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The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is an internationally-renowned orchestra, founded in 1916 as a publicly-funded municipal organization. The current Music Director is Marin Alsop, a protégé of Leonard Bernstein. Center Stage is the premier theater company in the city and a regionally well-respected group. The Baltimore Opera is an important regional opera company, and The Baltimore Consort has been a leading early music ensemble for over twenty-5 years. The France-Merrick Performing Arts Center, home of the restored Thomas W. Lamb-designed Hippodrome Theatre, has afforded Baltimore the opportunity to become a major regional player in the area of touring Broadway and other performing arts presentations.

Much of Baltimore`s black US culture has roots that long predate the twentieth century "Great Migration" from the Deep South. Like Atlanta, Georgia and Washington, D.C., Baltimore has been home to a successful black middle class and professional community for centuries. Before the Civil War, Baltimore had one of the largest concentrations of free black USs among US cities. In the twentieth century, Baltimore-born Thurgood Marshall became the first black US justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Baltimore`s culture has been famously celebrated in the films of Barry Levinson, who grew up in the city`s Jewish neighborhoods. His movies Diner, Tin Men, Avalon, and Liberty Heights are inspired to varying degrees by his life in the city.

The traditional local accent has long been noted and celebrated as "Baltimorese" or "Bawlmorese." One thing outsiders rapidly notice is that the locals refer to their city as "Bawlmer" or "Ballmer," dropping with the "t" for the most part. The dialect is similar to that of many Marylanders, Virginians and Pennsylvanians; it may reflect the region`s roots in Cornwall and the English West Country, as many of the original settlers of the Chesapeake Bay area came from this area in colonial times. (Traditionally, many Marylanders call their state "Merlin"--and likewise, many Pennsylvanians call their state "Pennsavania," dropping the "l".) However, Baltimore`s local accent also reflects the rich mix of ethnic groups from Ireland, Germany, and southern and eastern Europe who immigrated to the city during the industrial era.

On January 21, 2008, Philippine Consul Rico Fos proclaimed that Baltimore, Maryland will employ additional 178 new Filipino public school teachers this school year (bringing to a total of 1,000, the Filipino teachers in the metropolitan Washington which includes parts of Maryland and Virginia). Maryland has yearly shortage of 6,000 teachers.

Witness intimidation has also been reported as a problem in the city. In an infamous case, community activist Angela Dawson and her family were murdered by firebomb in their Baltimore home on October 16, 2002, in retaliation for Dawson`s reporting of criminal activity. In a separate incident in 2005, another public safety activist, Edna McAbier, was also targeted by firebomb. Though she survived, she has fled her neighborhood. Three men were sentenced to life in prison for their involvement in the latter case.

The US Civil Liberties Union has filed a suit in respect of systematic civil rights abuses by the current administration. While police officials and their critics disagree about exact figures, it is nonetheless clear that approximately 25% of the roughly 100,000 arrests each year are made in the absence of a chargeable offense.