| Ashburton | |
| Settlement Type: | neighborhood statistical area |
| Pushpin Map: | United States Baltimore |
| Coordinates: | 39.3269°N -76.6744°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | United States |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | Maryland |
| Subdivision Type2: | City |
| Subdivision Name2: | Baltimore |
| Unit Pref: | Imperial |
| Area Total Sq Mi: | .450 |
| Area Land Sq Mi: | .450 |
| Area Note: | [1] |
| Population Total: | 2446 |
| Population As Of: | 2009 |
| Population Density Sq Mi: | auto |
| Timezone1: | Eastern |
| Utc Offset1: | -5 |
| Timezone1 Dst: | EDT |
| Utc Offset1 Dst: | -4 |
| Postal Code Type: | ZIP code |
| Postal Code: | 21215 |
| Area Code Type: | Area code |
| Area Code: | 410, 443, and 667 |
Ashburton is a middle class, predominantly African-American neighborhood in the Forest Park region of northwestern Baltimore City, Maryland. It is located near Liberty Heights Avenue and Hilton Street, and is characterized by mixture of single family housing and blocks of row houses.[2]
It has been home to many prominent African Americans, including former Baltimore mayors Catherine Pugh,[3] Kurt L. Schmoke, State Senator Lisa Gladden, and State Delegate Shawn Z. Tarrant. Benjamin Jealous, former NAACP president and chief executive officer, traveled as a child from northern California to spend his summers here with his maternal grandparents. Former Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, former Clerk of the Court Frank M. Conaway Sr., and attorney Dwight Pettit grew up in this neighborhood as children. Civil Rights activist, Walter P. Carter moved his family to Ashburton in 1965. His daughter, State Senator Jill P. Carter grew up there and represents the area as senator for Maryland Legislative District 41. The Carter family retains the family home on Egerton Road.
In the 1920s, racially and religiously exclusionary covenants were used to exclude Black and Jewish people from Ashburton, which was then a predominantly white Christian neighborhood. By 1929, the Maryland Court of Appeals found these discriminatory covenants to be void.[4] Between the 1930s and 1940s, the neighborhood began to religiously integrate as Jews began to move in. By the 1950s and 1960s, the neighborhood's demographics began to change again as Ashburton shifted to a majority African-American community.[5]
A 1925 advertisement in the Baltimore Sun advertised racially restricted houses being sold by the Geo. R. Morris Organization.[6]