Genesis in the News - "Sail Away"

 

Click to enlarge!  
Click Photo
to enlarge!
 

Genesis in the News - "Fall on the Bay"




A Natural Education Exploring the Chesapeake... Through Ebony Eyes

By Vincent O. Leggett
Steamer with a large pot of crabs Throughout history, African Americans have worked the Bay and its surrounding shores. After the abolition of slavery in 1865, many turned to the bounty of the Bay to support themselves and their families. Despite strenuous labor and difficult working conditions, African Americans excelled as watermen. Many would take to the water during oyster, clamming, crabbing and fishing seasons and then head for land, working the farms during the summer months.

Crops such as tobacco, which were being shipped on the Bay, enabled former slaves to work as laborers, longshoremen and seafood, vegetable and fruit packers. African Americans also worked as oyster tongers and served as dredge crew on skipjacks and other Bay boats. In some cases, African Americans piloted schooners and bugeyes up and down the Bay transporting seafood, farming supplies, lumber and produce to distance markets. Hundreds more black men and women worked in the seafood processing industry, picking crab meat and shucking oysters.

African Americans of note


Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman Several famous African American Marylanders had their early beginnings on the Chesapeake Bay. Noted statesman and abolitionist Frederick Douglass was born in Talbot County; Harriet Tubman, famed conductor of the Underground Railroad, was born in Dorchester County. From Maryland's Eastern Shore, their lives were shaped by the Bay.

Enslaved at a waterfront plantation, young Frederick Douglass watched boats ply the Chesapeake. "This very bay shall yet bear me into freedom," he later wrote. Douglass, who worked in a Baltimore shipyard and fled slavery disguised as a sailor, was one of many African Americans whose fates and fortunes were steeped in maritime history. For many African Americans maritime employment offered more than an opportunity to acquire valuable skills and a financial base; it also provided an avenue to freedom.

The Bay and its miles of rivers, creeks and streams were integral parts of the escape routes used by Harriet Tubman to lead slaves north to freedom via the Underground Railroad.

A center for learning


Yet, although African Americans have been plying the waters of the Chesapeake for more than 200 years, until recently their important contributions have gone largely undocumented. Today however, through organizations like the Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation, Inc., this is beginning to change, as increasing numbers of people are becoming aware of the significant roles African Americans have played in the history and culture of our region.

On a windy peninsula south of Annapolis, The Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation is developing a historical, cultural and environmental education center. Upon completion, the Black Watermen's Museum at Discovery Village on Parrish Creek in Shady Side will feature articles, photographs, interviews and videos about the men and women who worked the Bay. Tools used for harvesting crabs, finfish, clams and oysters will be on display. The Environmental Education Center will give students and teachers hands-on experience creating wetlands, planting bay grasses and constructing oyster reefs. The Center will also feature oral histories of African American watermen whose lives have been shaped by the Chesapeake.

Fall on the Bay


Nathan of Dorchester Skipjack Meanwhile, an exciting course already underway uses the Foundation's unique program, Chesapeake Bay Through Ebony Eyes, combining school curriculum and field education, integrating Bay ecology and heritage vessels with African American history and culture.

Last fall, through a series of lectures, seminars, water and field experiences, students and staff of the Genesis Christian Academy (GCA) in Deale learned about Bay ecology and water quality first hand. Each Monday from late September to November approximately 20 GCA students, aged 8 to 18, joined Captain Frank Newton and his crew, setting sail from Cambridge aboard the skipjack Nathan of Dorchester.

The young people were trained in practical techniques for testing water quality, creating oyster habitat and planting submerged aquatic vegetation, while enhancing their knowledge of the rich contributions of African Americans to the region's maritime and seafood industries. Captain Newton and company also taught the kids about navigation and the history and heritage of skipjacks.

Field trips to historical, cultural and scientific sites around the Bay were key to the learning experience. On a tour of the University of Maryland Center for Estuarine Studies - Horn Point Lab, the group learned about the Oyster Recovery Program and the critical role of the oyster in Bay restoration.

In Cambridge the students explored Harriet Tubman's 1820 birthplace and discovered that among the more than 300 slaves she led to freedom were her own aging parents.

At the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, lessons were conducted on the importance of restoring submerged aquatic vegetation and protecting wetlands for fish and wildlife habitat. The pupils also received tips on canoeing and rowing while exploring the pristine shoreline of the Rhode River, and learned about a 19th century tobacco plantation operated primarily by slaves, at the interpretive stations along the Java Trail.

On Kent Island, the young people toured Harris's Seafood Plant, witnessed oyster shucking up close, and talked with the owners about the status of Maryland's oyster industry.

At the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum on the Miles River in St. Michaels, participants visited the Oyster Exhibit - an excellent example of integrating the ecology, history and culture of the Bay - and received a special lecture.

In Baltimore's Inner Harbor, the group boarded two famous historic vessels, and received a lecture from Captain William Pinkney, master of the Freedom Schooner Amistad. They also received valuable information about educational and career opportunities for African Americans at the United States Coast Guard Academy while aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Eagle.

Traveling by water taxi to historic Fells Point - a center of international maritime trade during the 19th and 20th centuries - the students visited the future site of the Frederick Douglass and Isaacs Meyers Maritime Park and Museum.

Attendees were briefed on Maryland's Tributary Strategies program, and the Patapsco-Back River Team's current projects in Baltimore City and surrounding counties.

They also traveled by water to Ft. McHenry for a living history lecture on African American involvement in the War of 1812. (This author enthusiastically portrayed the character of Charles Ball, a free African American, who served in Commodore Joshua Barney's Chesapeake Flotilla.) African Americans such as Charles Ball, William Williams, and George R. Roberts were among those who successfully defended Baltimore in 1814 - during the same battle in which Francis Scott Key wrote the Star-Spangled Banner.

After a visit to the Calvert Marine Museum, a science-based facility specializing in natural history on the Patuxent River in Southern Maryland, the students received their final instruction aboard the Nathan of Dorchester as they sailed pass the magnificent Calvert Cliffs.

Putting learning to work


Will one of the students who participated in this exciting course of study someday choose a career in natural resources that will benefit our beloved Chesapeake Bay? Perhaps. But these GCA students will be putting what they learned to work much sooner than that: With waterfront campuses on Rockhold Creek and Broadwater Creek, spring semester students will be building their own oyster reefs, developing habitat, and planting grasses.

Genesis Christian Academy is a tuition-free International Day School. This unique on-water learning experience was made possible by a grant from the Verizon Foundation, and the generous support of all the participating people and organizations.

The program was designed and coordinated by Vincent O. Leggett, Director of Special Projects for DNR's Chesapeake Bay Program and Coordinator of Maryland's Patapsco-Back River Tributary Strategies Team. Mr. Leggett is also president and founder of the Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation, Inc. based in Annapolis.


All the photographs in this article were provided by the Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation, Inc.
Natural Resource Home
DNR Home