Roland Park resident Nivia Prescod has no plans to venture to the nation’s capital to witness Donald Trump’s inauguration next week. Instead, she plans on Monday to have a “self-care, stress-free, reclaiming-my-time day” without watching the news and likely unplugging from social media.

“I was disappointed by the election and felt very let down as a Black woman,” said Prescod, a 47-year-old radiological technologist. “So I’ve decided to do some healing and refocusing on that day, instead of participating in any inauguration events. I absolutely would’ve been there if Kamala [Harris] won.”

Millions of supporters are celebrating Trump’s return to the White House after a four-year absence. Catalina Byrd, a third-generation Republican from West Baltimore who has run for mayor of the city twice, watches the inauguration for every president, and even though she did not vote for him, Trump will be no exception. “Whether you like who won or not — it’s a historic tradition that I enjoy,” she said.

But many others in the Black community won’t be joining in.

More than 8 in 10 Black voters supported Vice President Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, by the largest margin of any racial demographic. Many say they were devastated by the loss. Some Black women viewed the loss as a rejection of themselves. Other Black people describe the Trump win as an embrace of white male supremacy, according to recent interviews with more than a dozen Black people.

In interviews, several Black Marylanders said they are now steering clear of Washington, D.C., and instead practicing self-care or focusing on honoring the memory of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. In a rare occurrence, this will be the third time that the inauguration falls on the same day as King’s birthday.

Trump’s rhetoric has repeatedly drawn ire from Black Americans, including repeating a phrase once spoken by Adolf Hitler, using the term “Black jobs,” and questioning Barack Obama’s citizenship and Harris' Blackness. The lack of high-ranking Black people named to Trump’s cabinet also has been irksome to some.

Byrd said she does not have an opinion about the lack of Black cabinet members in the Trump administration. “There weren’t many the last go-around, and the few he had didn’t last. I’m far more concerned with counting the qualified people more than the Black ones,” she said.

Herb Smith, a 51-year-old Democrat, encouraged other Black people turned off by Trump to spend the day doing service in the spirit of King’s legacy.

“I’m not going to sit home and I’m definitely not going to the presidential inauguration. I’m doing what was meant to do — service,” said Smith, a Columbia resident who was an organizer for the Obama campaign. “I’m going to help people who are going to be affected by this next administration’s policies.”

Jé St Sume, assistant professor of political science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, said Black people in 2025 are more likely to respond to political loss by engaging in acts of service that reflect the values of democracy. St Sume said they believe that was opposed to white Americans, who may be unaccustomed to losses in democracy, and might respond with more direct action like the Jan. 6 insurrection four years ago.

“This is because they know they will be punished for expressing anger in ways that white people are not,” St Sume said.

Smith, for example, plans to help build houses in Virginia that day with Habitat for Humanity.

“You can do something that will make a difference,” he urged. “Roll up your sleeves, get some work done and help some people.”

Baltimore City Council member Phylicia Porter and her staff will spend the day devoted to service in King’s memory.

“There has to be a much-needed concerted effort on service in our community — to build the infrastructure in our communities for economic progress and for self-care,” she said. “We are not looking at this from a defeatist perspective, but an empowered perspective. What can we do to improve our communities and match MLK’s legacy?”

Khalilah Harris initially intended to attend the inauguration when she thought Harris would win. Now, the Ednor Gardens-Lakeside resident will spend the day mentoring youths and assembling feminine product kits for the underserved in East Baltimore.

“I have no interest in supporting or being surrounded by people supporting the incoming president,” said Harris, a 47-year-old political strategist and operations consultant. “People voted for their own interest as opposed to center the entire community, so I am going to focus on my own community to make sure it is fortified, sustainable and thriving.”

Michelle Freeman said she did what she could as a Black person by showing up and being part of the “K-Hive” to help elect Harris and save the country from Trump.

Freeman, a 55-year-old Charles Village resident who plans on going to the movies instead of the inauguration, said “it’s resistance by not giving him the ratings he seeks.”

LaQuisha Hall, 43, an education and art leader from Baltimore County, said she’ll spend the day praying for the country and journaling about the accomplishments of Black leaders, and in self-reflection.

At the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture, the day will be devoted to educating the public about King. The festivities, according to the Baltimore museum’s president Terri Lee Freeman, will be centered around one of his quotes: “The saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a non-conforming minority”

“In a time when many people are confused about the direction of our country, the Lewis museum believes commemorating the King holiday is essential to connect us to those who have been in this difficult situation before,” she said.