Article by Andre Nieto Jaime

​1979.10.20: Clifford P. Cropper Pound Fishing Crew with eight fishermen and a cart, c. 1920;
​Gift of Etta Cropper Davidson (Collection of the Ocean City Museum Society)

Assateague Island was not always preserved as the natural and scenic island we know it as today. Prior to the establishment of Assateague State Park and Assateague Island National Seashore, Assateague Island was frequented by hunters and later those wishing to develop the island into a resort similar to Ocean City. Before the construction of the Verrazano Bridge in 1964, access to the island was limited to ferries that would shuttle people, ponies, and cars between the mainland and island. The most memorable of these ferries was perhaps the South Point ferry which took passengers to a landing spot known as North Beach. John Albert Purnell Sr, also known as “Jack Pot-Pie” or simply “Pot-Pie,” was one of these ferry captains that transported passengers across the Sinepuxent Bay from South Point. His charm and service have been remembered years after the ferry took its last passengers across the Sinepuxent, making him a lasting part of the area’s history.

John “Jack Pot-Pie” Purnell was born to Albert and Annie (also known as Anna) Taylor Purnell sometime around 1893, likely in the East Berlin area. Based off of his 1917 World War I draft registration card, he was born in Taylorville, a small community located between Ocean Pines and Berlin. On the same document, he was described as being of medium height, slender build, and having black hair and eyes when he registered at the age of 23. Another detail about his appearance can be gleamed from what was listed as a claim for exemption, which was that he was “little-ler on right foot.”

Wicomico Military Records 1917-1918, Albert John Purnell
FamilySearch

Jack Pot-Pie spent the majority of his life near Berlin and Ocean City, working the land and waters here. In an interview with The Daily Times, he recalls working with his father “back in those days” and the they “hauled ice down from Ocean City to Chincoteague,” on an ice boat. In 1910, documentation shows that he lived with his parents in East Berlin. His father Albert, 44, was working as a boatman while Pot-Pie was working as a farm laborer. He most likely helped his father on top of his farm duties. Then, seven years later, Pot-Pie was employed at C.P. Cropper Fish [and Oyster] Co. During an interview, Ricks E. Savage looked back on Pot-Pie and the stories he told during ferry rides and explained that Pot-Pie was an engineer on a pound boat before the inlet was cut in 1933. Purnell himself also looked back on working for Clifford P. Cropper on a pound boat, sharing how every day he was out in the water with his crew checking the traps and how they pulled the boat up on the beach with horses at the end of each day.

While working for Cropper, Jack Pot-Pie became the captain of a seven man crew, quite a feat at a time when the pound fishing industry was mostly dominated by white men. Mac Simpson, during a 1999 interview, noted that very few African Americans were working on pound boats, making it exceptional that Pot-Pie became a captain of one in the early 20th century. Simpson only had recollection of one Black man, Charles Smith, in his own crew and this man was the only one trusted with the combination to their safe. According to Simpson, when Smith passed, it was mostly white people that attended his funeral, showing how respected he was among his fellow fishermen. Pot-Pie too commanded great respect among his peers, being remembered as a great waterman.

Back tracking to the early 20th century, it was around this time that Pot-Pie became a married man. Census data reveals that Pot-Pie lived on Sinepuxent Neck Road with his wife, Blanche Ellen Derrickson, and their recently born daughter, Nellie, in 1920. Blanche was born to Edward J. and Phyllis Derrickson around 1896 and, like Pot-Pie, grew up in the East Berlin area. In 1910, she had been working as a farmer on a home farm at the age of 14, likely helping her family at home on Sinepuxent Road. It was sometime between 1910 and 1920 that Blanche married John “Jack Pot-Pie” Purnell. In Pot-Pie’s 1917 draft registration he was listed as being married. The same is true for his entry in the 1920 Census where there seems to be an age discrepancy. Pot-Pie was listed as being 23, the same age as his 1917 registration and only 7 years older (when he should have been ten years older) than in the 1910 Census. Meanwhile, Blanche was listed as being 22 in 1920. In 1930, Pot-Pie’s recorded age of 37 lines back up with his 1893 date of birth. Here, it is written that he married Blanche, who is now 34, at the age of 25 while she was 22. Given the fact they were married by 1920, had married 12 years ago in 1930, and Pot-Pie’s draft registration lists him as married in 1917, suggests they married sometime around 1917 or 1918. ​

1920 & 1930 Census Sheets. Entries for John A. Purnell
Family Search

Elements of Blanche’s and Pot-Pie’s lives between 1930 and 1950 can be garnered through census data. In 1930, Pot-Pie was still working on the water as an ocean fisherman. He was also still living on Sinepuxent Road with his wife Blanche and three new children. In addition to Nellie (now 11 years old), there was John (8 years old), Savannah (6 years old), and Leon (1.5 years old). A decade later, in 1940, it seems that Pot-Pie was primarily a farmer, although he likely continued fishing to some extent. He also had added four more children and a grandchild to the household. Eugene (9 years old), Vernon (7 years old) Hughie (4 years old), Roxie (2 years old), and Ruby L. (3 years old, daughter of Nellie). Two years later, another draft registration sheds more light on Pot-Pie’s life.

In 1942, it came time for the “Old Man’s Draft” where men between the ages of 45 and 65 were required to register for the Selective Service. Pot-Pie, being around 52 years old, fell into this age bracket. His date of birth was filed as being “March 1890?” which is a close match with his official social security death index date of birth, listed as March 3, 1891, and not far off from his 1893 date of birth. When he registered Pot-Pie was still living in the Berlin area, with his address and place of employment being listed as “Berlin R.F.D #2” indicating he was sharecropping or in a similar situation with his employer. His employer was listed as a W. McCabe living in Salisbury, but the person he had listed as always knowing his address was C.P. Cropper in Ocean City, hinting at some sort of continued contact with Cropper. Perhaps he was close friends with Cropper, or worked with him to some extent. 

Along with hints at his residence and employment, this registration provides hints at his appearance 25 years after his first registration. Instead of a general description of his height, there is now a more specific measurement of five feet and five inches tall. His eyes were described as being brown, his hair gray, and his complexion light brown with a weight of 145 lbs. No distinguishing features, such as scars, were noted that could help identify him.

President Roosevelt signing the Burke-Wadsworth Conscription Act.
September 16, 1940
Franklin D. Roosevelt Library

Philadelphia Military Records 2001
John Abb Purnell
FamilySearch

During this period, plans of a ferry service to Assateague began to formulate. Assateague Island was relatively undeveloped until the mid-20th century and the barrier island was mostly being used for pony penning, gunning clubs, hunting, and fishing. There was also no ferry, at least not a consistent one, or a bridge to take people to the island. The most common method to get to Assateague was via boat. Kathrine Massey Bounds, whose father penned ponies on the island, remembers a time when there was no ferry. A monitor pulled by a gasoline boat was how her father, Raymond, got to and from the island. Patrick Henry also told of how the only was across to Assateague was via ferry. When reflecting upon his youth, Henry noted that he did not spend much time on the island until after the Verrazano Bridge was built, since “the only way you could get over there” was via ferry. Unless one had a boat or knew someone with a boat, it could be difficult or inconvenient to get to the island. 

When word of a ferry service coming to the island spread, it stirred great excitement. One 1946 paper shared a rumor of a ferry from the Ocean City harbor to Assateague and was causing commotion among fishermen. At this point, the Worcester County commissioners had already set in motion the establishment of the South Point ferry, but the idea of a ferry from the harbor to the island was heavenly for anglers. People were itching for easier access to the island for hunting and fishing. In the fall of 1946, a channel was already in the process of being dredged for the South Point ferry and all that was left was to build a wharf.

The following year, in 1947, the ferry was operational and according to the paper published the day before, the operator was Noah Hudson of Berlin. Pot-Pie came into the picture two years later when he became the ferry tender. Despite being remembered as the ferry captain starting in 1949, this may have been a side job for Pot-Pie. The 1950 Census has his occupation as working in a poultry plant, a rising industry on the Eastern Shore at the time. Regardless, he was still operating the ferry in the late 50s and early 60s. In 1959, Pot-Pie shared his life story with The Daily Times, noting that he started his position as ferry tender a decade prior. He continued with this position until at least 1962, when he is named in a paper describing the after math of the Ash Wednesday Storm. One of the two ferries had been washed up on shore and the North Beach slip was left in shambles. To make matters worse, even the channel for the ferry had been filled in, leaving Purnell with the daunting task of navigating the ferry back without a channel or markers. This contributed to the end, but was not the final nail in the coffin for the South Point ferry.

1984.10.311: Ferry at South Point going to Assateague Beach circa 1950s;
Gift of George and Suzanne Hurley (Collection of the Ocean City Museum Society)

Ferry service proved to be vital for and hunters. Alfred Showell remembered how hunters had to come to Pot-Pie to get across the bay in their cars. Fishers likewise made great use of the ferry, especially for fishing tournaments. In 1952, the first annual Ocean Beach Surf Fishing contest was held on Assateague Island and the ferry was advertised as the sole way of accessing it. Even the entries had to be weighed and certified at the ferry terminal. If fishermen wanted a chance at winning this contest and the cash prize, they had to go to Pot-Pie. By 1954 the South Point ferry opened up to 24 hour service due to fishing demand, although rides after 10pm had to be arranged in advance with the ferryman.

Pot-Pie continues to be remembered fondly for his compassion, kindness, and skills as a waterman. In 1961 Pot-Pie’s care and thoughtfulness were reflected when he noticed that one man he took across the Sinepuxent had not returned. Remembering that the man did not bring enough provisions to last more than a day, Pot-Pie reported the situation to the authorities who investigated and found the individual. Ocean City resident Ricks E. Savage also recalled how Pot-Pie was rather easy going, joking that he may have taken more free rides across the bay than paid ones.3 Then there was Alfred Showell who expressed admiration for Pot-Pie, proclaiming him to be “one of the best watermen ever had around there,” and that “he knew, he knew the water” and boats very well.4 So well in fact, that there “wouldn’t be a storm too bad he couldn’t take a boat and go and come” back from. This statement proved true during the event he is perhaps most remembered for.

In 1962 a devastating storm, known as the Ash Wednesday Storm, blew through Ocean City and caused significant damage. Savage described his experience of the aftermath, explaining how many of the houses were “virtually destroyed” and how water was high enough to reach the windshields of cars on the street.5 This storm left many individuals stranded and according to anecdotes, Pot-Pie came to the rescue of many. Nelda Purnell, Pot-Pie’s great granddaughter, shared how Pot-Pie took the ferry to West Ocean City and saved people he found “standing on refrigerators” and took them to safety.6 Pot-Pie was not discouraged by the flooding and put the safety of others over his own. 

The 1962 storm, as mentioned previously, left much destruction in its wake. It also leveled much of Ocean Beach, a new development similar to Ocean City that was planned for Assateague. This resulted in the abandonment of Ocean Beach and paved the way for the creation of Assateague Island National Seashore in 1965. The State Park side of the island had been in talks since the 1940s and opened to the public in 1965, a year after the construction of the Verrazano Bridge. Pot-Pie passed the same year the bridge was completed, on April 30, 1964.7 His funeral was held at St. John’s Methodist Church in Sinepuxent, which has been described as the heart of the Sinepuxent community by some.8 Through his marriage with Blanche, he had nine children who brought him over 15 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren at the time of his death. 
​
Pot-Pie and the ferry he captained were one of the few ways to access Assateague Island before the bridge was completed. Without the ferry service, the culture of hunting, fishing, and gunning clubs on the island to likely would not have flourished the way it did. This iconic culture and time period lives fondly in the minds of many today and Pot-Pie contributed to it. He also became a pound boat captain at a time where very few African Americans were reported as working in the industry. Evidently, he became a well-known and respected waterman based off of Showell’s praise and he proved his skills during the 1962 storm rescues. Pot-Pie contributed to sustaining waterman and hunting culture by facilitating access to the island and by virtue of his own captaining skills. He has ingrained himself into Eastern Shore history and his legacy has made a lasting impact in the memories of local communities.

Remnants of Leon Ackerman's Ocean Beach Subdivision on Assateague
c. 1965
National Park Service

Verrazano Bridge on Assateague Island - suwt0114
Walter C. Thurston Jr. Collection (2016.096)
​Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture, Salisbury University

Primary Sources:
1910 Census. "Maryland, United States records," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9RJB-94XD?view=index : Oct 17, 2025), image 943 of 1242; United States. National Archives and Records Administration. Image Group Number: 004971683 
1920 Census. "Maryland, United States records," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GR6L-CZT?view=index : Oct 17, 2025), image 1009 of 1261; United States. National Archives and Records Administration. Image Group Number: 004966055 
1930 Census. "Maryland, United States records," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRHM-K?view=index : Oct 17, 2025), image 404 of 1121; United States. National Archives and Records Administration. Image Group Number: 004951061 
1930 Census. "Maryland, United States records," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRHM-9L7?view=index : Oct 17, 2025), image 405 of 1121; United States. National Archives and Records Administration. Image Group Number: 004951061 
1940 Census. "Worcester, Maryland, United States records," images, FamilySearch (https:// www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9M1-ZNC7?view=index : Oct 17, 2025), image 594 of 600; United States. National Archives and Records Administration. Image Group Number: 005461126 
1950 Census. "Worcester, Maryland, United States records," images, FamilySearch (https:// www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHN-GQHW-298Z-4?view=index : Oct 17, 2025), image 17 of 24; National Archives and Records Administration. Image Group Number: 108967242.
1950 Census. "Worcester, Maryland, United States records," images, FamilySearch (https:// www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHJ-5QHW-2987-R?view=index : Oct 17, 2025), image 18 of 24; National Archives and Records Administration. Image Group Number: 108967242 
“Assateague Island Ferry Begins Tomorrow.” The Daily Times, August 2 1947. 
Cochran, Bill. “Assateague Ferry Back in Water.” The Daily Times, March 21, 1962.
“Ferry Captain Recalls Pound Fishing at Resort.” The Daily Times, August 20, 1959.
“Ferry Rumor.” The Baltimore Sun, September 29, 1946.
“Fishing Contest to Start Today,” The Daily Times, September 5, 1952. 
Interview with Mac Simpson, 6 July 1999. Delmarva Folklife Project.  maaf-kf-md-ft-7.6.99.332a, Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture, Salisbury University, Salisbury, Maryland. https://archive.org/details/maaf-kf-md-ft-7.6.99.332a 
Interview with Ricks E. Savage, 12 July 2004. Community Audio.  oh-58-savage. Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture, Salisbury University, Salisbury, Maryland. https://archive.org/details/oh-58-savage 
“John A. Purnell.” The Daily Times, May 1, 1964.
McNally, Tom. “Waters and Woods: Scorpion Leads.” The Evening Star, September 20, 1954.
Philadelphia. Military Records 2001. "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States records," images, FamilySearch (https:// www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-D1NQ-287?view=index : Oct 14, 2025), image 3000 of 3307; United States. National Archives and Records Administration. Mid Atlantic Region. Image Group Number: 004133519 
Pitts, Tom and Pat Russell. Interview with Alfred Showell, Enduring Connections Audio & Video, May 19, 2004. Enduring Connections: Exploring Delmarva’s Black History, Nabb Research Center, Salisbury University. https://libapps.salisbury.edu/enduring-connections/r/enduring_connections_media/80. 
Wicomico. Military Records 1917–1918. "Wicomico, Maryland, United States records," images, FamilySearch (https:// www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YTX-32SF?view=index : Oct 14, 2025), image 3514 of 4958; United States. National Archives and Records Administration,United States. National Archives and Records Administration. Atlanta Branch. Image Group Number: 005152052 

Secondary Sources:
Assateague Island National Seashore Geologic Resources Inventory Report. Natural Resource Report NPS/NRSS/GRD/NRR—2013/708. National Park Service & US Department of the Interior. https://www.npshistory.com/publications/asis/nrr-2013-708.pdf. 
Assateague Island National Seashore. “It’s Wayback Wednesday! As the gale force of Assateague Island National Seashore’s Maintenance Division, Nelda Purnell keeps the park's buildings ship shape.” Facebook, December 11, 2013.https://www.facebook.com/AssateagueNPS/photos/its-wayback-wednesdayas-the-gale-force-of-assateague-island-national-seashores-m/763005577047153/?_rdr. 
Eshelman, Ralph E. and Patricia A. Russell. Historic Context Study of Waterfowl Hunting Camps and Related Properties within Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland and Virginia. National Park Service & Department of the Interior, 2004. https://npshistory.com/publications/asis/hunting-camps-hcs.pdf 
Ocean City Life Saving Station Museum. “From the Archives: This week's ‘From the Archives’ is about Captain Jack Pot-Pie Purnell.” Facebook, February 4, 2023. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=581727473969753&rdid=hOItDlbYS074tWqB. 

