In this installment of Intergenerational Beats, Delmarva Public Media’s Sydney Rutledge-Smith and Kevin Diaz visit a new exhibit at an Eastern Shore maritime museum to learn about how the region's waterways played a role in helping people escape slavery.
This story is part of Delmarva Public Media’s Intergenerational Beats Initiative that pairs professional and student journalists to cover issues that shape and impact our communities.
Host:
When we think of the "Underground Railroad" -- the network of safe houses used by people escaping slavery in the American South -- we often imagine a long, arduous trek on foot.
But recent scholarship suggests that water was often the preferred route, especially in the Chesapeake Bay region. The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels has a special exhibition, and Delmarva Public Media decided to take a look.
Reporter:
Henry “Box” Brown was born a slave in Virginia, but he didn’t stay a slave. In 1849, he hatched a plan to stuff himself inside a small wooden crate. Then, with the help of two friends – a free Black man and a white shoemaker – he had himself shipped by steamboat to abolitionists in Philadelphia.
Brown wasn’t the only former slave to use the water to set himself free. His might have been one of the more daring escapes. But we really don’t know. Scholars are still discovering letters, journals, news clippings and other records showing how thousands of enslaved people used the Chesapeake Bay and other waterways to emancipate themselves. Some used rafts or small boats. Others worked or stowed away on merchant ships.
JEN DOLDE CLIP at 0:16: “We all make an assumption…” (Jen 1 20 seconds)
That’s Jen Dolde, director of exhibitions at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels. The museum is currently holding a special exhibition illustrating how the water served as a path both in and out of slavery.
The exhibition is built upon a relatively recent area of scholarship, including the seminal work, “Sailing to Freedom” a volume of essays edited by University of Massachusetts scholar Tim Walker. The book explores stories of the maritime dimension of the Underground Railroad.
Jen clip 4a, (5 seconds) “we’re still uncovering these stories…”
Given the hardships of overland travel in the 19th century, seeking freedom by water made perfect sense. Here’s exhibition designer Jim Koerner:
Jim Koerner clip at 9:17: “It was a much faster way to travel…” (Jim 1, 30 seconds)
Among the more familiar stories were those of Harriet Tubman, who followed the Choptank River north, and Frederick Douglass, who knew his way around boats and posed as a sailor to travel by steam-ferry. According to Dolde, that maritime knowledge wasn’t unusual.
Jen clip on remarkable knowledge. (Jen 2, 30 seconds)
The exhibition’s stories are illustrated in part with artifacts from the museum’s own collection. That includes a log canoe model representing boats used by freedom seekers, plus the tools they used in shipbuilding. Visitors also are introduced to the story of Henry “Box” Brown through a student-built recreation of the crate he used in find freedom.
There’s also an interactive map online that allows scholars and others to contribute new stories of escape, stories that foster both contemplation and inspiration.
Jim 4 B on how the stories keep coming. (15 seconds)
Sailing to Freedom is scheduled to run at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels through the end of 2026.
With Kevin Diaz, this is Sydney Rutledge-Smith for Delmarva Public Media.
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