ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A Maryland state commission has released a long-awaited final report documenting racial terror lynchings across the state and offering what it describes as a blueprint for reconciliation, marking a historic effort to confront a painful chapter of local and state history. The Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission, created by legislation in 2019, submitted its final findings to the governor and General Assembly in December 2025 after more than six years of research, testimony and community engagement.
The commission’s work centered on documenting 38 confirmed lynchings of Black men and boys in Maryland between 1854 and 1933. According to the report, the commission found evidence of the complicity or failure of law enforcement, courts, elected officials and media in allowing racial terror to go unpunished. Many of these acts, the report states, were carried out with impunity, reflecting a broader pattern of racially motivated violence in the post-Civil War era that aimed to enforce white supremacy and suppress Black communities.
Over the course of its mandate, the commission held 14 public hearings statewide, gathering oral histories, archival records and personal accounts from descendants and community members. The final report spans hundreds of pages and includes detailed case histories, contextual analysis and a series of findings on how institutions contributed to a climate in which racial violence could thrive…