Article by Dr. Clara Small, professor emerita, Salisbury University

Mary Gladys Jones was born May 10, 1919 to Norman Edward Jones and Martha Showell Jones, in Whaleyville, in Worcester County, on the lower Eastern Shore of Maryland. She always loved education and even started elementary school at the age of five, at Whaleyville Elementary School. By the time school officials realized she was too young to be in school, she was within a couple of weeks of completing first grade, so administrators allowed her to remain in school to complete the first grade. Upon the completion of her early grades, at Flower Street High School in Berlin, Maryland, her family found a place for her to live (board) in Wicomico County where she could continue her education, at Salisbury High School, the only colored high school on the Lower Eastern Shore at the time. There were no buses for her to travel to and from school, so her parents paid for her to live with a family in Fruitland during the week and picked her up on weekends. She graduated from the Salisbury Colored High School in 1935, at the age of 16, so she lived in the Salisbury/Fruitland area from the time she was 14 years old.

Her formative years were spent during the Great Depression, so she learned how to survive in a segregated society with less. She had just entered high school when the depression began, but because her father was a veteran, her family did not suffer as harshly as others. Her mother, a housewife, was also enterprising, as she helped the family make ends meet. The family had a truck farm and her mother canned and preserved fruits and vegetables, raised chickens, ducks, hogs and had plenty of food, which they shared with others in need. Although they were not wealthy, they were comfortable. Her mother also sewed, and Mary Glady’s sister knitted and crocheted, which helped to make very fashionable clothing for the family. That cooperative, sharing spirit which began in her parents’ home guided and sustained Mary Gladys Jones throughout her life.

Her parents inspired her to succeed in life and provided a firm foundation for her success. However, she also received a great deal of inspiration and support from an uncle named Charles Pullett, whom she called “Uncle Butcher.” He and his wife, Aunt Julia, accepted Mary Gladys as the daughter they did not have. Uncle Butcher worked for well-to-do families as a chauffeur in Salisbury. His speech pattern was so precise and admirable, that he inspired her to speak well and he also purchased beautiful clothes for her. At the age of twelve, he purchased Mary Gladys’ first watch and a dictionary, and she used the dictionary to learn a new word each day. Unfortunately, he died very suddenly during her first year in high school, but his spirit and the inspiration he gave to her kept her focused on education and the desire to succeed. In her later years, Mary Gladys once stated that “she believed that if he had lived, most likely her ultimate dream of being a college professor would have been realized.” 
After graduation from high school in 1935, she attended Bowie State Normal College (now Bowie State University), and graduated in 1938 with a certification to teach elementary education, which had to be renewed every five years. She attended Bowie State College even though she lived in very close proximity to Salisbury State College, but at the time African Ameri-cans were not allowed to attend that institution. Her aunt and uncle worked at Salisbury State College, but blacks could not matriculate there. In 1953, she obtained her Bachelor of Science degree from Morgan State College (now Morgan State University). Post-baccalaureate course work for her “Masters Equivalency” included work at Temple University, the University of Maryland College Park, Maryland State College (now the University of Maryland Eastern Shore), the University of Delaware, and Salisbury State University (now Salisbury University).  ​

​Mary Gladys Jones always believed, “You must educate the whole child.” Her regimen for after school learning included not only an emphasis on a solid foundation of academic basics but also cultural experiences, re-spect for authority, and insistence on good manners and overall character building. Her motto was always: “Good, better, best. Never let it rest until the good becomes the better and the better becomes the best.” She believed that as long as there were caring people in the community, there would always be a way for the Fruitland Community Center to help fulfill the needs of future generations of young students in need of after school mentoring in Fruitland. As such, there would always be a need for a safe haven where children could grow and learn after school. Not only did Mary Gladys Jones help the youth of the community, she also helped many student teachers from Salisbury University get off to a promising start as their mentor in the cooperating teacher program.
For her life-long service and commitment to the education of the youth of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Mary Gladys Jones was the recipient of a host of well-deserved awards, certificates of appreciation and proclamations. A list of some of those commendations are as follows:

• Outstanding Senior Citizen of Maryland Award by the Jaycees of Maryland
• All-Star Volunteer by Shore CAN
• Unsung Hero by Shore Living Magazine
• Certificate of Honor from the Wicomico County Commission for
• Women for Outstanding Service to the Community
• Certificate of Merit for Outstanding Citizenship, a Proclamation from the Wicomico County Council
• Resolution from the Maryland House of Delegates
• 2000-2001 Maryland Retired Teacher’s Association-Certificate of Appreciation
• 2000-Tri-County NAACP Organization Coalition, Inc. Award
• 2001-Named Fruitland’s Outstanding Citizen of the Year
• 2005-Wicomico County Partnership for Families and Children
• Certificate of Appreciation-Friend of Children Award
  
• 2008-Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., recognized her at its National Boule in Celebration of the 100th Anniversary
• 2010-Outsanding Achiever Award by the Maryland African American Pride Magazine, winter edition
• 2011-Volunteer of the Year Award, presented by the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore
• A Street was named in her honor in Fruitland, Maryland on her 99th Birthday (May 11, 2018)
• Light of Literacy Award (2019)
• Salisbury Award (2019)

Due to her longevity and extensive career, as well as her remarkable job of teaching and mentoring such a vast number of students, the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore established the Mary Gladys Jones Volunteer of the Year Award. The first recipient was, none other than, Mrs. Mary Gladys Jones in 2011. The award is presented annually to an individual who has made outstanding, sustained, and unselfish contributions to community service, and whose vital ideas and personal sacrifices exemplify the ideal of service to our community. Nominees must have made significant contributions in such areas of community service as youth, education, human services, community development, health or the environment. The qualities of exemplary leadership, vision, integrity, compassion, cooperation, and generosity of time and talents will also guide the selection of the recipient.
Mary Gladys Jones was a member of a host of organizations, some of which are:

• Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
• Wicomico County Teachers Association
• Wicomico County Retired Teachers Association
• Maryland State Teachers Association
• National Education Association
• Salisbury High School Association
• United Methodist Women in Faith
• Member of Mt. Calvary United Methodist Church
• Girl Scout Troop Leader

Mary Gladys Jones spent nearly eighty years as an educator for the Worcester and Wicomico Counties Boards of Education. She mentored teachers and encouraged young children to excel as she touched their lives in so many ways. Mary Gladys Jones’ legacy is a commitment of life-long learning to the community. She has been described as the kindest, most gracious, loving teacher, mentor and mother figure to those who needed guidance and someone to emulate. They found all of those qualities in the person of Mrs. Mary Gladys Jones, a truly outstanding teacher, mentor, community volunteer, and role model.
Sadly, after faithfully serving her community, teaching and tutoring hundreds of local children, Mrs. Mary Gladys Jones passed away on February 3, 2025 at her home in Salisbury, Maryland, at the age of 105. Her Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Sorors performed the Ivy Beyond the Wall Memorial Service for her on Friday, February 7, and her funeral services were held on Saturday, February 8, 2025 at Mt. Calvary Community Church in Fruitland, Maryland. The community lost a kind, gentle, loving teacher, who never stopped teaching and spreading words of encouragement and guidance, until her last breath was taken.

Article by Dr. Clara Small, professor emerita, Salisbury University

Photo Credit: Daniel Jordan

Bryan Collier was born in January of 1967, the youngest of six children of William Collier, Sr., and the late Esther Lee Collier.  Bryan grew up in Pocomoke, Maryland, on the Eastern of Maryland, and was a product of the Somerset County School System and graduated from Washington High School in Princess Anne, Maryland. 

At an early age, Bryan developed an interest in art, and his interest grew to encompass several mediums, which included the mixture of watercolor and collage to bring stories to life. Bryan’s mother, Esther, was a Head Start teacher and she often brought home children’s books for him to read, but he was not interest-ed in the words on the pages. His interest actually was centered on the pictures and photos. However, his earliest inspiration for art came from his grandmother who preserved foods and made quilts, which 25 years later led him to use collages in his works. The seed was planted when he was quite young, observing his grandmother.  

Bryan’s journey began in 1985, when he was in high school, and he won first place in a Congressional Art Competition, and his art was put on display in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. That same year he was awarded a scholarship through a national talent competition to attend Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. Pratt is a private college, but it is one of the leading art schools in the country. Bryan graduated from Pratt in 1989 with a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts with honors. While attending Pratt Institute, he volunteered at Harlem Horizon Studio, which was located in the Harlem Hospital Center. The Center was open to the children of the hospital as well as to the children of the community. The Harlem Horizon Studio had a program that provided space and materials for self-taught artists in the community. Bryan later became the Director of the program and remained in that position 12 years.
His interest in becoming a part of children’s books began in 1995, at a book store where he observed the books did not look, feel or sound like him. As a result, he decided to do something about it and began to write and illustrate children’s books that resembled him. He was not an immediate success, and it took seven years of knocking on many doors until he got a book deal. His big break came with the publication of his first book titled Uptown, for which he was awarded the Coretta Scott King Award and the Ezra Jack Keats Award. Uptown, was written as well as illustrated by him and was published in 2000. It is about the Harlem, New York neighborhood and the experiences of a young boy who lived there. 

Written & Illustrated by Byran Collier
Published by Henry Holt and Co.
2000

Bryan’s favorite medium seems to have been the mixing of watercolor and collages which brought stories to life and appears to have also brought him his greatest success. A listing of most of his books, collaborations with other authors, and the books he illustrated, are as follows:
*John’s Secret Dreams, by Doreen Rappaport (1991)
*These Hands, by Hope Lynne Price (1997)
*Uptown: Rise and Shine, By Brian Collier (2000)
*A Freedom River, by Doreen Rappaport (2000)
*Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by Doreen Rappaport,
(2001)
*Visiting Langston, by Willie Perdomo (2002)
*Hey Black Child, by Useni Eugene Perkins (2003)
*What’s the Hurray, Fox? And Other Animal Stories, by Joyce Carol Thomas (2004)
*Rosa, by Nikki Giovanni, (2005)
*Welcome, Precious, by Nikki Grimes and Bryan Collier (2006)
*Twelve Rounds to Glory: The Story of Muhammad Ali, by Charles R. Smith, Jr.,
(2007)
*Cherish today: A Celebration of Life’s Moment, by Kristina Evans and Bryan
Collier (2007)
*Doo-Wop Pop, by Roni Schotter (2008)
*Lincoln and Douglass: An American Friendship, by Nikki Giovanni (2008)
*Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope, by Nikki Grimes (2008)
*Our Children Can Soar: A Celebration of Rosa, Barack, and the Pioneers of
Change, by Michelle Cook (2009)
*Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave, by Laban Carrick Hill (2010)
*Your Moon, My Moon: A Grandmother’s Words to a Faraway Child, by Patricia
MacLachlan (2011)
*Fifty Cents and a Dream: Young Booker T. Washington, by Jabari Asim (2012)
*Knock Knock: My Dad’s Dream for Me, by Daniel Beaty (2013)
*My Country ‘Tis of Thee: How One Song Reveals the History of Civil Rights, by
Claire Murphy (2014)
*Trombone Shorty, by Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews (2015)
*City Shapes, by Diana Murray (2016)
*Lift Your Light a Little Higher: The Story of Stephen Bishop: Slave, Explorer, by
Heather Henson (2016)
*The Watcher, by Nikki Grimes (2017)
*It’s Shoe Time!, by Bryan Collier and Mo Williams (2017)
*Five O’clock Band, by Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews (2018)
*Thurgood, by Jonah Winter (2019)
*Clemente, by Willie Perdomo and Bryan Collier (2020)
*All Because You Matter, by Ami Charles (2020)
*By and By: Charles Albert Tindley, the Father of Gospel Music, by Carole Boston
Weatherford (2020)
*We Shall Overcome, by Bryan Collier (2021)
*Music Is A Rainbow, by Bryan Collier (2022)
*Maya’s Song, by Renee Watson (2022)
*Love Is Loud: How Diana Nash Led the Civil Rights Movement, by Sandra Neil
Wallace (2023)
*Ode to Grapefruit: How James Earl Jones Found His Voice, by Kari Lavelle (2024)
*Freedom on the Sea: The True Story of the Civil War Hero Robert Smalls and
His Daring Escape to Freedom, by Michael Boulware Moore (2024)
*Together, United (An All Because You Matter Book), by Tami Charles (2025)
*Black Boy, Rise, by Bryan Barnes (2025)
*Troubled Waters: A River’s Journey Toward Justice, by Carole Boston Weather-
ford, and Bryan Collier (2026), and others.

