The Guardians, created by Baltimore artist Whitney Frazier and photographer Kirby Griffin, is a photo, documentary, and storytelling project that includes photo portraits, large-scale banners and digital archives that celebrate unrecognized Black female leaders across Baltimore City neighborhoods. This project provides a platform for women who spend their lives fighting for a better, more equitable Baltimore.
Dorothy Cunningham (00:00): My name's Dorothy Cunningham. I live in Irvington. I've lived here for 22 years. I'm the President of the Association. I've been the president for the last 17 years. I was raised up in east Baltimore. I spent a lot of my younger years is in the eastern shore. I had five children, 18 grandchildren, sixth great grandchildren. And I'm 54 years old.
Speaker 2 (00:31): Awesome. And where are we sitting right now?
Dorothy Cunningham (00:38): We're now sitting in the Irvington Community Center.
Speaker 2 (00:42): And can you tell me a little bit about your role at the Center, in the community, how the Center came about?
Dorothy Cunningham (00:49): Well, I'm actually the acting director of the Community Center. Took about six years to attain the building, to open up a community center in the Irvington Community. In the center, we do a youth program. We also have sewing classes and computer classes. We do program for young people, it's a reading program we do on Saturday for kids from the ages three to four. The Center has been open for about two years. We have a young man that runs a youth program. He's the executive director of Iron Mentality, which is a great youth program. They provide mental health and a variety of different social skills for the young men.
Speaker 2 (01:39): Awesome. And when and why did you decide to open this Center?
Dorothy Cunningham (01:48): Well, I decided to open the Center, like I said, six years ago. It took long to get one, because there were not any type of resources within the Southwest District. And I felt as though we needed to provide service for the people in the district. So I fought very hard to get the Center up and running. We took one summer to prepare, to paint, to clean, to repair the back porch and the front porch. We had a group of young people from the Catholic church out Glen Burnie, and they came in and helped. And they worked very hard to get the Center open.
Speaker 2 (02:30): Cool. And besides the Center, what other projects or things have you done in this community, or in your life that you want to share?
Dorothy Cunningham (02:42): Well, in my life, I'm a foster mom. I've been a foster mom for 30 years. I've had probably over 25 kids, and then my last child is three now. I got him when he was a year old. So I kept him for two years, and he just went home Wednesday with his mom. It was heartbreaking. But all kids deserve to be with their parents. Within the community, we do community cleanups, community meetings. I meet with the business owners once a month to discuss code enforce issues. I have done liquor board hearings.
Asset ID: 2021.09.04
Find a complete transcription on the Peale's website.
Photo by Kirby Griffin
