and pulled off the highway. “I’m a little disappointed there isn’t more here, more to celebrate her,” he says. “But the landscape is amazing and gives you a sense of what she had to endure. I might get some good material out of it.”

Asked to elaborate, he explains he’s a folk-singer who has long admired Woody Guthrie’s “Harriet Tubman’s Ballad,” a fact confirmed by Steven’s head nod and slight eye roll. “She inspired a lot of people,” says Jonathan, before snapping a few photos with his phone and departing.

Tubman, who passed away 100 years ago, inspired many people, especially creative types. Her role as an artistic muse is an enduring, but often overlooked, aspect of her legacy, and she’s probably inspired more art than any other Marylander.

The amount of Tubman-related art is staggering. It includes paintings by Jacob Lawrence, numerous statues and sculptures, writings by poet Langston Hughes and novelist James McBride, and a wide array of music by jazz titans John Coltrane and Wynton Marsalis, country rockers The Long Ryders, composers Christian Wolff and Nkeiru Okoye, and folk/children’s duo Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer. Tubman also gets shout-outs in songs by Janelle Monae, Stevie Wonder, Ice Cube, and Rah Digga (the self-described “Harriet Tubman of hip-hop”), and there’s even a Brooklyn-based experimental jazz band named after her.

Michelle Wilkinson, director of collections and exhibitions at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African-American History and Culture, thinks she knows why. “I wonder if Harriet Tubman resonates with so many artists because she was able to manifest her vision of freedom,” says Wilkinson. “Her life is a guiding light to those seeking a way forward.”

“She is a symbol of a way of thinking and a way of being,” says Melvin Gibbs, bassist in Harriet Tubman: the band. “There are so many levels you can grab onto when you’re dealing with who she was—like the fact that she wasn’t a military figure. It’s like your grandmother made you free, and that resonates in a whole different way.”

Jazz musician Marcus Shelby first learned about Tubman when his mother gave him a copy of Sarah Bradford’s book, Harriet Tubman: The Moses of Her People. It made a huge impression on Shelby, who was born in Alaska and raised in California. “Growing up in the 1970s, I didn’t hear many stories with black superheroes,” he says. “She was a black superhero to me.”

Years later, he came across Kate Clifford Larson’s biography of Tubman, Bound for the Promised Land, while browsing at Borders and found it “wildly inspiring.” By that time, he had attended Cal Arts and established himself in the San Francisco jazz scene. He started researching Tubman’s life and, in 2006, made a pilgrimage to Dorchester County, where he took note of “the different land, different earth, and different air. The people have a different rhythm, a slower pace, and that affects how they walk and talk.”

He later learned about Tubman singing spirituals and work songs and connected her to a lineage that includes Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, and Nina Simone. He then translated those observations into rhythms and melodies and incorporated them into a jazz oratorio he wrote for Tubman. Released as a two-CD set, it’s a sprawling and swinging history lesson infused with gospel, blues, and jazz. Shelby performed it at the San Francisco Jazz Festival, and he’ll perform selections from it in Cambridge on March 10. “It’s all about the pursuit of freedom and being able to express yourself,” he says. “Harriet Tubman represents the best of us.”

Composer James Lee III feels similarly. Lee wrote “Chuphshah! Harriet’s Drive to Canaan,” an orchestral piece performed by the BSO in 2011. The year before, the Morgan State University professor visited Dorchester to “gather impressions” for the piece. He came away with deep appreciation for Tubman’s “steadfast determination,” a sentiment echoed by members of the Tubman band.

“Once you signed on to her mission, there was no turning back,” says Melvin Gibbs. “There’s no Plan B when you’re dealing with Harriet Tubman. You’re either gonna be free, or you’re gonna be free. Those are your options.”

“Her spirit wasn’t broken,” says drummer J.T. Lewis, “and we try to emulate that.”