In each of the books listed above by the authors, as well as those co-authored by Bryan Collier, Bryan’s illustrations were specifically designed to emphasize the meaning and purpose of the book from the perspective of young African Americans. Bryan understood that the illustrations had a greater impact and meant more to African American youngsters than some written words. That harkens back to 1985 when he visited a store, and the words had little impact on him, but the drawings, made a big impression on him. As such, it explains his passion to create art and to present it visually as he hopes to build esteem, to teach an appreciation of art, and to keep young people away from negative influences. In order to accomplish his goal, he continues to visit schools, talk to teachers, librarians, and students about books and art. That he has done for many years, and he has no intentions of stopping anytime soon.  

For his illustration of Barack Obama: Son of Promise: Child of Hope, Bryan won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Children’s Literacy work, on Feb-ruary 12, 2009, which was the first picture book on Barack Obama. By 2014, he had won awards for many of the books he had authored and others that he had illustrated. He won the Coretta Scott King Award for illustrations in A Freedom River and Visiting Langston books by Doreen Rappaport and William Perdomo, respectively. He also received a Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King Award for his work in Rosa, by the critically acclaimed poet Nikki Giovanni and Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doreen Rappaport. He was also the United States’ 2014 nominee for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration, the most prestigious international award for children’s literature. 
Bryan Collier is a nationally known artist, but locally he has displayed his works in the Mosely Gallery at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, Maryland and is a regular presenter and keynote lecturer at Salisbury University, Maryland’s Eastern Shore Children’s Literature Series. The literature series is designed to encourage and inspire children to read and develop their writing skills. In addition, much of his time is also spent in creating studio pieces and visiting classrooms to talk with teachers, students, and librarians about his favorite topics of books and art. On April 10, 2014, in one of his keynote presentations at Salisbury University’s Eastern Shore Children’s and Young Adult Literature Festivals, Bryan stated that his goal was “to encourage a new generation of artists and writers, because he had no illustrators or artists who looked like him-self when he began his journey.” Encouraging other aspiring writers and artists to follow their dreams is his task at the moment, while insisting that they do the same for others when they become successful and nationally known.

By 2025, Bryan Collier had illustrated over 35 picture books, received 4 Caldecott Honors, six Coretta Scott King Awards, the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award for Picture Books, and a host of other awards. He presently lives in Marlboro, New York, with his family.  

Article by Andre Nieto Jaime

British Raid On Chesapeake Bay in War Of 1812
Patuxent River Naval Air Station

On June 18th, 1812, tensions between the United States and Great Britain came to a head when President James Madison signed a declaration of war against Great Britain, starting what came to be known as the War of 1812. The nation was divided on the issue, with the declaration passing both houses of Congress by a rather slim margin: 79 to 49 in the House and 19 to 13 in the Senate. Nonetheless, the United States was heading to war and countless Americans answered the call to arms. This included African Americans, both enslaved and free, who fought valiantly for the nation in the hopes of achieving freedom. Others, decided to take a different risk: escaping with the British. The War of 1812 offered a chance for self-emancipation for African Americans, especially those on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, via the Chesapeake Bay. This opportunity was taken by thousands over the course of the war. 

The Chesapeake Bay was a major theatre in the War of 1812 due to its strategic significance. Not only did the Chesapeake give access to Washington D.C. via the Potomac River, but also other major cities like Baltimore. The bay also played an important role in the nation’s economy, serving as a significant trade hub and allowing the export of various goods like tobacco. The region was initially spared from conflict owing to distance from the British mainland, attempts to delay a major war, and Britain’s preoccupation with Napoleon. However, by early 1813 the British had begun establishing a naval presence in the bay and the American navy, consisting of nine frigates and eight small vessels at the start of the war, was outmatched. The Chesapeake was blockaded for the duration of the war.

'Operations against Baltimore & Washington August-September 1814.'
​National Army Museum, London. 

The Lower Eastern Shore too was a strategic location for both sides. The rivers and creeks that cut through the landscape, offered the British access to inland communities that were raided for supplies. In one letter to a London paper, the author wrote that “the country bordering the Chesapeake is very fine” and the supplies “brought to us from the shore” have been sustaining them. Somerset County often saw these incursions for provisions and to sabotage vessels, with one person writing to the paper that the British have repeatedly raided for “supplies of poultry, and cattle,” among other goods. Another commented that “the British were infesting our waters...are now up Pocomoke as high as Sykes Island and on shore there,” and that they will burn the vessels in Coulbourn’s creek as they had done with the vessels in the Little Annemessex.
​
Other parts of Somerset County were also affected. Aside from establishing a Fort Albion on Virginia’s Tangier Island, the British also had some presence on Deal Island, called Devil’s Island at the time. On April 22nd, 1814, it was reported that 80 men under Captain James Watts had debarked at Devil’s Island. Thomas Riley was among the men when he deserted, fleeing to Princess Anne and divulged the positions of British ships in the Chesapeake Bay. A month later, Edward Coulbourn of Somerset County was on board the Jasseur when Captain Watts returned from Deal Island with livestock, likely appropriated from the locals. 

However, Americans on the Eastern Shore refused to be pushed around by the British. Despite being at a disadvantage militarily, Shoremen had greater knowledge of the area, allowing the average citizen to serve as a scout. When the enemy had begun entering the Pocomoke Sound, fishermen and island inhabitants began reporting to military leaders like General Handy of Worcester County.

Admiral Cockburn Burning & Plundering Havre De Grace
U.S. Army

Sunset at Deal Island

Rivers also could be turned into choke points, seen when Captain Jarvis of the Buzzi, a trading schooner, was chased into the Wicomico River in 1814. Captain Dashiel was able to organize 25 men from his artillery company with a 6 pounder to repel the British. Several shots were fired and the result was a British retreat. Then again in the Great Annamessex, it was reported that a British vessel had boarded a ship under the command of Captain George Davey and set it on fire. Captain Davey and his men responded by embarking on canoes with his men to attack. The men on the canoe and gathering militia fired upon the retreating British. Other reports in the same paper claim the Davey “had the presence of mind to make the negroes march down opposite them, with sticks shouldered as guns” to make it seem as if the militia was larger than it really was and fool the British into thinking they were surrounded. Despite going up against one of the world’s leading military powers of the time and initial losses, the eastern shore remained confident as “the people of the eastern shore of Maryland are full of spirit,” and the “poor wood dealers and oyster men” were unwilling to let the British have their way.

African Americans and slavery were also entangled in the war. Of course, there was Captain Davey who had allegedly ordered Black Americans, potentially enslaved, to march with sticks shouldered to mimic muskets. However, there were African Americans that served in active combat roles during the war as well, especially once the United States became desperate for manpower. Although they were almost entirely banned from serving, they did find their way into the fight. 

Getting off land and sailing the seas, bays, and lakes afforded Black men of the era greater opportunities and offered more reliable food, pay, and quarters. While not completely devoid of discrimination, the effects were less prevalent. Black sailors had been working offshore in the north in the years leading up to the war and when the war broke out, many of these men set sail to fight the British. For instance, George Roberts, a Baltimore native and free black man, was part of Captain Richard Moon’s privateer crew on the Sarah Ann when the war broke out. Within a few months, the schooner Sarah Ann was in battle against two British men-of-war and captured by a third. Roberts was imprisoned in the Caribbean, but released and went back to fighting the British aboard the Chasseur.

While Roberts served as a privateer, others were able to join the U.S. Navy. At the outset of the war, official policy prevented African Americans from joining the U.S. Navy. However, the need for sailors led to relaxation of policy enforcement, allowing Black sailors to be recruited. On the USS Constitution, there were three identifiable Black men serving: Jesse Williams, James Bennett, and David Debias. Some estimates argue that 15-20% of the Navy was comprised of Black sailors during the War of 1812. While estimates are difficult to ascertain due to the Navy not recording the race of its sailors, anecdotal evidence shows that some vessels had higher proportions of Black sailors.

​The USS Constitution battling the British frigate HMS Guerriere during the War of 1812.
Yale University Art Gallery; Mabel Brady Garvan Collection (1946.9.434)

The enslaved also participated in the war in varying capacities. In some cases they were tasked with performing manual labor with free Black Americans to dig entrenchments in cities like New York and Baltimore. In other instances, they were recruited as soldiers. Despite the U.S. Army not officially accepting Black men into its ranks, the need for manpower caused them to overlook this and allowed Black Americans to fight. This included William Williams, an escaped slave from Maryland, who had a fugitive slave advertisement published by Benjamin Oden. Despite this, Williams was taken in and placed in the 38th U.S. Infantry. General Andrew Jackson also recruited enslaved men to fight at the Battle of New Orleans where they fought hoping that their sacrifice would guarantee their freedom. It did not.

The British on the other hand, offered more earnest guarantees of freedom for the enslaved. When the British first arrived in the Chesapeake in 1813, they were instructed to protect any slave that had helped the British or were in danger, but were not to go as far encouraging any revolts or escape. However, once the British were firmly established in the Chesapeake, Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane changed this policy. In April, 1814, he issued a proclamation stating that “all those who may be disposed to emigrate from the United States,” and their families will be welcomed by the British with a choice of military service or relocation as free settlers in other colonies. While not directly calling on the enslaved to escape, the decision to specify free settlers as opposed to just writing settlers makes it clear that slaves were the intended audience.

Free Men of Colour and Choctaw Indian Volunteers at New Orelans
1982
H. Charles McBarron

The British had several reasons to encourage and facilitate the escape of enslaved African Americans. First, the South was economically dependent on slave labor on large plantations for cash crops like tobacco and cotton. Smaller farmers also made use of slave labor, although in much smaller numbers. Depriving the South of its labor force had the potential to cripple not only their economy, but also harm their supply chain. After Cochrane’s proclamation, the British conducted several raids in the area that resulted in the liberation of several enslaved individuals. In April 1814, they landed in Virginia and raided the estates of a Dr. Carter and Joseph C. Cabell, leaving with around 70 African Americans. The Virginia Argus claimed that their objectives were “evidentally negroes and provisions,” suggesting that Americans felt that the British were specifically seeking out enslaved individuals during these raids. 

The effects of these raids were felt by slave holders like the inhabitants of St. Simon’s. One witness wrote to the paper explaining how an attack has affected the community economically. They exclaimed that “James Hamilton will be ruined,” losing control over those he kept enslaved and having his store pillaged along with all his cotton. Several other individuals were included, but all of them listed the loss of slaves first among their property loss, suggesting that what they considered the most devastating loss.  

The second reason enabling the escape of enslaved African Americans was to enhance their manpower. Offering freedom in exchange for service provided a pool of manpower that had better knowledge of the area than soldiers from other parts of the British Empire. Additionally, these men had and a great motivation to fight for freedom. The British were seemingly pleased with these new soldiers, organized into the Colonial Marines. One letter published in a London paper describes the fortification of Tangier Island by the British and over 500 African Americans that had been trained, clothed, and armed. Their performance in battle earned the British’s “highest confidence” and praise. Thus, America’s loss was Britain’s gain. 

Fort Albion Historic Marker
J. J. Prats/ Historical Marker Database

Several individuals from Somerset County made the dangerous choice of escaping to the British. Proximity to Tangier Island and patrolling British ships may have encouraged them to make their move. This could have been the case for three African Americans escaping from general John Gale and Edward Coulbourn. In 1814, shortly after Cochrane’s proclamation, three African Americans escaped from Gale, who was marked as deceased when the paper was printed, and Edward Coulbourn. These three men can be identified as David Gales, Nathan Gales and Robert Coulbourn. They reportedly stole a canoe and used it to board the Jasseur. Edward Coulbourn got permission to board the ship and attempted to retrieve the escaped men, but was told that the three were sent to Tangier Island. Coulbourn was reportedly told that even if they were still on board, they could not be returned without orders from the admiral and that the three men had to be willing to return. Coulbourn was forced to return empty handed. David and Robert went on to fight in the British Colonial Marines and Nathan could have as well, given his young age.

These escapes via the waterways must have been common enough to spark fear among the militia and slave holders. One writer to the editor of The Star, based in Easton, wrote of orders to bring canoes out of the water and to gather them together to be guarded. This policy was described as being extremely unpopular by the writer, who explained that this intrusive action deprived the watermen of their way of life. It was also seen as a futile attempt to prevent the enslaved from escaping due to how many different creeks and rivers cut through the landscape. Even the militia "complained bitterly" about having to keep watch over the canoes. The British strategy of taking in runaway slaves was yielding fruit and sowed fear among slave holders. This exodus was perceived as enough of a threat by Americans to warrant gathering canoes and wasting precious manpower guarding them, manpower that could have been put to better use keeping watch for the British. 

After the war, Edward Coulbourn filed a claim with the State of Maryland for compensation for the loss of his slave Robert, or “Bob” as Coulbourn called him. A man named John P. Gale also filed a claim for the loss of two slaves named Nathan and David that were not his own. Administration of the estate of John Gale appears to have been left to John P. Gale, perhaps his son, in 1816. Further confusing the matter is the fact that John P. Gale was filing the claim on the grounds that the slaves were property of his deceased mother.

Joseph Handy was another claimant from Somerset County. Handy claims that Levin escaped around October, 1814 to a British vessel in Tangier Sound and taken on board. Others, including Edward Coulbourn, corroborated Handy’s claim with their own testimonies. One man, Benjamin Bedsworth, testified that in November he was on Tangier Island in November and spotted Levin in British ranks and uniform. Bedsworth stated that he conversed with Levin, asking if he “was willing to return to his master” and claims that Levin replied that he was willing, “but having enlisted in the British service and having on the British uniform” prevented him from doing so. Bedsworth also claims to have seen those formerly enslaved to Isaac Beachamp and Edward Coulbourn. In the end, Maryland refused to pay Handy’s claim since Levin was sent to Georgia by the British and it was determined payment falls to Georgia.

Not all that made attempts to escape were successful. Many were caught on the way, including five escaping from Major H.J. Carroll. One man got lost and was caught the following day while the others were captured by fishermen days later. Even those who did successfully escape to fight with the British still had to survive the war. 
The escape of the enslaved to the British sparked resentment from slave holders, who denounced the “old practice of negro stealing” as “so foreign to the usages of honorable warfare and so unjust and oppressive,” or in other words; dishonorable. The anger that some Americans felt from seeing a Black man in British uniform caused at least one to be specifically targeted in a skirmish. On the Eastern Shore of Virginia, the British had entered Pamgoteaugue Creek where 30 militia men began retreating to a different position. However, it was reported that “the audacity of a negro in uniform, perhaps a captain or colonel in ‘his majesty’s service’” led to a private receiving permission to stop and fire at the man, killing him.

