EDGEWOOD, Md. — The new park in Edgewood sits on the same grounds where military housing long stood for those serving at the Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG).
“For just over a hundred years now, this where we stand has been a military community,” said Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly.
Decorating the park with military-themed playground equipment was easy enough, and finding someone worthy of its dedication proved to be as well.
The county settled upon Mildred C. Kelly as the park’s namesake—-the first African American woman to rise to the rank of sergeant major and the first woman to command the male-dominated APG in the early seventies.
“They really came on to push back on that and reached out to make sure the African-American community and the female communities were both being fairly represented in the U.S. Army and providing those folks with an avenue to rise up through the ranks,” said Cassilly, “You’re seeing Mildred Kelly being one of the leaders in that push.”
An ascent through the ranks on the heels of the women’s liberation and civil rights movements, not to mention the ongoing protests surrounding the Vietnam War.
“To have her to break down those barriers and for the acceptance that she had, for the expertise in what she did to come here to Aberdeen Proving Ground and take that senior NCO leadership position of that entire post, a post that was just thriving at that time when you think about that, it’s remarkable,” said Harford County Veterans Affairs Coordinator Bob Brown, “It is really a break through moment in the history of this country.”
While Kelly’s story has been a relatively forgotten chapter in history up until now, the hope is that this park bearing her name will change that.
So future generations may recall the challenges she overcame in the past.
“She went through a lot,” said Melissa Derisca, a parent who lives in the surrounding community, “so I look forward to researching her and for that memory to be alive here amongst our kids—-young women, African American, Hispanic, everyone.”