“It makes you think about the type of person who accomplished all she did,” says guitarist Brandon Ross. “Many of us accept the historical narrative of her life without really connecting to the visceral details, about what was actually involved.”

Mark Priest strives to reflect those details in his paintings, which, for years, have focused on Tubman, slave life, and the Underground Railroad. The Louisville-based artist, who is exhibiting his paintings this month in Denton (which was a stop along the Underground Railroad), says he wanted to show all the “tugging and heaving, hoisting and dragging” and “depict the mental, emotional, and physical” strain experienced by Tubman and others.

Like Shelby and Lee, Priest also made the pilgrimage to Dorchester, where he perused historical documents, heard Tubman stories from locals, and kayaked through marshland. His Tubman series shows her, in addition to leading escaped slaves, working on a timber crew, trapping muskrats, and being struck in the head by an irate overseer. There’s also a piece portraying the frequent “sleeping spells” Tubman suffered as a result of that head injury.

When Priest speaks of Tubman, he sounds, at times, like he could be talking about a dedicated artist, a painter like himself or a musician such as Marcus Shelby. “The life Tubman chose was one of uncertainty,” he says. “Still, she carried on undaunted.”

The Maryland Department of Education is introducing a new star-based rating system today that allows parents, teachers, and students a way to find out how their school is performing. Each school will receive a star rating—one being the lowest, maximum five stars—based on academic achievement on the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC test), absenteeism rates, graduate percentage, and a well-rounded curriculum.

The new rating system allows the public to compare schools across districts around the state. Next year, the ratings will include results of a survey given to students and educators asking how they view their school.

“This new Maryland report card, in my opinion, is the first time we’ve had such a complete picture of system performance so that educators and parents really have something to view that’s transparent and easy to understand,” said Karen Salmon, state superintendent of schools. “It also looks at areas that we should be looking at, like chronic absenteeism, preparation for postsecondary success, access to a well-rounded curriculum and also graduation rate for the high school— it’s very good to be very comprehensive.”

The information will also more organized than its current format. Everything will be presented on one page that allows parents and educators to see not only how many stars a school has earned, but other data that went into the rating, including the number of points the school earned for each factor and its percentile ranking compared to other schools in the category. The total earned points percent, or the total number of points earned by the school across the measures, divided by the total possible points, is also included.

The star ratings were required by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which replaced the No Child Left Behind Act in 2015. This new system, approved by the Maryland State Board of Education last June, will be more nuanced and will judge schools based on more than just test scores and graduation requirements.

This new report card is also going to help school districts better identify their lowest-performing schools—those in the bottom five percent. School administrators will work with the state to develop improvement plans, and some federal funds will be available to help make changes at those schools.

“We will be providing additional funding and also additional support to do professional development,” Salmon said. “So those schools will get additional assistance and resources towards those particular schools. That’ll be a team effort.”

Five people lost their lives in the Capital Gazette newsroom on Thursday. Local journalists, politicians, and Gazette reporters themselves share their perspectives on the tragedy through words and images.

“It’s a journalist’s duty to tell the public what is happening. We buckle up and mourn later,” said Adrianne Flynn, an ethics professor at University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism. Read more on the lives and legacies of the victims here.

Though it felt more like subtle city construction or an unpleasant stomach rumble, there was in fact a 4.1 magnitude earthquake centered near Dover, Delaware this evening. Leave it to Twitter and its witty users to weigh in with plenty of irony, overreaction, and snarky memes. 

Super City 

Greg Wellham, Dan Ryan, Brian Brunsman

DR — “This is the best festival in the world and it’s free and it’s amazing every time. One of our first shows that we played at Artscape I think we hadn’t even been playing together a year and that was a big boost for us. My favorite thing to do is just walk around and see what presents itself. I remember I had gone like three years in a row and then I went to the Charles Theatre and walked in and they were showing short movies and I was like, wow, I didn’t know they had this.”

