By Sydney Walker ’26

Major: Human Development; Minors: Museum, Field, & Community Education and Chesapeake Regional Studies

Contributor Biography: Sydney is a sophomore majoring in Human Development and double minoring in Museum, Field, & Community Education and Chesapeake Regional Studies. She is the president of the sorority Alpha Chi Omega and is active around campus and the Chestertown community. Sydney is passionate about community development and engagement, and hopes her writing provokes people to look at their own communities more critically.

Brief Description: The Chesapeake Bay is home to one of the largest fishing hubs on the east coast. This industry brings people of all different backgrounds to the region. By reviewing fishing practices and communities in the Chesapeake, we are able to take a glimpse into how they have shaped society. This exploration was done initially by looking critically at the history of enslavement in this region, examining the contemporary structure of fishing communities on Smith Island, MD, and ending with a broad look at the lasting legacy of the fishing industry has had on social and familial structures within the Chesapeake region.

The following was written for CRS 242: Society and Estuary 

Introduction 

The Chesapeake region is a rich and diverse area. People of many backgrounds call this place home and share in the natural beauties of the largest estuary in the United States. Not only is the Chesapeake home to millions of people, but it also hosts a very large fishing industry. This industry employs thousands and feeds even more. This industry, however, has had much more of an impact on the Bay than economic factors. The fishing industry in the Chesapeake has long shaped, and been shaped by societal factors including social class, family structure, and cultural groups. Out of all the contemporary issues my peers and I  during Washington College’s Chesapeake Semester Program, the fishing industry has had the longest-lasting impact on the society of the Chesapeake.  

Colonization 

Early settlers did not come to the Chesapeake to make use of the waterways and the abundant natural resources. However, once they realized how lucrative the fishery business could become, early settlers began to put so much importance on this industry that it ultimately contributed to the stratification of the early Chesapeake. The ghosts of this initial division are still seen around the Bay even to this day.  

There is a long history of enslaved people as watermen and in other areas of forced labor in the fishing industry on the Eastern Shore. Kate Clifford Larson writes about this in her book, Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero, where she describes in detail Harriet Tubman’s great knowledge of the physical landscape of the Eastern Shore due to Harriet’s years forced working the land day and night.ⁱ Enslaved African Americans on the Eastern Shore became experts of their physical landscape. In the present day, African Americans continue to make up a significant portion of those working on waterways, demonstrating the continued importance of the fishing industry to cultural, ethnic, and societal groups in the Chesapeake region.  

Early Industrialization 

With the advent of the dredge in the early eighteen hundreds, oystering became an industry that employed thousands of people along the Chesapeake Bay. This initial boom of  need for labor resulted in canning factories and oyster-specific businesses spreading across the shores of the Bay.ⁱⁱ Crab and oyster packing houses became a social hub for women, regardless of race. In fact, these packing houses were one of the primary employers of Black women in the early to mid-nineteen hundreds.  

These packing houses served as more than a workplace; they became places where women would bring their children, sing hymns, and generally be in community with each other. At the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, my peers and I visited an exhibit that shares firsthand accounts of experiences that women working in these packing houses at the time had. One such woman named Lily Alarcon said, “Sometimes we are able to go to church. I don’t think there is a Catholic church here, but we go to Phillips Seafood where Father Joel has services ever week in the picking room”ⁱⁱⁱ. This experience highlights how places of early industry in the Chesapeake became more than just a place to work, but instead a true social pillar of the community.  

Industry and Infrastructure 

Traditional fishing communities continue to be a hallmark of the Chesapeake region, demonstrating the strong effect that the fishing industry has on society in the Bay. A case study in this phenomenon would be the lasting community structure of Smith Island, MD. Known for more than just their quintessentially Chesapeake accent, Smith Islanders maintain a traditional fishing village community^iv. Most men leave to work on their boats in the early hours of the morning and return later in the afternoon to work in their shanties on the docks of the river. Women stay on the island, either raising children or working in one of Smith’s tourist areas, like shops or one of the few bed and breakfasts. Life on Smith Island remains a reminder of what life in fishing communities on the Bay once looked like, and how fishing communities still exist and thrive thanks to the waterways and her natural resources.  

Environmentalism and Equity 

As we look towards the future of the Chesapeake Bay, its overall health and well-being relies on the people who work here and call this place home. Furthermore, the advocacy work of local watermen and people in the fishing industry has historically been and continues to be the most effective way to inspire social change. An example of a waterwoman making an impact in her community is Imani Black, founder of Minorities in Aquaculture. Imani’s goal in her organization is to empower and enable more women of color to work in the fishing industries in the Chesapeake. In an interview, Black states, “I think keeping that history at the forefront is important because many people don’t know it. Especially for people of color, it’s more of a representation thing. I use Minorities in Aquaculture for educational purposes. I also use it to show young minority women that we’ve been a part of this for a while and are not being introduced to something new. It’s like giving a history of where our families came from.”^v Black sees her activism as a way of reclaiming what is already hers: a role within the Chesapeake fishing industry that has historically belonged to minority groups. Despite a long history of black watermen working the Bay, there are only nine actively working as of 2022. Environmentalism and activism, especially in the fishing industry, are an important part of preserving the society of the Chesapeake.  

Conclusion 

Out of all the environmental and cultural history studied throughout the Chesapeake Semester program, we have learned that the fishing industry has one of the longest-lasting impacts on the society of the Chesapeake. While the “stuff,” or the natural resources of the Chesapeake, are important to consider, the real value of the region is in the people to whom these materials matter most.  When trying to determine the defining factors of a region or a community’s history, looking at social structures is essential; when we learn about the ways that people live in a community, we can better discern their unique values and ideals. The working class defines the heart of any society, and the watermen of the Chesapeake play a crucial, enduring role in shaping what society looks like in this one-of-a-kind region.