Political broadside depicting the burning of Washington and satirizing British emancipation offers
c. 1814
American Antiquarian Society

Despite the dangers of war, many African Americans fighting on the side of the British did survive. The guarantees of freedom offered to them by British were honored and they were resettled in other parts of the British Empire, including a few from Somerset County. In October, 1814, Elijah Beauchamp and his brother Stephen escaped from Thomas Beauchamp’s farm with another slave named Jack Teagle. At the same Mentor Beauchamp escaped from Isaac Beauchamp and they all boarded the Regulus in Tangier Sound. Elijah, Stephen, and Mentor served in the Colonial Marines for the duration of the war. Afterwards, they were resettled in Trinidad on land given to them and their families as a reward for their service.
​
The War of 1812 was brought to an official conclusion with the Treaty of Ghent, which had terms for compensation of lost American property. However, an issue was raised over slavery. The treaty stated that “any slaves or other private property” should be returned, if it was practicable. The issue was debated for years until the Russian Tsar was allowed to mediate. Tsar Alexander ruled in favor of the U.S. and Britain begrudgingly paid up. In Maryland, there were 712 claims filed and each slave was given the average value of $280. As a nation, some estimates claim that over 4,000 enslaved women, men, and children escaped under British protection.

When examining the Chesapeake Bay during the War of 1812, it is easy to overlook the Eastern Shore in favor of focusing on Fort McHenry, Baltimore, and Washington. Yet, the Eastern Shore was deeply involved on many levels and has a rich history to uncover pertaining to the war. African Americans also played important roles on both sides of the conflict. People like George Roberts and William Williams fought heroically for the nation and its values. Many African Americans fighting on the American side hoped their courage and sacrifices would afford them better treatment or even lead to freedom for the enslaved. Then there were those individuals who decided to liberate themselves when the opportunity presented itself. The decision to join the British in return for freedom was not one of cowardice or betrayal. It was a choice of self-preservation and self-emancipation for themselves and their families. One that offered a more secure and promising future for their families given the circumstances in the United States. The enslaved and free African Americans had shown a willingness to fight for the U.S. If given the opportunity to serve in exchange for freedom, perhaps those joining the British would have fought for the U.S. like those at New Orleans did. Instead of waiting to be freed, they decided to free themselves. 

Admiral Cochrane’s proclamation. Commissioner of Public Records.  RG 1 volume 111 pages 99-100 (microfilm 15262). Nova Scotia Archives, Halifax, Nova Scotia. https://archives.novascotia.ca/africanns/archives/?ID=70&Page=200402138. 

"Blockade of the Chesapeake." Niles' Weekly Register. April 30, 1814.

"To the Editor of the Star." Republican Star and General Advisor. April 25, 1814.

"To the Editor of the Star." Republican Star and General Advisor. June 11, 1814.

"To the Editor of the Star." Virginia Argus. June 11, 1814. 

"Extract of a Letter from Gen. Handy, of Worcester County, to Gen. Benson, dated Snow Hill, May 29." Virginia Argus. June 10, 1813.  

"From the Enemy in Our Waters." Virginia Argus, May 4, 1814. 

'From the Virginia Patriot." Virginia Argus. May 4, 1814. 

The Morning Chronicle. October 26, 1814.

“Naval.” Niles’ Weekly Registe.  June 11, 1814.

“Negro Stealing.” Niles' Weekly Register. March 4, 1815.

PROCLAMATION OF VICE ADMIRAL SIR ALEXANDER F.I. COCHRANE, R.N., 2 April, 1814,  American Battlefield Trust. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/alexander-cochrane-proclamation. 

Research and Educational Projects at the Maryland State Archives, Claims Under the first article of the Treaty of Ghent. msa_sc_5339_243_2-0093. Maryland State Archives.  

Research and Educational Projects at the Maryland State Archives, Claims Under the first article of the Treaty of Ghent. msa_sc_5339_243_2-0096. Maryland State Archives. 

Research and Educational Projects at the Maryland State Archives.
msa_sc_5339_243_1-0001. Maryland State Archives. Annapolis, Maryland.

Research and Educational Projects at the Maryland State Archives, Claims Under the first article of the Treaty of Ghent. msa_sc_5339_243_2-0194. Maryland State Archives.

Treaty of Ghent (1814), Milestone Documents. National Archives, Washington D.C. https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/treaty-of-ghent. 

Archives of Maryland Biographical Series, Elijah Beauchamp Biography, War of 1812 Escaped Slave, Somerset County, Maryland, 1814, MSA SC 5496-050826, Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, MD. https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5400/sc5496/050800/050826/html/050826bio.html 

Brodine Jr., Charles E. "War Visits the Chesapeake." Naval History, (October 2014). U.S. Naval Institute. 

Cox, Ryan. Archives of Maryland Biographical Series, George R. Roberts, War of 1812 Sailor, MSA SC 5496-51750. Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, MD. 

Cutler, Thomas J. "Growing Pains for the U.S. Navy: The War of 1812." Naval History, (April 2024). U.S. Naval Institute. https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2024/april/growing-pains-us-navy-war-1812

Gordon, Skyler. “Enslaved Soldiers and the Battle of New Orleans.” Tennessee Historical Society. January 4, 2018. https://tennesseehistory.org/battle-of-new-orleans/


Hegranes, Emily. “Segregation in the Navy: A Brief History from the War of 1812 Through World War II.” Naval History 35, no. 1 (February 2021). U.S. Naval Institute. 

Hollander, Craig B. “‘The Citizen Complains’: Federal Compensation for Property Lost in the War of 1812.” Law and History Review 38, no. 4 (2020): 659-98.  https://www.jstor.org/stable/27036904. 
Kelly, William F. "Black Freedom during the War of 1812: From the Chesapeake, Cumberland Island, and Beyond Part 1." National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/black-freedom-seeking-during-the-war-of-1812-from-the-chesapeake-cumberland-island-and-beyond-part-1.htm 

Malcomson, Thomas . “Freedom by Reaching the Wooden World: American Slaves and the British Navy During the War of 1812.” The Northern Mariner Le Marin Du Nord 22, no. 4. (2012): 361–392. https://doi.org/10.25071/2561-5467.294

Maryland State Archives. "AFRICAN AMERICANS AND THE WAR OF 1812." African Americans. https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdstatehouse/war1812/html/afam_war.html

McCormack, Lauren. "Black Sailors During the War of 1812." Revised by Kate Monea and Carl Herzog. USS Constitution Museum ​(2020). 1-17. https://ussconstitutionmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Black-Sailors-During-the-War-of-1812.pdf 

National Park Service. "Southern Maryland." https://www.nps.gov/stsp/learn/historyculture/southern-maryland.htm

National Park Service. "War in the Chesapeake." https://www.nps.gov/stsp/learn/historyculture/chesapeake-at-war.htm

National Park Service. "William Williams." Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine, Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail. https://www.nps.gov/people/william-williams.htm 

Percoco, ​James A. "The British Corps of Colonial Marines: African Americans Fight for their Freedom." American Battlefield Trust. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/british-corps-colonial-marines. 

Smith, Gene Allen. "Wedged Between Slavery and Freedom: African American Equality Deferred." National Park Service.
https://www.nps.gov/articles/wedged-between-slavery-and-freedom.htm#:~:text=they%20remained%20free.-,In%20the%20end%2C%20the%20War%20of%201812%20did%20not%20provide,between%20race%20discrimination%20and%20egalitarianism.

United States Senate. "Declaration of War with Great Britain, 1812." Declarations of War.
​https://www.senate.gov/about/images/documents/war-of-1812-senate-amendments.htm

U.S. Capitol Visitor Center. "House Declaration of War, June 4, 1812, with Senate Amendments, June 17, 1812." Artifact Explorer. 
​https://www.visitthecapitol.gov/artifact/house-declaration-war-june-4-1812-senate-amendments-june-17-1812

Article by Dr. Clara Small, Professor Emerita 

Janeen Birckhead was born in Snow Hill, Maryland, to Fannie Mae Birckhead and Lewis Birckhead. She was reared in Snow Hill and attended Snow Hill Elementary, Middle, and High School.
Janeen acquired, specifically from her mother, a sense of volunteerism and the Protestant work ethic. Her mother, Fannie Mae Birckhead, was a volunteer for many organizations, including the Walk America Program, March of Dimes, American Cancer Society, Bell Ringer for the Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign, Food Bank for Snow Hill, Adopt-A-Highway Project, Worcester County Alcohol and Other Drug Task Force, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Chairman of the Shore-Up, Inc., and Board of Directors, Champion of the Snow Hill School Scholarship Committee, and a host of others. As such, Janeen followed in the footsteps of her mother and worked hard to achieve her goals. At the age of fourteen, she began working at a fast-food restaurant in Ocean City, Maryland, during the summer months. In high school, she was on the basketball cheerleading squad and was a member of her school’s 4-H Club.  

While still in high school, Janeen was very active in community affairs and took advantage of every opportunity that was available to her.  By the age of seventeen, she had travelled to Europe.  Her favorite place in Europe was Tours, France where she visited her friend, Julie Joslee, the daughter of Gladys Goslee of Salisbury, who taught French in the Wicomico County School System.  Janeen loved the friendly atmosphere where everyone talked to each other.  She also spent a summer in the Caribbean, in St. Vincent, in the West Indies, as an American Foreign Studies (AFS) exchange student.  

In high school, Janeen was one of four finalists in the Miss Heartline Contest which was sponsored by Dell Publishing Company.  She was chosen from among 700 entries in the contest, which promoted a new teen romance series that was called “Heartline.”  The winner of the contest was slated to receive a $1,000 scholarship and 100 best-selling Dell books.  Janeen was also a Calendar Girl in a pageant that was sponsored by the Delta Signa Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., to raise funds for scholarships.  In 1984, she was also the Phi Beta Kappa’s Miss Cinderella, and a finalist in a pre-teen pageant.

Janeen served as a Page in the United States Congress, in which she was sponsored by Maryland Congressman Roy Dyson.  She spent six months in Washington, D.C., where she learned firsthand how government actually worked.  She also saw how bargaining occurred behind the scenes, and how those dealings influenced laws and made a difference in the lives of ordinary people.

Upon graduation from Snow Hill High School, Janeen enrolled in Hampton University, in Hampton, Virginia, where she majored in Political Science.  She graduated magna cum laude from Hampton in 1991, with a Bachelor of Arts degree. She was a member of the Reserve Officer’s Training Corps (ROTC), and was also honored as a Distinguished Military graduate.

Brig. Gen. Birckhead Promotion
July 14, 2018
Maryland National Guard

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Brigadier General Janeen Birckhead assisted Maryland Governor Larry Hogan and his administration.  She addressed equity issues in the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine in Maryland and established the Mobile Vaccination Support Team (MVST) to resolve those problems.  From January 25, 2021 to July 2021, Brigadier General Birckhead had the support of Salisbury residents, Katrinia Purnell, Dr. Nicole Gale, Sharon Morris, and Aundra Roberts, who worked together and got 2,100 residents on the Eastern Shore of Maryland vaccinated for COVID-19.  Collectively, they assisted in the administering of first and second shots at sites in Salisbury and Princess Anne, Maryland, including Mills Memorial Baptist Temple, St. James Church, the Hayward Center, Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, TidalHealth, Sam’s Club, Walmart North and South in Salisbury and Fruitland, and the Wicomico and Somerset County Health Departments.  

As a result of her service during the pandemic, Brigadier General Janeen Birckhead was selected by the Washington, D.C. National Guard to be the D.C. National Guard Leader and the Task Force Capitol Ground Commander for the presidential inauguration of Joe Biden.  She was also a Senior Advisor in the Bureau of Trust Funds Administration within the Bureau of Indian Affairs.  In March of 2023, Brigadier General Birckhead was inducted into the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame. 

    • Legion of Merit
    • Defense Meritorious Service Medal
    • Meritorious Service Medal
    • Army Commendation Medal
    • Air Force Commendation Medal
    • Army Achievement Medal
    • Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal
    • National Defense Service Medal
    • Armed Forces Reserve Medal
    • NATO Medal
    • Overseas Service Ribbon
    • Army Reserve Components Overseas Training Ribbon
    • Afghanistan Campaign Medal, and a host of other military badges. ​

Sources:
Maryland Commission for Women, 2023
“National Guard Biography,” www.nationalguard.mil
Msa.maryland.gov.
“Brigadier General Janeen L. Birckhead,” Capitol Gazette, March 24, 2023.
“Brigadier General Janeen L. Birckhead: Poised to Become the Only Black Woman Leading a State Military,” Black Engineer, April 27, 2023.
“Birckhead Appointed Adjutant General by Governor: Snow Hill Alumna Becomes Nation’s First Black Woman to Lead State Military in Country,” Ocean City, Mary-land Coast Dispatch Newspaper, April 11, 2023.
Hine, Hunter, “Snow Hill Native Named 31st Adjutant General Last Month,” Ocean City Today, May 4, 2023.
Louise, Ash, “Birckhead is Miss Heartlines Finalist,” The Daily Times, August 10, 1986, p. 25.

Article by Andre Nieto Jaime

Boardwalk view to south, Ocean City, Maryland
1985
Photographed by John Margolies
Library of Congress - John Margolies Roadside America photograph archive

In the early 20th century Ocean City was once known as a “bastion of white supremacy” by some. The activities of Black visitors were severely limited, with few hotels or establishments willing to accept them as guests. However, African Americans were unwilling to tolerate these restrictions to their leisure and demanded that they be able to not just work in the resort, but also be able to enjoy it just as much as White visitors. The Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 provided the town with an opportunity to rebuild as an integrated tourist destination and Black activists successfully seized the moment to pressure the town for change. While strides in desegregating accommodations were being made, there was still the issue of a segregated work force in the town. Black employment in Ocean City in the second half of the century was still, for the most part, hindered by discriminatory hiring practices that left Black workers in menial positions. African Americans in the community opposed such practices and demanded an end to them. Through sustained pressure brought by press publicity and demonstrations, the African American community was able to challenge and bring change to employment practices in the resort, bringing more equitable employment in Ocean City.

In the 19th and 20th century, discriminatory hiring practices and stereotypes restricted the type of labor available to Black Americans seeking work in all parts of America. Often times, they were only hired for domestic, agricultural, and manual labor. Limiting Black employment to low-wage jobs, reminiscent of the labor that the enslaved were forced to endure, prevented social and economic mobility for African Americans during the days of Jim Crow. In Ocean City, Black Americans also found that their employment options were limited. Census data reflects this, showing many Black residents of the resort working as domestic servants, cooks, and day laborers. While some African Americans were employed in other fields such as the railroads and fishing, many others were stuck doing menial labor due to societal stigmas and pressure. However, African Americans were unwilling to accept the status quo.