GW — I love to have things to brag about for Baltimore, and it’s really awesome to tell people from out of town that we have the largest free arts festival in the country. I had some friends from out of town recently, and they were like we don’t have this!”

Murjoni

“I am representing Colored Collective, which is based out of Baltimore and makes art around social issues. My personal work is sculpture and I focus a lot on self-love in black culture and touching upon loving your natural self. Artscape is another level for us because we started in January, and coming here is a huge step. People come here and feel inspired, which is what we want. My favorite part is meeting a whole bunch of people. I’m a people person, and, even thought it’s tiring, it’s nice to meet all different kinds of people who enjoy and are inspired by your work.”

John Marra

“The Baltimore Rock Opera Society has taken over Metro Gallery with the Gluegenheim museum, an exhibition of past artifacts of past shows. It’s nice to feel legitimized, because we’re basically doing what we always do, making it up as we go, holding everything together with a glue gun and tape. Part of me feels like the emperor that has no clothes, like how did we get here, and the other part of me is like, we worked our asses off for this, here we are.

“You never see this many people in Baltimore walking around together, having a good time. Artscape creates a potential for moments that could happen all the time if people were as mixed in with each other as they are here at here.”

Stevie Dissinger

“The Braid Bus is open to any hair length, gender, or age, including people with no hair. You can come and have your hair pretend braided, because then you still get the intimate experience of sitting with other people, having someone touch your head and give you part of their work. We have a guest book, and a lot of people have said this has been a great spot to relax. I’ve been braiding since I was a kid, and I wanted to create something that brought a unity between people that might have otherwise not have been connected.”

Gnama Hartney 

“I’m performing at Artscape with my dance company The Moving Company dance center. Our performance is a modern piece about something that scares you at one point, but then you become the scary thing yourself. I’ve been dancing since I was 3. I’m 15 now and I want to become a professional dancer eventually.”

Hoesy Corona

“I am one of the founders of the arts organization Labbodies and I am a part of the Artist-Run Art Fair. We’re typically known for doing large-scale performances and art works in unconventional spaces, so we took this opportunity to showcase documents of performances that have happened recently, instead of actual live performances. We have three local artists featured who are decontextualizing the black female body in contemporary times. I think the Artist-Run Art Fair is the best part of Artscape. It’s really focused on artist-run spaces, so there are a lot of artists who are blurring the line between producer and organizer. It has a different feel, and I like that authenticity about it.”

Rimi Basu 

“Artscape is amazing. It’s a wonderful platform. I’ve been coming here since I was young, and I love the mission of showcasing different types of art and what people are passionate about. My performance was about presenting several devotional traditions from India through music and dance, and I love the openness of the community to what I have to share. It’s not very mainstream, but people are willing to experience it.”

For more on Baltimore’s “Hidden Gem Neighborhoods,” pick up the April issue of Baltimore magazine, on newsstands now.

“I think of my neighbor who recently moved here from Syria,” said Liam Yesko of Baltimore. “In December she brought over a candy cane and said ‘Merry Christmas.’ These are just average Americans trying to integrate into our society, and sadly there are so many people who won’t let them.”

As the President concluded his speech inside, he stressed the importance of finding common ground amongst all Americans.

“Just as all Americans have a responsibility to reject discrimination, Muslims have a responsibility to reject extremist ideologies,” Obama said. “After more than 200 years, our blended heritage is our country’s greatest strength.”

Gov. Larry Hogan announced Tuesday that he will request federal authorities to stop sending Syrian refugees to Maryland until assurances can be made that refugees “pose no threat to public safety.”

In a post to his Facebook page, Hogan stated, “As governor of Maryland, the safety and security of Marylanders remains my first priority. Following the terrorist attacks on Paris just four days ago, and after careful consideration, I am now requesting that federal authorities cease any additional settlements of refugees from Syria in Maryland.”

