BALTIMORE -- Dr. Camille Hammond beamed with pride as she watched her 17-year-old sons in the throng at the ballroom of the Marriott Baltimore Waterfront. This spring day was when Kai and Aaron completed their “beautillion” process. That’s when, for her, they became men.
“I feel like they got a little older that evening. I heard them say, ‘I’m a man now,’” said Hammond, a physician who lives in Reisterstown.
A beautillion for young men, like a cotillion or a debutante ball for young women, is a rite of passage that formally presents teenagers to society as adults. While many teens mark that milestone on a graduation stage or at a school prom, a group of Black Marylanders has its own traditions.