​In the early 20th century, Ocean City’s strict Jim Crow practices threatened to leave the city with a worker shortage, forcing the resort to make changes in its policies. However, hiring practices were still far from fair. It was not until the 1980s that significant strides were made. This movement gained momentum in 1983, when a report by the NAACP, spanning 46 detailed pages, found that African Americans were being subtly excluded from public and civic life in Worcester County. Dr. Emmett C. Burns described the situation as “deplorable” and said that Black fears to “stir up trouble” were partly to blame for the situation. Dr. Burns’ statement was a call to action directed at the Black community. His words and presence in a Snow Hill rally was intended to drive the local community to create their own change. 

Dr. Emmett C. Burns (1940 - 2022)
​AFRO American Newspapers

The NAACP report, titled “Worcester County – A Dream Deferred,” highlighted six areas in need of improvement including: paving of roads, affirmative action for fire companies, housing codes for rural areas, employment of Black government workers, jury selection through the use of postal codes and census data, and changes to the town and county voting systems. The report combined with Dr. Burns’ affirmation that these changes would be pursued through the courts if needed, agitated a few people on the Shore, including Roland E. Powell, the president of the Worcester County Commissioners at the time. Powell felt that the report only caused a commotion and that it would have been better to discuss the issue with the county commissioners first. He and the commissioners also dismissed the issues raised, claiming that there was no such bias against the Black residents of the community. 

However, Dr. Burns’ intention was to, in a sense, stir up the trouble that the community had been hesitant to do in a calculated effort in order to force people and local governments to address racial inequality on the Eastern Shore.  By attracting attention to Worcester County, a major tourist destination, Dr. Burns and the NAACP were forcing the county commissioners to take a stance on the issue of racial inequality and make a comment on the report. Dr. Burns was well aware of this and Ocean City’s reputation as a tourist destination guided his decision. By tackling racial inequality in Worcester County, Dr. Burns intended to create a ripple effect that was to spread across the Eastern Shore and inspire other communities to make similar demands for change. Ocean City was to serve as a model of change for other communities.

Three years after the NAACP report on Worcester County, the NAACP released a new report. This time, their eyes were set on Ocean City, where six members surveyed 278 businesses over the course of a week during the summer. Several issues were raised in this report including the fact that tourism to the resort was mainly White. Only 2% of tourists to Ocean City were found to be White despite Shore communities being up to 25% Black and being in close proximity to Black populations in Washington D.C. and Baltimore. This discrepancy stems from African Americans still not feeling welcome even with the resort being desegregated. The memories of segregation lingered, leaving a bad taste in the mouths of many.

Apart from the lack of Black tourism, the report also found a more glaring problem; evidence of employment discrimination. Out of the 914 non-menial positions counted in the survey, only 30 (3.3%) of those positions were filled by African Americans. This is a stark contrast to the number of African Americans found working in menial positions. Out of the 289 menial jobs, those that tend to have little interaction with the public and are more labor intensive, 215 (74.4%) of those were held by Black workers. This study also showed that out of the twenty hotels surveyed, none of them had any Black desk clerks. Similar to the 1983 report, the new 1986 report revealed a pattern of discrimination against African Americans. By going public with their findings, the surveyors followed Dr. Burns’ example of drawing attention to a popular resort town to force action to be taken on the matter in the community. Of course, this negative exposure irritated officials and businesses, but again, that was the intention.

Initially, local officials, like before, tried to down play the findings of the NAACP. Roland Powell, now Ocean City's mayor, was quoted saying “A lot of feeling is in the blacks’ own heads,” and that “Some [blacks] won’t even try to get a job,” when confronted by the press about racial discrimination. The president of the Ocean City Chamber of Commerce also reportedly shifted the blame on to African Americans, claiming it to be an “attitude problem,” as opposed to discrimination. Employers were just as quick to rid themselves of any guilt by claiming that they simply have not had any qualified Black applicants. One T-shirt shop owner stated that they had not “seen a good black” apply, but that they would hire a Black employee should a qualified one apply. The shop owner shrugs off the employment disparities, claiming “that’s the way its been,” reflecting the sentiment of the time. There was little desire by employers to challenge the status quo that has been in place since the creation of the resort. What it takes to be a qualified cashier or clerk can be debated, but being a job held by many high schoolers and high school graduates, one would imagine that the standard is not terribly high for an entry level job.

African Americans were quick to disprove that the hiring practices were the result of a lack of qualified applicants. The NAACP made that much clear at the end their report, explaining that the patterns were not caused by barriers such as skill or knowledge requirements, transportation, or job competition. Additionally, Ocean City’s proximity to The University of Maryland Eastern Shore, a historically Black university in Princess Anne, meant that there were plenty of qualified and college educated African Americans nearby looking to make extra money. In fact, UMES had started a work study program not long after the resort was called out for its hiring practices. As part of this program, UMES offered a bus service to shuttle students to and from Ocean City. Through this program, 150 students found employment in Ocean City and of those, 65% (roughly 97 students) were Black. 

University of Maryland Eastern Shore

However, as many members of the community pointed out, it should not have taken a Black person with a formal college education to work the same job that a White person with a high school education can. Ocean City’s “surplus of summer jobs,” proximity to a HBCU, and high cost of living that deters seasonal workers, should have led employers to source local Black workers living nearby. Jamila Honig, who ran the job bank formed by the Worcester NAACP, was angered by the “Help Wanted” signs they saw in businesses with all white staff, noting that they could be hiring people living nearby. Instead, they chose to hire off of the basis of color and claim that there was a lack of qualified workers when confronted about it. 

Even when met with push back from employers and local officials the local community did not simply wait for the resort to make changes. They began to make their own changes. UMES had created its work study program that helped employ students in the resort within a year of the 1986 report. Additionally, the Worcester County branch of the NAACP established a job bank to help connect African Americans seeking work to jobs in Ocean City. The Ocean City Chamber of Commerce even agreed to promote this job bank in their newsletter. Perhaps the most important step they took after the report was the staging of a protest in Ocean City just days after the report was made public. 

On July 5, 1986, over 70 members of the NAACP took part in Ocean City’s March for Jobs and Freedom which gathered over 70 members to protest the unfair hiring practices of the town’s employers. Holding the protest over Fourth of July weekend, a notoriously busy holiday in Ocean City, was a surefire way to ensure Ocean City was put under pressure. One business owner on the boardwalk said that the march “was a good thing” and that “people paid attention” to the demonstration. The protest also caught the eye of the mayor who, despite trying to downplay the situation, admitted that Ocean City could not afford another public demonstration. The NAACP plan to pull attention to Ocean City and the employment situation worked.

The following year, the Ocean City Opportunity Council (OCOC) was established in 1987 as a more permanent solution to the job bank. Like the job bank, the goal of the OCOC was to increase Black employment in Ocean City by connecting applicants with employers. Shortly after opening, Mrs. Brown, OCOC’s executive director, said that she expected support from Ocean City’s mayor and that large employers have already supported. Smaller businesses, as seen by the T-Shirt shop owner earlier, were not as supportive of the change. Nonetheless many in the community were hopeful, including Gabriel Purnell who called the move “the most historic and profound event in recent history of blacks on the Lower Shore,” and a “new chapter” in a historically segregated town.

While the OCOC was hailed as a step in the right direction, work was far from over. The OCOC was connecting people with jobs, but was struggling to change employers’ perceptions about Black workers. The case with Lisa Denise Harris illustrates this well. Harris had applied and was hired for a sales clerk position in Ocean City. However, upon showing up for work, Harris was told that the position was only for a month until exchange students arrived. Harris was determined to work so she accepted this, but was handed a vacuum and cleaning cloth. Needless to say, Harris quit the job. Interactions like this emphasized the attitude of “that’s the way its been,” in regards to Black employment. Employers were struggling to see Black people in roles outside of servitude. 

The OCOC did see initial support and some limited success in its first year. To start, the Worcester County Commissioners, who were all white at the time, put up $15,000 to launch this new job counseling office. Advertisements appealing to both job seekers and employers could be seen in the papers including the Baltimore Sun. After operating for a year, it helped secure work for over 120 African Americans in non-menial positions. This number alone may not sound like much, but when compared to the 30 African Americans counted in non-menial positions, it was an improvement.

However, the OCOC was short lived. After becoming the Worcester County Opportunity Council, the organization was defunded after a vote by the Worcester County Commissioners in May of 1988. Our community was quick to organize a response, proposing that the county fund $4,250 that would be matched by local churches and businesses. Some commissioners argued that the council was redundant, stating that similar services were already being offered. Gabriel Purnell refuted this by explaining that the council gave the community autonomy, rather than leaving the problem in the hands of a state agency. In the eyes of Purnell a local effort, led by local leaders who truly understood what the community needed, was needed to secure local jobs.

When the county commissioners rejected the funding request for the WCOC, the community launched a new plan. The state NAACP began planning for a boycott of Ocean City, giving a deadline of July 31st for town officials to come to an agreement over the employment issue. Included in a NAACP letter to the mayor was a three year plan for improvement. Several goals were outlined in this letter's comprehensive plan including: the revival of the Opportunity Council, to have 300 African Americans employed in non-menial jobs by 1989, 350 by 1990, and 400 by 1991. Before the deadline was reached, the state NAACP called off its boycott. David Honig, an attorney for the NAACP, cited “no evidence that we are being dealt with in bad faith,” as the reason for halting their planned boycott. This suggests that Ocean City was making a genuine effort to combat hiring discrimination in the resort. While Ocean City officials were relieved and willing to work on improvements, they were not off the hook completely. Other organizations including teacher and state unions, were watching the situation in Ocean City to assess whether or not to hold their conventions in the resort.

A few weeks later, the NAACP sponsored a visit for state officials to Ocean City. The intention of this was to spread awareness about the lack of proper infrastructure in Black communities and the employment concern in the resort. Several proposals came from this meeting including that the state could provide assistance in the form of training to employers and town officials. There was also interest in establishing a bus service in Worcester County to encourage more Black job applicants in Ocean City. Town officials were welcoming of the suggestions. The City Council president, Granville Trimper, said that the state should be more involved and has “an obligation to help us with this,” “this” being their employment troubles. Trimper's response was a big change in the tone of the town’s officials who only a few years prior, were quick to deny that there was a problem in the first place. Ocean City officials were showing a positive change in attitude and were no longer dismissing the topic.

By sponsoring this state visit to Ocean City, activists continued Dr. Burn’s strategy of placing Ocean City in the spotlight. They also cleverly played off of William Donald Schaefer's (the governor of Maryland) reported love of the resort and aversion to negative publicity about Maryland. Activists were relentless in their pressure on the resort, and they had to be in order to hold Ocean City’s employers and officials accountable.

James Lee Purnell Jr. (1937 - 2021)
First Black Member and President of the Worcester County Commissioners
Former President of the Worcester NAACP (1986 - 1995)

In August of 1989, the NAACP held its Silent March on Washington DC, inspired by their 1917 Silent March in New York, in protest against recent Supreme Court reversals regarding civil rights. Over 100,000 people participated in the March, including the Maryland NAACP. According to the state branch’s president, Reverend James Wright, 200 activists from the Lower Eastern Shore were expected to participate in the national protest. Reverend Wright spoke at a press conference before the march where he stated the march was directed at Ocean City and Worcester County officials and that a boycott was still not entirely off the table for 1990. While James Purnell refused to comment on the boycott, he did say that “The only way they seem to understand us is to get out and march” since negotiations were proving to be less effective in soliciting change.
​
By the 1990s there was still work to be done in the town to ensure greater equality for both African American visitors and workers. The NAACP had been continuing to encourage not only equal employment by employers, but also the support of Black owned businesses in Ocean City. Additionally, when the lack of Black individuals in advertising was brought to attention, the town responded with changes to be more inclusive in its commercials. Local activists were not going to yield until they accomplished what they had set out to accomplish, even if they had been going back and fourth for decades on the same issues. 

Pamphlet, The NAACP Silent March on Washington, DC
August 26, 1989
Avery Research Center at the College of Charleston, NAACP

Article by Dr. Clara Small, professor emerita

​William Johnson was born in Snow Hill, Maryland, on October 26, 1899, the son of William Henry Johnson and Annie Lee Johnson. In 1905, around the age of five or six, his parents moved the family to Wilmington, Delaware, where he spent most of his youth, and one year of high school at Howard High School. His father was a sailor, a licensed boxing coach, and the athletic director of the Negro Settlement House in Wilmington, Delaware. William Johnson wanted “Judy” to be a boxer, but Judy was small in stature and was better suited for baseball. Johnson was exposed to baseball at an early age.  In Wilmington, he served as a batboy for his father’s local team, where he soon realized that “his greatest ambition was to play baseball.” His recollection is that he “played baseball morning, noon, and night.” He and his teammates often walked miles to play ball games. 

Judy Johnson quit school after the tenth grade and began working on the New Jersey docks during World War I.  He began his baseball career in 1918, at the age of 18, when many of the black league stars were summoned into service and he got a call to play with the Bacharach Giants, at the salary of $5 a game. In his late teens, he played with the Madison Stars of Philadelphia, a semi-pro outfit, and the Chester Giants. In 1919, he tried out for the famous Philadelphia Hilldales, but was rejected as being too small, and the coach thought that he needed more seasoning. He then joined the Madison Stars of Philadelphia, a training ground (club) for the Hilldales, that were fast developing into the top black club in the East. In 1922, he made his professional baseball debut playing for the Hilldale (Upper Darby), Pennsylvania baseball team, a charter or farm team of the Negro Eastern (Colored) League.  He signed his first contract with the Hilldales for $135 per month, compared to the $5 he had been making per game with the Bacharach Giants. While with the Hilldale team, he acquired the nickname “Judy,” because he supposedly resembled a Chicago American Giants player, Judy Gans. Even though Judy was a girl’s name, he merely laughed when someone asked him about his girl’s name. Hilldale made it to the first Negro League World Series against the Kansas City Monarchs in 1924, and Hilldale won the series in 1925.  Until 1929, Johnson had more hits than any other batter in the American Negro League. The teams William “Judy” Johnson played with for 15 years were the Bacharach Giants (1918), the Madison Stars (1919-1921), the Hilldale Daisies (1921-1929, 1931-1932), the Homestead Grays (1930, 1937), and the Pittsburgh Crawfords (1932-1936).

After the 1929 season, Johnson left the Hilldale team for a season to work as the playing manager of the Homestead Grays, in Pittsburgh. There he earned a whopping $500 a month as a player-manager in the midst of the Great Depression. Johnson added Josh Gibson to the lineup as the regular catcher and with other players, such as Satchel Paige, Oscar Charleston, and Double Duty Ratcliffe, developed the best team in black baseball.  In 1931, Johnson managed the Darby Daisies.  Between 1932 and 1937, Johnson was also a player-coach with the Pittsburgh Crawfords. “Judy” Johnson was an all-around player, a clutch hitter, had a good eye for the ball at the plate, was an exceptional fielder, was a good base runner and a team player. He also served as the captain of the 1935 Pittsburgh Crawfords, a team that included five future National Baseball Hall of Famers: Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston, Cool “Papa” Bell and Judy Johnson. Unfortunately, in the spring of 1937, Johnson and Josh Gibson were traded to the Homestead Grays for a small sum and token players, so Johnson retired. By 1936, Johnson had played in more than 3,000 professional games and was known as the best all-time third baseman.