Hogan’s announcement came one day after more than two-dozen governors—25 Republicans and one Democrat—vowed to prevent Syrian refugees from settling in their states.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Maryland was quick to weigh in, citing Hogan’s statement as “a decision that goes against our common humanity.”

“The current calls have nothing to do with safety, and everything to do with our inability to see Syrian refugees as fellow humans. To shut out Syrian families trying to rescue their children from persecution and in some cases starvation, is to refuse to help the victims of the very terrorism we decry,” said Sirine Shebaya, an attorney directing the ACLU of Maryland’s immigrant’s rights advocacy.

Shebaya also pointed out the lack of legal authority governors hold over the immigration process. “Calls to bar Syrian refugees from American soil, in addition to being immoral, are also blatantly illegal. Refugee resettlement is a federal matter over which states have no authority. And freedom from racial profiling, religious discrimination, and discrimination based on national origin are at the heart of the values our constitution protects.”

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has already made it clear that attracting refugees and immigrants to Baltimore, which has lost a third of its population since 1950, could be in the city’s best interest. She reiterated her point in a statement released today following Hogan’s announcement.

“There are few among us who can claim that their ancestors were indigenous to the United States,” she said. “Welcoming immigrants and New Americans is a critical part of my strategy to grow Baltimore, and I hope that refugees from Syria will look to our city as a potential place to call home.

Democratic congressman Elijah E. Cummings also assessed the morality of Hogan’s request.

“Turning our backs on refugees fleeing the same senseless violence we witnessed in Paris is not just heartless, it is a betrayal of America’s values,” Cummings said in a statement. “Preserving the safety of Maryland’s residents and providing refuge for Syrians fleeing violence are not mutually exclusive; we can and must do both.”

Social media has been abuzz with mixed reactions to the governor’s words with many people taking to Twitter to express their support or disapproval.

Sharpen your skates and tighten the laces, Baltimore’s Inner Harbor ice rink is officially open for the season.

The new ice rink opened Friday in its new location at the top of the Inner Harbor Amphitheater, providing this year’s patrons with waterfront views overlooking the harbor. Thanks to the slight change in venue (last year’s rink was located across the street at McKeldin Square) there’s more space to skate with 6,000 square feet of ice.

With a bigger area to accommodate skaters and a new location more accessible to foot traffic, Waterfront Partnership hopes the new rink will attract even more visitors.

“In 2014, we welcomed over 20,000 people and saw marriage proposals, appearances from Santa and Navy midshipmen, Special Olympics activities and lots more. We look forward to welcoming even more visitors to the Waterfront this year,” said Laurie Schwartz, president of Waterfront Partnership.

Plenty of holiday-themed events and programs are planned throughout the season, including Costume Skates, Frost Fest, Pajama Skate, and SkateFest, benefitting Special Olympics Maryland. Visitors can find a full lineup of events and details on discounts, parking, skates, and more on the rink’s website.

The rink will remain open through Monday, January 18. Skates are available to rent on site for $4 and season passes are also available. Open hours are Mondays, 3:00-7:00 p.m.; Tuesdays through Thursdays, 3:00-8:00 p.m.; Saturdays, 11:00 a.m.–11:00 p.m.; and Sundays, 11:00 a.m.–8:00 p.m.

To read more on Ruth Starr Rose and the portraits within the exhibit, pick up a copy of the November issue of Baltimore magazine, on newsstands now.

“A special occasion means family and friends, and, of course, good food. At the heart of these gatherings is a dish that’s big enough to feed everybody that’s still extraordinary. I thought it would be great to offer the stuffed lobster, a centerpiece fit for a celebration and a dish that could make a special moment truly memorable.” -Eric Houseknecht, executive chef Thames Street Oyster House

For a complete list of Baltimore magazine’s “25 Dishes to Die For” pick up a copy of the October issue, on newsstands now.

For more on the Ravens’ 20 years in Baltimore, pick up a copy of the September issue of Baltimore magazine, on newsstands now.