The small town of Federalsburg on Maryland’s Eastern Shore settled a federal voting rights lawsuit Wednesday by agreeing to apologize for its history of racism, committing to actions that acknowledge Black contributions to the town and promote reconciliation.
“Through the Town’s public acknowledgment of its history of past racism, genuine expressions of regret, and by undertaking amends to bring healing to a community that has endured two centuries of racial oppression, officials and residents seize this opportunity to move beyond the wrongs of the past, and toward a new day of equity in Federalsburg,” Deborah A. Jeon, legal director for the ACLU of Maryland, said in a statement.
Last year, following changes to the voting system overseen by a judge, the 200-year-old town with a population that is 43 percent Black elected its first Black representatives.
But the financial component of the settlement, which was negotiated down from $500,000, has sparked some criticism in Federalsburg, including from one of the recently elected Black representatives, who feels it takes critical funds away from a town whose annual operating budget is approximately $2.8 million.
As part of the agreement signed by Federalsburg Mayor Kimberly Abner, the town of about 2,800 people in Caroline County offered an apology, saying it “formally acknowledges responsibility and expresses its deep regret for actions and inactions contributing to racial discrimination and exclusion of Black residents, including its use of an election system that prevented any Black person from holding a position on the Town Council over 200 years. As officials of the Town, we accept moral accountability for the harms these actions inflicted upon Black residents, their families and ancestors before them.”
With its apology, the city said that “we seek to turn the page on this shameful history, and to begin a process of reconciliation among all of the Town’s residents.”
The historic settlement — the first of its kind in a Maryland voting rights case, according to the ACLU of Maryland — was agreed to through mediation overseen by U.S. Magistrate Judge Erin Aslan.
“The mediation deliberations leading to the settlement afforded opportunities for Federalsburg’s Black residents and the Town’s governance leadership to move forward with greater understanding, unity, and harmony critical to the future success and strength of the town,” Willie Woods, president of the Caroline County NAACP, said in a statement.
The agreement resolves a voting rights lawsuit filed last year by the Caroline County NAACP, the Caucus of African American Leaders, and residents of Caroline County that said Federalsburg maintained a “white stranglehold on municipal power” with its long-standing use “of a racially dilutive at-large, staggered term election system, rather than a racially fair system that would afford Black Federalsburg voters an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.”
The effort to change Federalsburg’s voting system began in 2022 with the ACLU’s routine review of whether census data matched representation in Maryland communities. “When we saw the town is half-Black and there’s no Black representation, we reached out to the community and asked, ‘What did you think about this?’ ” Jeon told The Washington Post last year.
The lawsuit alleged that the town’s voting system was out of compliance with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which bans practices that give racial minorities “less opportunity than other members of the electorate to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice.”
In addition to the apology, Federalsburg promised to take additional steps including commissioning a plaque to be posted in the town hall acknowledging the voting rights case; installing a photo display featuring Black contributions to Federalsburg; erecting a historical marker in the Black community of Brooklyn celebrating contributions of its residents and their ancestors; renaming Gerardi Boulevard as Brooklyn Avenue; and issuing a proclamation naming Sept. 26 of each year as Voting Rights Day in recognition of Black voters’ historic win on that day last year.
The agreement also called for the formation of a unity committee to focus on community engagement in future elections and the establishment of an annual multicultural celebration.
Last summer, under a judge’s supervision to create a plan that did not violate the Voting Rights Act, town leaders changed the election from at-large representation into a two-district system. The plan called for two of the four town council members to represent the predominantly Black part of town.
Brandy James, who became one of the first two Black elected representatives in Federalsburg when she and Darlene Hammond were elected to the city council last September, said she supported the nonfinancial aspects of the settlement but was disappointed with the $260,000 awarded in legal fees.
“I don’t agree with the monetary part of it because we all know Federalsburg is trying to come out of a hole of debt. However, I do respect the court’s decision,” James said in an interview. “I think everyone knew there was a lawsuit, but I don’t think they knew there was a monetary amount that large that was going to come with that lawsuit.”
Hammond said she could not comment on the settlement because she was a plaintiff.
Abner, the town’s mayor, did not respond to requests for comment on the agreement. The two other council members also did not reply to requests for comment.
“Federalsburg residents tried to get the town to do the right thing without a lawsuit needing to be filed,” Nehemiah Bester, a spokesperson for the ACLU of Maryland, said in an email. “Legal action shouldn’t have been necessary, but it was.”
The town is required to submit its official written apology by May 1. It will be framed and permanently posted in Federalsburg’s town hall.