However, during his career, Johnson “never received a chance to compete in the higher echelons of the game.”  His career batting average was .309 in the Negro National League.  He was named the Negro League’s Most Valuable Player in 1929, by the Chicago Defender and Pittsburgh Courier newspapers.  He was named a member to the Negro League’s East-West All Star Game in 1933 and 1936, and his lifetime batting average was .344, but he batted an overage of .416 in 1929. He had a career batting average of .331 in six seasons in the Cuban League, because during the off-season, Johnson played in Cuba, or played in the Florida Winter Hotel League, as well as in the Breaker Hotel and Poinciana Hotel baseball teams.  The rival hotels signed Judy Johnson and the best black professional ball players to wait on tables and to entertain guests on the baseball diamonds. The rivalry between the hotels was an opportunity for the players to make money, and it lured many of the players to Florida during the off-season because the pay and tips were exceptional. Nine years after Johnson stopped playing, Jackie Robinson became the first black player to compete in the major leagues when he became a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Sadly, Judy Johnson and the members of the Negro Leagues played great baseball, often beating the best White players and some of the White players were known as super stars.  However, few people outside African American communities, other than the most avid baseball fans knew the best players in the Negro Leagues.

Upon retirement from baseball, William “Judy” Johnson returned to Wilmington, worked as a supervisor for the Continental Cab Company, and operated a general store with his brother. He later scouted for Major League Baseball teams, such as the Philadelphia Athletics, the Philadelphia Phillies, and Milwaukee Braves, for over a decade. In February of 1954, Judy Johnson, the former great Negro League infielder was signed as an assistant coach for the Philadelphia Athletics, now the Phillies, from 1954 until he retired in 1973.   He was the first African American to serve in that capacity for a major league baseball club. Through the efforts of the Committee on Negro Baseball Leagues, “Judy” Johnson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. On February 10, 1975, at the age of 75, William “Judy” Johnson was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, New York, and was the first Delawarean to enter Baseball’s Hall of Fame. Johnson was the sixth player to be selected by the Negro Committee following Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard, Monte Irvin and James “Cool Papa” Bell. In 1976, William “Judy” Johnson was the first athlete ever inducted into the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame.

William Julius "Judy" Johnson Plaque
National Baseball Hall of Fame

William “Judy” Johnson was a well-respected player on and off the field. He and Connie Mack, the owner of the Philadelphia A’s had become friends over time. On his days off from playing baseball, Judy Johnson often visited the Philadelphia A’s and with Connie Mack.  Mack once commented after having watched Judy Johnson dance around the bag at Shibe Park in the 1920s, that “If Johnson were only white, he could write his own price.” That statement in itself, was a testament to Judy Johnson’s talents as a skilled player. One of Johnson’s peers, “Cool Papa” Bell, once bragged that “Johnson was the best hitter among the four top third basemen in the Negro Leagues, but no one would drive in as many clutch runs as he would. He was a solid ballplayer, real smart, but he was the kind of fellow who could ‘just get it done.’ He was dependable, quiet, not flashy at all, but could handle anything that came up.  No matter how much pressure, no matter how important the play or the throw or the hit, Judy could do it when it counted.” Ex-outfielder Jimmy Crutchfield referred to Johnson, by stating that [he] “had a great brain, could anticipate a play, knew what his opponents were going to do,” and he was “a steadying influence on the club.” Ted Page, another former Negro League standout, once said, “he believed the major leagues squandered one of their most valuable resources by not employing Johnson as a manager or at least as a coach. He had the ability to see the qualities, the faults, of ball players and had the corrections for them.”  …’Judy should have been in the major leagues 15 or 20 years as a coach.  He was a scout, but he would have done the major leagues a lot more good as someone who could help develop players.”

William “Judy” Johnson died of a stroke in Marshallton, Delaware, at the age of 88, on June 15, 1989, and his home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A statue in his honor is located at the home field of the Blue Rocks baseball team at Daniel S. Frawley Stadium, in Wilmington, Delaware, but the field is named separately as Judy Johnson Field. His legacy is of his playing abilities, as well as his legacy of never complaining about the harsh conditions under which African Americans played. He never complained. William “Judy” Johnson is remembered as “Delaware’s Folk Hero of the Diamond,” but he is also claimed by Maryland because he was born on the Eastern Shore, in Snow Hill, Maryland. In 2019, a memorial statute was erected and dedicated to William “Judy” Johnson in Snow Hill, Maryland in front of the town’s library.  

Judy Johnson Memorial Statue Outside of the Snow Hill Library

Article by Andre Nieto Jaime

As Ocean City celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2025, it is important to look back and recognize those that helped make it the welcoming resort that it is today. In recent years, much has been done to embrace the town’s Black heritage, most notably through the Henry Hotel and Dreamfest. Historically, African Americans had been barred from vacationing freely in Ocean City, with few establishments being open to them. Employment for African Americans was not any better. They were often restricted to menial labor due to lingering stereotypes and the societal and economic impact of slavery had on Black families. However, Black residents of the Eastern Shore, and Maryland as a whole, were unwilling to tolerate the limitations to their leisure and employment. They had already begun making strides in opposing this in the first half of the century, forcing businesses to ease up on their Jim Crow policies or face a labor shortage. This momentum did not go to waste and storm that hit Ocean City in 1962 provided an opportunity for the city to rebuild as an integrated town. It was because of the determination of activists that Ocean City witnessed its own civil rights movement that occurred alongside the larger movement on the national stage. 

Ocean City and its beaches remained segregated into the mid-20th century with African Americans only being allowed to freely use the beaches and boardwalk on “Colored Excursion Days” after the season was over. In the early part of the century, these days were heavily stigmatized, with newspapers fanning the flames by unfairly casting Black tourists as a rambunctious, disorderly crowd bringing chaos into the town. According to Palestine Wells in a 1927 article, it wasn’t until the 1910s that Black visitors were allowed to step foot on the beaches and boardwalk unmolested. Needless to say, African Americans were fed up with being unable to enjoy a city in which they labored tirelessly.

In terms of employment, few strides were made in Ocean City before 1950. In the 20th century African Americans were restricted in the labor they could perform due to discriminatory hiring practices and economic barriers that often placed them in positions of servitude. The same went for Ocean City, where Black laborers could mostly be seen working as domestic servants and day laborers with a few exceptions. However, Black workers did not simply accept this fate and treatment. Palestine Wells mentions that hotels were faced to relax their Jim Crow practices when they were faced with a labor shortage, demonstrating that Black workers were not going to let themselves be pushed around and taken advantage of.

Going into the second half of the century, Black employment remained concentrated largely in menial jobs that had little interaction with the public due to stereotypes that they were unable to work in more demanding positions or those involving the handling of money. The decision to not employ them in “front facing” jobs could also stem from businesses desire to maintain Ocean City as a largely white resort. In 1962, Clarence Mitchell claims that these businesses only had one claim to fame and that was that they only served whites. Having Black workers interact with white tourists in a front facing capacity did not mesh with the image of a “bastion of white supremacy” that was being cultivated at the time.

However, the situation was not entirely hopeless. In the past, times of disaster and hardship helped erase color lines in Ocean City and united the community in rebuilding. The first example of this was the infamous 1933 Chesapeake-Potomac hurricane (or just the 1933 hurricane to most) that helped create Ocean City’s inlet. This hurricane left Ocean City, especially today’s downtown area, heavily damaged and flooded. A paper written in the aftermath of the storm describes how “every electric light on the board walk was broken,” buildings were destroyed, and people had flocked to the northern side of the town.

While the situation seemed dire at the time, there was one ember of hope; racial prejudices and tensions were gone, for the time being. One witness, Mrs. Nellie Fax, noted that “all color prejudice was forgotten and Ocean City… became a Utopia of brotherly cooperation,” showing that racial prejudices had eroded much like the sandy beaches of the town. Dealing with the disaster at hand took priority over the color of each others skin. This moment of unity demonstrated that it was possible to tear down the barriers separating the two communities and African Americans of the Shore were determined to achieve it.

In 1962, another storm devastated Ocean City and the Atlantic Coast. Dubbed the Ash Wednesday Storm because of the damage it caused on Ash Wednesday (March 7th), this disastrous nor’easter lasted through five high tides, caused millions of dollars in damages, and resulted in the deaths of at least 40 individuals, one of them being in Ocean City. Ocean City, just like in 1933, emerged heavily damaged with over 350 businesses and homes being damaged, 50 buildings leveled, and the protective dunes washed away. Yet, the community was quick to come together to help each other recover and rebuild. The African American community saw this as an opportunity to erase racial prejudices in the town for good

In the week following the storm, James D. Williams in the Afro-American gives an anecdote about a phone call he had with a man named Turner, informing Williams that the governor, J. Millard Tawes, had asked President John F. Kennedy to declare Ocean City a disaster area. This of course would qualify Ocean City to receive federal aid in rebuilding, an idea that seemed inappropriate to Williams. He explained that federal aid is funded by the taxpayer, which includes African Americans. Since and Ocean City is largely “off limits to we colored brethren,” he argues that Ocean City should not receive federal aid. He elaborates that the only way African Americans were welcome in Ocean City was to “put on a white waiter’s coat and keep ‘in his place.’,” or in other words, in positions of servitude. To Williams, it made no sense for the Black taxpayer dollar to be spent on rebuilding a city where African Americans were only welcome to perform what is described as menial labor. His position on federal funding was just one take on the issue of segregation and labor. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) had a similar argument.

The NAACP saw this as an opportunity to rebuild Ocean City as an integrated resort. Following the storm, the Maryland Conference of the NAACP sent a telegram to President Kennedy urging him to set a non-discrimination condition for use of federal funds in Ocean City. However, this was misconstrued by the press and politicians as an attempt from the NAACP to withhold relief funding. The organization clarified that this was not the case and that they were asking “only what the constitution requires… non-discrimination,” as a condition for federal funding.

Despite being blamed for the failure to pass the Equal Service Bill, the NAACP reaffirmed the need for Ocean City’s funding to be tied to a non-discrimination clause and called on Governor Tawes to continue calling special sessions until equal accommodation legislation was passed. Even Clarence Mitchell, director of the Washington Bureau of the NAACP, believed that the federal funding should be used in a manner that conforms to the constitution and non-discrimination. He asserted that he was going to work on the federal level to assure the constitution was upheld in the usage of the federal funds to Ocean City. 

Clarence Mitchell and President Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House after the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Courtesy LBJ Library
National Archives

Around the same time, Mitchell can be seen defending the proposed non-discrimination clause in the Baltimore Afro-American, arguing that if Ocean City was asking the federal government to help rebuild, the government should be doing more than just fixing buildings, but also “the policies of decency” and the “outlook of the discriminators” so that everyone, regardless of color, can enjoy the beaches. That is to say, not only should Ocean City be physically rebuilt, but also rebuilt on a societal level to make it equitable to all.

However, it does not appear that any stipulations were specifically placed on Ocean City for any federal funding. President Kennedy had already offered assistance to the affected areas, including Ocean City, by the end of the week. By at least March 9th, when the Maryland General Assembly met for a special session, President Kennedy had sent a telegram to Governor Tawes regarding the disaster. In the telegram, Kennedy explained that “A representative of the Office of Emergency Planning will be in touch…” to help determine how much federal funding was needed and wished the town a quick recovery. That same year, the Army Corps of Engineers conducted Operation Five High to build a protective berm and dune system. The effort to rebuild after the chaos from the storm was a community one, with residents cooperating with state and local authorities, and in less than three months Ocean City was ready to welcome tourists.

In the months leading up to the storm, there had been a growing effort to desegregate the Eastern Shore. In December of 1961, Freedom Riders had paid a visit to Crisfield to gain support for the passing of a public accommodations bill. By January, future similar protests were being planned by groups like Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) that stated that they were going to sponsor a protest along Route 50 going to Ocean City in support of desegregation, similar to those along Route 40. When the public accommodations bill failed to pass in March, civil rights groups renewed their efforts. CORE resumed their demonstrations along Route 40 and the Civic Interest Group (CIG) began picketing segregated businesses in Glen Burnie. They also picketed 17 restaurants in Baltimore whilst the NAACP held a meeting in the city.

Meanwhile, back in Ocean City, there was pressure on the mayor, Hugh Cropper Jr., to conduct a poll on integration. This poll revealed that businesses had no plans to integrate that year with Cropper citing the March storm recovery as the reason. In an earlier paper before the poll was conducted, Cropper was reported to have said that the town needed time to recover from the storm before it could integrate.

The results of the poll promoted action by civil rights groups like the NAACP and CIG. The Young Democrats also took action by moving their annual convention away from Ocean City to Rockville. This three day convention was to be attended by the state’s top Democrats and members were expected to come out in support of a new public accommodations bill. On top of that, they were also making history by running a person of color as a candidate for state office for the first time in the groups history. Needless to say, losing out on this potential revenue and prestige from hosting state officials and aspiring youth helped convince Ocean City that it was time to integrate.

Freedom Riders March in Cambridge, 1963
Mel Toadvine, “The Cambridge Movement,” Nabb Research Center Online Exhibits
Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture at Salisbury University

In August of 1962, the chairman of Baltimore’s chapter of CORE, Walter Carter, shared the experience members had when visiting Ocean City. Carter notes that they were able to have a conversation with police officers, eat at two exclusive restaurants, and were able to make use of the beach and boardwalk all without issue.  Carter even noted that they had planned a future meeting with Mayor Hugh Cropper to continue negotiations. Seeing that integration was underway in Ocean City, CORE announced a pause to their demonstrations for the time being. The pressure being applied to Ocean City was beginning to yield fruit.

By the 1963 season, Mayor Cropper appointed a twelve member bi-racial commission headed by attorney Marcus J. Williams to manage problems regarding race that may arise in the coming summer. Over the first weekend of the commission being established, it was reported that six Black families were able to eat at restaurants without incident. After forming the commission, Mayor Cropper reported that nearly all of the restaurants have integrated. By the summer of 1964, the Ocean City Bi-racial Commission reported to CORE that the town had been completely desegregated. CORE responded by encouraging people of color to put this to the test. It did not happen over night, but in theory, Ocean City’s public accommodations had been desegregated after years of agitation by local civil rights groups. 

