Maryland National Guard officials have declined to participate in a celebration for American abolitionist Frederick Douglass' birthday, saying it violates the Defense Department's new orders to stop supporting Black History Month events.
A formal memo from the Maryland National Guard's Joint Operations Center, dated Feb. 7, said the reserve component would be "unable to support the event for a flyover, band, military vehicles and troop presence." The celebration is called "Operation Frederick Douglass on the Hill" and marks the historic figure's 207th birthday. The remarks, signed by Lt. Col. Meaghan Lazak of the Maryland National Guard, began circulating online over the past week.
"Since this event is organized as part of a Black History month celebration, the Maryland National Guard cannot support," the memo reads. "In accordance with the new guidance, the Maryland National Guard must decline events which celebrates [sic] individuals based all or in part on immutable characteristics."
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Participation in public parades as well as flyovers is a regular occurrence for military units, used to attract attention and recruit future talent, and it is also seen as an important training opportunity.
Douglass, born in Maryland sometime in February 1818, escaped from enslavement as a young man and rose to become one of the most important orators and abolitionists of the civil rights movement in the 19th century. Not knowing his own birthday, he ultimately selected Feb. 14. He died on Feb. 20, 1895, in Cedar Hill, Washington, D.C., according to a webpage from the National Park Service.
Maj. Ben Hughes, a spokesperson for the Maryland National Guard, verified the memo as authentic to Military.com and pointed to a Jan. 31 statement from the Department of Defense as the guidance referenced for declining to participate.
The guidance last month from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was titled "Identity Months Dead at DoD," which said the military "will not use official resources, to include man-hours, to host celebrations or events related to cultural awareness months, including National African American/Black History Month, Women's History Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Pride Month, National Hispanic Heritage Month, National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and National American Indian Heritage Month."
Tarence Bailey Sr., a descendant of Douglass and president of the Bailey-Groce Family Foundation that organized the Feb. 22 event, told The Washington Post that he is a former member of the Maryland National Guard and was disappointed in the military's response.
"Basically, what the DoD said is, 'We're not doing that. He's Black and this is February so, no,'" Bailey told The Washington Post. "You're discrediting everything -- all of the work he did for this nation not as a Black man but as an American. ... They should really be ashamed of themselves."
Bailey also told The Washington Post that the Massachusetts National Guard participated in the event last year but chose not to assist this year.
The memo declining participation in the Frederick Douglass celebration comes amid a flurry of decisions the military and individual service branches are taking to distance themselves from minority groups and events, such as disbanding groups in the Air Force that fought for better policies for minority and female airmen.
This month, the Army and other services dropped recruiting efforts at a prestigious Black engineering awards event in Baltimore, despite a long-standing relationship, due to President Donald Trump and Hegseth's orders to eliminate programs and policies dealing with women, troops with minority backgrounds, and gay and lesbian service members.
The Army Corps of Engineers also stopped outreach at an all-girls school in South Carolina that was geared toward encouraging its female students to get involved in science and engineering careers because the service believed it violated the administration's prohibition on diversity initiatives.
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