At a time when initiatives promoting diversity, equity and inclusion are under increased criticism, 180-year-old Govans Presbyterian Church is swimming deliberately against the tide.

The North Baltimore congregation on Sunday dedicated two 8½-foot-tall vinyl panels with pointed arches meant to address the church’s racist history by honoring the varied backgrounds of more of those who call Baltimore, and the church, home.

The artwork, installed permanently behind the sanctuary pulpit, came in response to a yearslong undertaking by the church community to understand its past more completely. The predominantly white congregation formed a racial justice committee in 2021 and discovered that the church resides on part of a former plantation, which once forcibly employed as many as 30 enslaved people.

Ky Vassor’s artwork, titled “Sanctuary City Part I,” frames one side of the stained-glass art at Govans Presbyterian Church. (Rosem Morton for The Baltimore Banner)
Vassor’s second piece, titled “Sanctuary City Part II,” frames the opposite side. (Rosem Morton for The Baltimore Banner)

Myra Brosius, a longtime congregant who led the research effort through the church’s Truth and Reparative Justice Committee, used land records, wills, genealogical research and materials from the Presbyterian Historical Society to piece together the historical narrative.

The Baltimore Banner thanks its sponsors. Become one.

She uncovered that William Govane, the wealthy Baltimore shipowner for whom the Govans neighborhood is named, purchased a land grant from Lord Frederick Calvert, the sixth Lord Baltimore, to build the plantation. After his death, Govane’s heirs gifted the church’s plot to the congregation.

Govane, along with some church founders, owned enslaved people, according to the church committee’s findings.

The news jolted the congregation and led to a reconsideration of the church’s religious artwork and imagery, which depicted only white bodies and faces. Committee members at first considered removing them to present a less “Eurocentric” and more inviting front to churchgoers and visitors.

BALTIMORE, MD - FEB 9, 2025: Myra Brosius poses for a portrait outside the Govans Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland on February 9, 2025. She is a volunteer researcher who worked on uncovering the church's racist past.
Myra Brosius, a longtime congregant who led the research effort through her volunteer role on the church’s Truth and Reparative Justice Committee. (Rosem Morton for The Baltimore Banner)
BALTIMORE, MD - FEB 9, 2025: The Govans Presbyterian Church is seen on February 9, 2025 in Baltimore, MD. The Church is having a dedication event around Ky Vassor’s artwork, titled "Sanctuary City Part 1 and 2.” The work celebrates diversity and is part of a years-long effort by the church to recognize the role of racism in its founding on a former plantation. The inspiration for the piece includes the Hispanic road workers when FSK bridge collapsed; Freddie Gray; and the enslaved people who worked the plantation at the site of the church.
The panels acknowledge Govans’ location on plantation land. (Rosem Morton for The Baltimore Banner)

“How can we make our church more welcoming to all people?” Brosius recalled of the committee’s work. “Instead of taking down things, adding imagery felt like a better fit.”

The church issued a request for proposals, seeking Black, Baltimore-based artists to create artwork for the sanctuary. Church leaders envisioned installing the pieces on both sides of the building’s large, wooden memorial window, which depicts a piece called “Christ the Consoler.”

The Baltimore Banner thanks its sponsors. Become one.

Out of about half a dozen submissions, mixed-media artist Ky Vassor’s proposal won the unanimous vote. The installation, titled “Sanctuary City Parts I and II,” pays homage to Baltimore’s diversity through depictions of 14 figures, including the young and the old, a transgender woman and a person holding a squeegee. It also features a portrait of Freddie Gray, whose 2015 police-involved death in Baltimore sparked citywide unrest, and honors Korryn Gaines, who was shot and killed by Baltimore County police in 2016 after a standoff.

Ky Vassor speaks at Govans Presbyterian Church about their artwork. (Rosem Morton for The Baltimore Banner)

The panels acknowledge Govans’ location on plantation land, Vassor told the congregation Sunday, and include the 30 names of the enslaved people written “likely for the first time since those folks were living.”

It also depicts “lesser-known activists” who have connections to Baltimore, according to Vassor. Using an emblem borrowed from the nonprofit Latino Racial Justice Circle, the work also seeks to honor the lives of those killed during the 2023 Interstate 95 beltway crash and the 2024 collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

“Each of these panels encapsulates Baltimore as a sanctuary city,” Vassor said. “As a community, we will continue to confront the legacy of institutional racism by caring for one another as we always have.”

The church, as well as individual donors, helped finance the artwork, Brosius said.

The Baltimore Banner thanks its sponsors. Become one.

Congregants attend the church service and dedication event on Sunday. (Rosem Morton for The Baltimore Banner)

Congregant David Harris, a retired Presbyterian minister and member of the racial justice committee, said he hopes the work better connects Black worshippers with the church.

“To not see any representation of their heritage,” he said, “was something that needed to be corrected.”

Lea Gilmore, Govans’ minister for racial justice, said during Sunday’s sermon that, although the church hasn’t solved racism in one fell swoop, she believes it has taken a crucial step with a critical reexamination of its troubled past and efforts to create a more inclusive representation of its community for the future.

“We put our feet in the water,” she said. “We further acknowledge that we are in this for the long haul.”