Walter P. Carter
Courtesy of Jill P. Carter

​Today Ocean City welcomes everyone, but it is important to remember the effort put in to get to this point. While many people had their eyes set on the civil rights movement sweeping the nation, the same fight was being fought here in Maryland and on the Eastern Shore. Groups such as the NAACP, CIG, CORE, and more had been agitating for the desegregation of the entire state. The Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962, much like the storm of 1933, provided an opportunity for Ocean City to change. Only this time the change was not just a physical change, but a societal one. Following the aftermath of the storm, Ocean City had the chance to rebuild as an integrated resort and while there was initial hesitation to do so, pressure from civil rights groups gradually led to change within the city.

The Civil Rights Movement of the United States was not one that happened in isolation and it was not one being fought just on the national scale. This was a movement at all levels of government, federal, state, and local. People everywhere across America were united in demanding change in their home towns. While people were fighting to desegregate Baltimore and Washington D.C., there were people fighting in Cambridge, Crisfield, and Ocean City for the same reasons. The movement was not a distant and isolated phenomenon. It was one that happened and created change here on the Eastern Shore. However, while Ocean City was in theory desegregated, there was still the issue of employment discrimination to handle and this was something that was once again tackled by local Black activists in the 1980s and 1990s.

References:

Primary Sources:
The Associated Press. “NAACP Clarifies Request for Kennedy Action on Aid.” The Evening Sun, March 12, 1962.

The Associated Press. “NAACP Official Reproved For Apology.” The Cumberland News, March 19, 1962.

The Associated Press. “Five Negroes Are Arrested While Praying.” The Daily Times, May 31, 1963.

“Equal Service Bill Just 2 Votes Shy.” The Afro-American, March 17, 1962.

“Fight on Negro Excursion.” Democratic Messenger, September 22, 1906.

Hunt, Frank. “Crisfield Demonstration Makes Maryland History.” Afro-American, January 6, 1962.

Session Laws, 1962 (Special Session 1), House and Senate Journals. Volume 649, Page 241. Maryland State Archives. https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000649/html/am649--241.html

“Md. Young Demos Snul Ocean City.” Afro-American, September 22, 1962.

Mitchell, Clarence. “From the Workbench: Descendants of House Slaves.” The Afro-American, March 24, 1962.

“NAACP Hits Critics of Telegram.” The Afro-American, March 24, 1962.

“NAACP Protests Aid for Stricken Maryland City.” Detroit Free Press, March 10, 1962.

“Names of 10 on Biracial Unit Made Known.” The Daily Times, June 3, 1963.

“Negro Excursion to Ocean City: Resulted in a Big Drunk and Fighting Afterwards.” Democratic Advocate, September 23, 1905.

“Ocean City Answers No to Integration.” The Afro-American, June 9, 1962.

“Ocean City Cool to Integration Bid.” The Morning News, May 17, 1962.

“Ocean City Integration Poll Taken.” Cumberland Evening Times, May 24, 1962.

“Ocean City Reports 100% Desegregated.” The Afro-American, July 25, 1964.

“Poll Opposes Resort Integration.” The Daily Times, May 28, 1962.

“Says Nordics Note So Brave Eyewitness at Ocean City Storm: Mrs. Nellie Fax Says Race Prejudice Also Melted As Winds Tore Into Community.” The Afro-American, September 16, 1933.

Wells, Palestine. “Ocean City – Mecca For ‘Season Makers’ and Girls Seeking Thrills.” The Afro-American, July 23, 1927.

Williams, James D. “Sightseeing: In Deepest Africa – Plus Ocean City.” The Afro-American, March 17, 1962.

Secondary Sources:

Condon, Christine. “Looking Back at Ocean City’s Long History of Segregation.” Baltimore Sun, July 2, 2020.

Gardner, Chris. US Army Corps of Engineers. “Fifty-five years later, Ash Wednesday Storm still affects Ocean City – but not how you might think (Part 1 of 3).” Published March 6, 2017. https://www.nab.usace.army.mil/Media/News-Stories/Article/1097937/fifty-five-years-later-ash-wednesday-storm-still-affects-ocean-city-but-not-how/

Gardner Chris. US Army Corps of Engineers. “Fifty-five years later, Ash Wednesday Storm still affects Ocean City – but not how you might think (Part 2 of 3).” Published March 7, 2017. https://www.nab.usace.army.mil/Media/News-Stories/Article/1097964/fifty-five-years-later-ash-wednesday-storm-still-affects-ocean-city-but-not-how/

Gardner Chris. US Army Corps of Engineers. “Fifty-five years later, Ash Wednesday Storm still affects Ocean City – but not how you might think (Part 3 of 3).” Published March 8, 2017. https://www.nab.usace.army.mil/Media/News-Stories/Article/1097993/fifty-five-years-later-ash-wednesday-storm-still-affects-ocean-city-but-not-how/

Maryland Center for History and Culture. “Ocean City: The Great March Storm of 1962.” Accessed March 17, 2025. https://www.mdhistory.org/ocean-city-the-great-march-storm-of-1962/

MD250. “Henry’s Hotel.” Accessed March 17, 2025. https://mdtwofifty.maryland.gov/story/henrys-hotel/#:~:text=Reserved%20periods%2C%20known%20as%20%E2%80%9CColored,remains%20under%20African%2DAmerican%20ownership.

National Park Service. “Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962.” Accessed March 17, 2025. https://www.nps.gov/articles/ash-wednesday-storm-of-1962.htm

Ruskey, Katie. OceanCity.com. “The Hurricane of 1933: Ocean City, Maryland.” Published October 9, 2022. https://www.oceancity.com/the-hurricane-of-1933-ocean-city-maryland/

Article by Dr. Clara Small, professor emeritus

Elaine O. Smith Bennett
Saltwater Media

Elaine O. Smith was born August 18, 1918, in Madison, Florida to Andrew Smith and Mary Smith.  Her early education and high school were in Clearview, Florida.  Upon graduation from high school, she attended New York University (NYU) on a scholarship from her church.  She studied business administration in college, but in 1942 she left NYU in her third year of college and enlisted in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. 

 The Women’s Army Corp (WAC) opened doors for women to serve in the military, but originally did not accept Black women.  Elaine Smith did not tell her parents that she had enlisted in the military until the papers were signed.  At the time of her enlistment, racial segregation was still the norm, and black women were not accepted in the military.  However, due to pressure from feminists, black politicians, and from Mary McLeod Bethune who was a friend of the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and a member of the President’s Black Cabinet, change occurred in the status of black women in the military. As a result, Black women were finally allowed to serve which led to the formation of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion.  

Mary McLeod Bethune
c. 1949
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

In World War II, 150,000 American women had enlisted in the military, but only four percent were African American. When the 6888th was formed in December of 1944, it consisted of 855 women who joined the war effort, but they had little knowledge of what they would be doing. They were soon assigned to various positions, including that of postal clerks, cooks, mechanics, and other support services.  

When Elaine Smith entered the military in 1942, she was bounced from one state-wide post to another before going overseas, and served at bases in Florida, Massachusetts, Iowa, Washington, Nevada, Utah, and Georgia.  She and the 6888th left the United States on February 3, 1945 on the 15-day trip overseas on the “Ile de Frances” which landed in Glasgow, Scotland, on February 14, 1945 after having zigzagged across the Atlantic to avoid German submarines and bombers.  From Scotland they were taken by troops’ train to Birmingham, England, where they quartered in a boys’ school that had no roof, because it had been bombed.  The women often had to endure no heat or adequate water. They often had to retreat to the basement during blackout, and while performing their duties, they regularly stood in a foot of water until the all-clear sign came.

Photograph of WAC Officers Inspecting the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion
February 15th, 1945
National Archives
National Archives Identifier 531249

The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion was commanded by Major Charity Edna Adams (Early), who became the highest-ranking African American woman in the military by the end of the war.  The 6888th was the only all-black, all-female battalion overseas during World War II. Their duty eventually dealt with the backlog of undeliverable mail for United States soldiers stationed in Europe. The battalion was organized into five companies-Headquarters, and companies A, B, C, and D.  The group was nicknamed “Six, Triple Eight” and their moto was “no mail, low morale.” Their work was crucial because many American soldiers in Europe were not getting their letters and packages delivered and their families were not receiving mail from them either.

By the time the unit arrived in Europe, Elaine O. Smith had attained the rank of First Sergeant and was in charge of 250 women in Company D of the 6888th.  Her division was responsible for the distribution of mail to more than seven million servicemen on the front lines in Europe.  In England, First Sergeant Smith and the 6888th found a backlog of two or three years of undelivered letters and packages. The women worked around the clock seven days a week; and in only three months they cleared a backlog of around 17 million pieces of mail, which was two times faster than the Army thought the women could get it done, which was due to the efficiency of the 6888th.  It was not an easy task because some of the mail was water damaged, molded, tattered and torn; many packages had incomplete addresses and others were vermin infested.  The female battalion literally cleared 6,500 pieces of mail per shift.

Once the battalion had completed its task in England, the unit was transferred to Rouen, France and dealt with a large backlog of letters and packages, which took them five months to clear. In France, the women of the 6888th also managed and cleared the mail in record time.  From Rouen, the 6888th was moved to Caserne Tallandier, a fortress formerly used by Napoleon Bonaparte. Their quarters were primitive, often extremely cold, but the women did their jobs religiously, and forwarded millions of letters and packages from home to the front lines.  The unit was sent to Paris, France and later served on detached duty in other locations, including Scotland, England, Belgium, Africa and Germany.

Members of the Women's Army Corps 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion sort packages taken from mail sacks by French civilian employees at the 17th Base Post Office in Paris, France
November 7, 1945.
Army/National Archives
​451107-A-D0439-006C

During the war, the women of the 6888th also suffered casualties, when three were killed in an automobile accident and four were killed when they step-ped on a land mine.  They were also victims of racism and discrimination from American officers and soldiers.   However, the women of the 6888th were treated better overseas than in America, and they performed their duties admirably.  First Sergeant Elaine Smith served a total of three years of wartime military duty.  Her assessment of the war was that she “brought home a determination to be darned sure that things would be better on the soil of the United States, because they would be full citizens.  In Europe, we had a taste of no prejudice or segregation, and we went to war because we wanted to.”  She and the 6888th felt pride in having served in the only unit of African American women overseas during World War II.  When the women of the 6888th had completed its mission, they had broken all records of redirecting mail, having sorted an average of 5.85 million parcels per month.   Once the war ended, the women of the 6888th returned to the United States where they were disbanded at Fort Dix, New Jersey.  The women were awarded the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal for their service.  

European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal

Elain S. Bennett Appears in a 1962 Newspaper 
July 10, 1962
St. Petersburg Times & Bob Moreland

In 1967, Mrs. Bennett experienced a devastating loss. At the time, she served as the bookkeeper for Hansel Greene, a very successful black businessman from Cambridge. On the night of July 24, 1967 Greene’s entire businesses, a popular poolroom, dance hall, and bar-night club complex known as the Greene Savoy, was burned to the ground. It had burned amidst racial unrest in Cambridge after H. Rap Brown’s visit to the city and was also heightened by the fire departments refusal to extinguish the fire which consumed most of the black businesses in Cambridge’s Second Ward. Sadly, Greene’s massive losses were not covered by insurance, and he committed suicide. Mrs. Bennett was devastated by the death of her client, her colleague, fellow businessman, and friend.

Mrs. Elaine Smith Bennett was also involved in the local community and was a member of several organizations, including the following: the Congressional Black Caucus; Vice President of the Dorchester County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); a member of the Board of Directors for the Fassett-Magee Community Health Center, and a host of others.
​
After numerous years of service to others, Mrs. Elaine O. Smith Bennett passed on November 19, 1997, in Cambridge, Maryland and was interred at the Eastern Shore Veterans Cemetery in Hurlock, Maryland with military honors. She was a trailblazer, as she was in charge of and served in the only unit of African American women to have served overseas during World War II.

As a result of her contributions to the local community, state and nation, Elaine Smith Bennett’s contributions and that of the 6888th will not be forgotten. For nearly 70 years, their story was not on the nation’s radar. On November 30, 2018, a monument was erected and dedicated in honor of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion at the Buffalo Soldier Monument Park at Fort Leaven-worth, Kansas. Elaine Smith Bennett’s maiden name is listed on the monument under the state of Florida because that was the state in which she resided when she enlisted.

On February 28, 2022, the United States House of Representatives voted 422 to 0 to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the women of the 6888th. The United States Senate had passed a similar measure in 2021. On March 14, 2022, President Joseph Biden signed into law a bill for the women of the 6888th to receive the Congressional Medal, Congress’ highest honor. Unfortunately, very few of the women have survived after 70-plus years after the end of the war. On December 20, 2024, the movie “Six Triple Eight” debuted on Netflix, which depicted the story of the women of the 6888th Battalion. The movie was directed by Tyler Perry and Major Charity Adams Early was portrayed by actress Kerry Washington. That movie and previous documentaries will assure the legacy of First Sergeant Elaine O. Smith Bennett and the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion will not be forgotten.​

Elaine S. Bennett
Find A Grave

Article by Andre Nieto Jaime

Ocean City Maryland, the iconic resort town situated on Maryland’s Atlantic Coast, has roots spanning back to 1875 when the Atlantic Hotel’s first iteration was opened. Just a year later, a railroad connected Ocean City to the mainland and brought passengers to the up and coming community for over 50 years. Through the 20th century, Ocean City continued to expand and attract visitors, growing into the resort and economic hub we recognize today. This success can be attributed to many individuals, some well known whiles others remain in obscurity. One group deserving of recognition are the African Americans that helped build Ocean City, metaphorically and literally, into the resort that attracts millions of people to our shore. Their work as house keepers, cooks, and ice pullers was essential to keep the town running smoothly as a resort. Black workers even helped build the town as carpenters, day laborers, haulers, painters, and more. It was their efforts that ensured the success of businesses and without their efforts, Ocean City could not have become the tourist destination it is today, making them an essential part of the town and its history in the first half of the 20th century. 

Today, Ocean City welcomes everyone regardless of their background and the way they identify, but in the past, this was not always the case and it took years of activism to change this. ​It should be no secret that segregation was common place throughout the United States, including Maryland, following the end of the Civil War. Jim Crow and Segregation influenced all facets of Black life. A 1927 article from the Baltimore Afro-American demonstrates how segregation impacted every aspect of Black life in Ocean City. Black beach-goers were restricted to a section of beach north of the boardwalk, away from the white beaches, that kept getting pushed further north as the city grew. The article author also reveals that just ten years prior it was not socially acceptable for non-whites to even step foot on the boardwalk.

