Episode 1: Hawkins Point

The opening film in this four-part environmental justice series tells the story of Hawkins Point. Hawkins Point, a peninsula connected to Curtis Bay by I-695, is both representative of the history of South Baltimore and a key node in Baltimore’s current waste infrastructure system. Hawkins Point was once a rural neighborhood at the edge of the city, known as a place where fruit trees and farm animals were abundant. But by 1982, the accumulations of toxic waste industry had made the neighborhood so dangerous and unhealthy that its residents chose to be bought out by the State of Maryland so they could move elsewhere. This buyout marked a turning point in which Hawkins Point was effectively reclassified from a vibrant neighborhood to a space completely dominated by waste and industry.

Hawkins Point is thus a key example, for both South Baltimore and beyond, of how municipal governments and industry treat(ed) people, particularly people of color, and places, not just debris, as waste to be disposed of.

The film traces the history of Hawkins Point and the increasing intrusion of waste industry, from the area’s use as a quarantine station for containing yellow fever in the eighteenth century to its growth as a residential neighborhood and a hub of industrial development. This choice of Hawkins Point as an area of disposal was no accident, as the neighborhood was exploited for its simultaneous proximity to and distance from the city, as well as its large number of Black residents.

Unfortunately, environmental injustices did not cease with residents’ 1982 displacement. Today, Hawkins Point is home to W.R. Grace Chemical, the Quarantine Road Landfill, the Curtis Bay Medical Waste Incinerator, and more, making the area a clear example of an industrial sacrifice zone. The story of this neighborhood stands as a testament to the dangers of industrial encroachment and the harmfulness of environmental racism.

Hawkins Point must be remembered as a rallying cry for the neighborhoods surrounding it: stop South Baltimore from becoming another Hawkins Point.

Hawkins Point is a story of both historical and present injustices. Attention is owed to the community that was once pushed out by industry. But, mostly, attention is owed to the people today who suffer the health effects of pollutants from industry in Hawkins Point. Visible emissions leak from the Curtis Bay incinerator, toxic ash from the WIN Waste Incinerator is stored in Quarantine Road Landfill, and remnants of the Key Bridge lay just off its shores. As former residents of the neighborhood have emphasized, Hawkins Point is determined to be important, both for its own sake and so that its story is never repeated again. As former residents of the neighborhood have emphasized, Hawkins Point’s importance lies in the continuity between its past and present, as the same forces that displaced residents continue to shape environmental and health outcomes in surrounding communities. Remembering Hawkins Point is therefore essential, both to acknowledge these harms and to prevent their repetition.