Beach at Ocean City, Maryland
c.1929
Maryland Department, Photograph Collection; L143
​Enoch Pratt Free Library / State Library Resource Center

Photo Taken on a “Colored Excursion Day” in Ocean City, Md.
C.1940s
​Ocean City Life Saving Station Museum/Vanishing Ocean City

​However, Jim Crow not only restricted the mobility and services available to African Americans in public, but it also limited the types of employment available to them. In the United States, labor discrimination against Black workers was implemented to suppress the advancement of Black Americans in society. This was made worse by other factors including unequal access to education and the lingering effects of having been enslaved for generations without any generational wealth or other skill sets to build off of. There were few jobs that Black Americans had access to and the ones they did consisted of hard, often menial labor. The same 1927 article reflects this reality, describing a typical day in the life of an average hotel worker trying to “kill time” in a segregated town, where very few establishments welcomed them, until they must return to work once more.

Ocean City’s early census data reveals that several Black individuals from 1900 through 1950 were recorded as day laborers working odd jobs. This is a rather broad and vague description that could encompass a wide range of work that is usually inconsistent. A few of these individuals include: Thomas E. Franklin, age 30 (1900), Isaac Purnell, age 55 (1900), Joshua Pitts, age 30 (1910), and Lewis Paige, age 19 (1930), just to name a few. While day laborers tended to be men, there were women who took up the odd job trade. One sixteen year old girl, Mamie Pitts, was listed as a laborer in working odd jobs in 1910. It was and still remains no easy feat to make a living from odd jobs, as the inconsistency of work could place financial stress on the individuals.

Man in Work Clothes
Revered B.G. Parker Collection (1984.061)
​The Edward H. Nabb Research Center at Salisbury University

A developing resort town like Ocean City needs hands to help build its hotels and restaurants and many Black hands helped contribute to the expansion of the town. William Pitts, listed within Ocean City’s limits in 1900, was recorded as working at a saw mill, perhaps cutting wood destined to be used in the construction of some of the city’s new buildings. That same year, Major Showell was working as a plasterer, a common trade before drywall’s rise in popularity in the mid-nineteenth century. Fast forward twenty years and WM Pitts was working as a carpenter, likely helping build some of the new constructions in a developing Ocean City. Then there was Henry Booth in 1950 who was a painter. All of these individuals were employed in fields key in the construction industry, which also required people to deliver goods and materials.

Elzy Ayres, who spent most of his career as a teamster, can be found in Ocean City from 1900 until 1940. In 1900 he was listed as a day laborer, but the following decade the industry of his occupation was recorded as “hauling” and in 1920 his occupation was again listed as hauling. The 1930 Census adds a little more clarity to Ayres’ occupation, this time being written as teamster in the “general hauling” industry. He appears again living in Ocean City in the 1940 census as a truck driver with “Ice Route” scribbled in the industry description, perhaps delivering ice from the ice plant that was located in Ocean City. In 1950, at the age of 74, Elzy Ayres was no longer living in Ocean City, but he remains a truck driver in Worcester County. Looking at this, it is apparent that Ayres had a long career of transporting goods in the area.

On the topic of transportation, the railroad linking Ocean City to the mainland also had Black workers ensure its smooth operation. William Franklin Manuel was as a watchman for the Baltimore Chesapeake and Atlantic Railway Company which operated the line leading into Ocean City, terminating in Downtown Ocean City. Manuel’s 1917 draft registration reveals he worked for the B.C.A.R. in Ocean City as a night watchman and the 1920 Census confirms he was still employed as one three years later. His primary duty would have been to keep watch for oncoming trains, but may have also included other tasks such as ensuring the line was clear, controlling gates, and inspecting trains. Watchmen like William Franklin Manuel were essential for safety in an industry that helped contribute to OC’s growth and helped ferry tourists into the city for over 50 years. 

Train moving across the Ocean City Bay Bridge, 1915
​1915
​Fred Grier collection (1996.016)
​The Edward H. Nabb Research Center at Salisbury University

As mentioned earlier, Ocean City was once home to at least one ice plant that employed Black workers, one of them was Samuel J. Dennis who worked as an ice puller at an ice plant located on Philadelphia Avenue. He worked there for at least 12 years as he was first listed as an ice puller in the 1930 census and last noted as such in his 1942 draft registration. In the 1950 Census Dennis is no longer employed, perhaps retired or unable to work. Dennis passed away shortly after in 1954, reportedly at the age of 70, although his census age suggest it was closer to 77. There was also a gentleman named Fester Lowe that was pulling ice in 1950, perhaps at the same ice plant that Dennis had worked at. It is difficult to imagine a hot summer day in Ocean City without any ice. Not only was ice used to cool down and cool drinks, but other industries relied on this ice as well. Commercial fishing depended on local ice to keep their catches cold and prepare them for shipment. Meanwhile, recreational fishermen needed ice and the plant's cold storage to preserve their catches until a taxidermist could get their hands on it. The work of both of Dennis and Lowe helped ensure that ice, an essential commodity in the summer, was available to tourists and residents alike. 

White Marlin Open : Captain Joshua Bunting Deep Sea Fishing, Ocean City, Md., ca. 1955
c.1955
Orlando Wootten Photograph Collection (1995.005)
​​​The Edward H. Nabb Research Center at Salisbury University

There are other occupations that can be found by examining Ocean City’s census data. One common field was domestic work. Many African Americans living in Ocean City were employed as live-in domestic workers, often for private families. Roxy P. Ayres was one such worker who in 1930 was listed as a “servant” in relation to the head of the household Thomas Cropper. Her occupation was written as “servant” for a “private family” as well. Moving to the next census, there was a woman by the name of Roketta Scott who’s relation to the household head, John B Lynch, was given as servant while her occupation was a maid for a private family. Chancil Whittington in the same household was also listed as a servant in relation to the household head, but her occupation was left blank. However, it can be assumed that she was also a live-in maid much like Roketta Scott and many other Black women living in Ocean City.

Domestic work was predominantly done by women, but there were also men employed as live-in servants. Just a few houses down on the census list from Scott and Whittington was Edward Purnell who was recorded as a servant in relation to Virginia Ayres while his occupation was noted as being a hired hand for a private home.

Domestic work was not limited to private families either, as many hotels depended on their labor as house keepers, getting rooms ready for new guests. George Henry Booth was one such worker, both living and working at the Monticello Hotel for Charles S. Po`well with a “withered leg” as a notable physical feature on his 1942 draft registration. Not only was he working a demanding hotel job with a leg in poor health, but he also registered for the draft after the U.S.’s entrance into World War II in that condition.

George Mills was another Black man working in the hotel industry. Mills was listed as both a servant and as working at a hotel, suggesting that he may have been a servant in the home he was boarding in on top of his hotel work. Examining who the matriarch of the house is sheds some more light on Mills’ story. He was listed as living with Lizzie R. Hearne, who in turn was recorded as an owner and manager of a hotel. Hearne was the owner and operator of the Belmont Hotel, which she purchased in the early 20th century, along with a sister hotel called the Hearne which was opened at a later date. Taking Mills employment in the hotel industry, his status living with Hearne, and Hearne’s ownership of a hotel, it is almost certain that Mills was employed by Hearne in one of her hotels. The Belmont-Hearne was one of the oldest hotels in Ocean City’s history until the Belmont Towers took its place and Black hands had a role in its history along with the history of other hotels.

The Belmont Hotel and Cottages located in Ocean City, Maryland
C. 1910
WR 53 Ocean City015
Worcester County Library

While Black live-in servants working for private families were common in this period in Ocean City and across the United States, they were not the only type of domestic worker. Many women, including the women of a Showell family, worked as washer women, laundresses, and cooks. Both Clara Showell and her daughter, Julia Showell, were employed as washer women while Clara’s other daughter, Sarah, was working as a cook. Other women working as cooks in this period include Sarah L. Bassitt, age 59 (1900), Alice Pitts, age 35 (1910), and Mary Dennis, age 27 (1930) who was a cook for a hotel. These are just a few of the women, many trying to support themselves, or their families, in an unfair environment, that worked in Ocean City as domestic workers. 

Domestic work was one of the few job opportunities available to Black Americans, particularly Black women, after the Civil War due to racial prejudices. In the late 1800s, ninety percent of Black women in the United States were working as domestic workers and while the number of Black women in the industry fell in the early 20th century, the number remained disproportionately high. Many black domestic workers worked for very little while others were only paid in room and board. Unlike White women, Black women stayed in the industry for much longer, even after marrying, since Black families needed the additional income due to wage disparities. While domestic work was common employment and vital in a town catering towards tourists, it is important to understand that it was due to societal and economic barriers that these men and women performed this work. Barriers that were later challenged by the next generation of workers and the NAACP.

There were other occupations held by Black residents of Ocean City that highlighted the wide variety of jobs they were doing in the early 20th century. In 1900 William Riley man his living in 1900, contributing to the Eastern Shore’s and Ocean City’s long history of making a living from the Eastern Shore’s rich waters. There was also Lenard Purnell who in 1950 was employed as a chauffeur and John W. Smack who was delivering mail for the post office. That same year also saw Lem D. Harrison working as a waiter in one of Ocean City’s night clubs. Black residents even made their living off of their properties. Mary Robins was one such land owner who rented out rooms in her home on Wicomico Street. The list could go on, but the picture is clear; Ocean City’s Black residents helped turn the beach side town into a bustling resort ready to welcome tourists. 

Whether helping build the town as a day laborer, working in the hotels and private homes as house keepers, or working in the water bringing up fish, Black workers contributed to the economic growth and development of Ocean City through their employment. Much of their employment was restricted due to discriminatory policies and social stigmas, however, Black workers had a limit to what they were willing to tolerate for employment. Tensions in Ocean City were to the point that businesses were struggling to find people to work, forcing the town to ease up on its Jim Crow policies. The fact that the town was forced to tone down its discriminatory policies to attract workers, reflects how vital Black workers were to the success of its businesses. Black workers had economic leverage over these businesses and they were aware of it. There was a limit to the discomforts that “Hotel employe[e]s, old, middle-aged, or young” were willing to endure “to ‘make a season’ ” that they themselves were unable to enjoy. This threshold of discomfort was crossed once again in the 20th century and the NAACP exerted greater pressure on the town for not only equal access to employment, but also equal access to the resort’s amenities.

Primary Sources:
Cochran, William B. "Hot Spell at Ocean City Puts Load on Ice Plant: 90% of Business In Cubes; Marlin Catches Near 500." The Sunday/Evening Star, July 18th, 1954. ​

Fifteenth Census of the United States, Worcester County, Maryland, 3rd District, Ocean City, Sheet 4B, 1930, Internet Archive, page 344, https://archive.org/details/15thcensus880unit/page/n343/mode/1up?view=theater.

George Henry Booth Draft Registration "Maryland, United States records," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS7C-K9S5-9?view=index : Dec 19, 2024), image 725 of 913; National Personnel Records Center (St. Louis, Missouri).

Mary Robins Record "Worcester, Maryland, United States records," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHN-PQHW-29DD-G?view=index : Dec 19, 2024), image 15 of 23; National Archives and Records Administration.

“Samuel J. Dennis.” Salisbury Times, December 10, 1954.

Thirteenth Census of the United States, Worcester County, Maryland, 3rd District, Ocean City, Sheet 20B, 1910, Internet Archive, page 1000, https://archive.org/details/13thcensus1910po570unit/page/n999/mode/1up

Twelfth Census of the United States, Worcester County, Maryland, 3rd District, Ocean City, Sheet 1B, 1900, Internet Archive, page 214, https://archive.org/details/12thcensusofpopu630unit/page/n214/mode/1up

Twelfth Census of the United States, Worcester County, Maryland, 3rd District, Ocean City, Sheet 2A, 1900, Internet Archive, page 216, https://archive.org/details/12thcensusofpopu630unit/page/n214/mode/1up

Twelfth Census of the United States, Worcester County, Maryland, 3rd District, Ocean City, Sheet 2B, 1900, Internet Archive, page 217,https://archive.org/details/12thcensusofpopu630unit/page/n216/mode/1up?view=theater

Twelfth Census of the United States, Worcester County, Maryland, 3rd District, Ocean City, Sheet 3A, 1900, Internet Archive, page 218, https://archive.org/details/12thcensusofpopu630unit/page/n217/mode/1up?view=theater.

"United States, Census, 1910", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M2N4-P8X : Mon Mar 11 02:25:42 UTC 2024), Entry for Willim Pitts and Emmaline Pitts, 1910

"United States, Census, 1910", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M2N4-JVS : Sun Mar 10 22:02:12 UTC 2024), Entry for Ezy Ayres and Mary Ayres, 1910

"United States, Census, 1920", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M673-STX : Thu Jul 11 06:54:27 UTC 2024), Entry for Elgy Ayers and Mary A Ayers.

"United States, Census, 1920", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M673-FZ8 : Sun Mar 10 11:53:03 UTC 2024), Entry for Eveline Pitts and Howard B Pitts, 1920.

"United States, Census, 1920", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M673-STN : Thu Jul 11 02:40:57 UTC 2024), Entry for Wm E Manuel and Louisa C Manuel, 1920.

"United States, Census, 1930", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X341-1N3 : Sun Mar 10 10:28:05 UTC 2024), Entry for Oscar M Chandler and Hattie W Chandler, 1930.

"United States, Census, 1930", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X341-PXF : Sat Mar 09 01:53:04 UTC 2024), Entry for Lizzie R Hearne and George W Mills, 1930.

"United States, Census, 1930", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X341-PXJ : Sat Mar 09 01:53:04 UTC 2024), Entry for Thomas J Cropper and Sallie M Cropper, 1930.

"United States, Census, 1930", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X341-G9R : Fri Mar 08 23:46:54 UTC 2024), Entry for Samul J Dennis and Mary E Dennis, 1930.

"United States, Census, 1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K7FB-DYX : Fri Jul 19 23:17:49 UTC 2024), Entry for Samuel Dennis and Alice Dennis, 1940.

"United States, Census, 1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K7FB-8LY : Tue Jul 16 01:19:26 UTC 2024), Entry for John B Lynch and Ruth Lynch, 1940.

"United States, Census, 1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K7FB-8GF : Mon Jul 15 23:59:33 UTC 2024), Entry for Virginia Ayres and M Dale Ayres, 1940.

"United States, Census, 1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K7FB-ZVG : Tue Jul 23 08:31:38 UTC 2024), Entry for Elzy Ayres and Mary Ayres, 1940

"United States, Census, 1950", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6F9N-C6HB : Wed Oct 04 09:05:18 UTC 2023), Entry for Fester I Lowe and Elda E Lowe, 20 April 1950.

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"United States, Census, 1950", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6F9N-WL4N : Wed Mar 20 13:23:18 UTC 2024), Entry for John W. Smack and Wislie M. Smack, 20 April 1950.

"United States, Census, 1950", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6F9F-CK3G : Tue Mar 19 14:42:23 UTC 2024), Entry for Tim Cherrit and Bertha Cherrit, 23 May 1950.

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