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.

"United States, Census, 1950", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6F9N-9HLW : Tue Mar 19 20:18:33 UTC 2024), Entry for Samuel Dennis and Alice V Dannis, 18 April 1950.

"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.

"United States, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F3NS-844 : Sat Feb 24 01:11:38 UTC 2024), Entry for Samuel James Dennis, 1942.

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

William Franklin Manuel Draft Registration. "Wicomico, Maryland, United States records," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYTX-3BVH?view=index : Dec 19, 2024), image 2934 of 4958; United States. National Archives and Records Administration,United States. National Archives and Records Administration. Atlanta Branch

Secondary Sources:
A History of Domestic Work and Worker Organizing. “Conditions of Live-In Domestic Work.” Accessed December 12, 2024, https://www.dwherstories.com/timeline/conditions-of-live-in-domestic-work#:~:text=In%20the%20South%20and%20North,only%20in%20room%20and%20board.

Katz, Gordon. Ocean City Life Saving Museum. “Ocean City, Maryland – Then & Now Part 1, Lot 3, Part One: The ‘Scott House’.” Published May 2017. Accessed December 10, 2024. https://www.ocmuseum.org/ocean-city-history-3/ocean-city-maryland-then-amp-now-lot-3

Mann, Bunk. “Vanishing Ocean City With Bunk Mann.” MD Coast Dispatch, December 15, 2022. https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2022/12/15/vanishing-ocean-city-with-bunk-mann-december-16-2022/.

Mann, Bunk. “Vanishing Ocean City with Bunk Mann June 2, 2023.” Maryland Coast Dispatch, June 1, 2023. https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2023/06/01/vanishing-ocean-city-with-bunk-mann-june-2-2023/

May, Vanessa. "Domestic Workers in U.S. History." Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History. May 24th, 2017. Accessed 12 Dec. 2024. https://oxfordre.com/americanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.001.0001/acrefore-9780199329175-e-431.

Ocean City, Maryland. “Media.” Accessed December 9th, 2024, https://www.ococean.com/media/#:~:text=When%20was%20Ocean%20City%20founded,as%20a%20municipality%20in%201880.

Simsovic, Taylor. “‘Following the Line of Least Resistance’: African American Women in Domestic Work, 1899–1940.” Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History, Vol. 13: Iss. 2, Article 6: 59-70. DOI: 10.20429/aujh.2023.130206, https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1231&context=aujh

Whippany Railway Museum. “Pennsylvania Railroad Standard Watch Box. Accessed December 17, 2024. https://whippanyrailwaymuseum.net/museum-structures/pennsylvania-railroad-standard-watch-box/

Women and the American Story. “Black Domestic Workers.” Accessed December 9th, 2024. https://wams.nyhistory.org/industry-and-empire/labor-and-industry/black-domestic-workers/. 

Article by Dr. Clara Smalls

Diana Warren Purnell
(1946 - )

Diana Warren was born in Salemburg, North Carolina in March of 1946 to Jonah and Inez Warren.  She graduated from E. Perry High School in Roseboro, North Carolina in 1964 and matriculated at North Carolina College, now North Carolina Central University, in Durham, North Carolina for two years.  She attended college at Baltimore Community College for a couple of years and also took several courses at Wor-Wic Community College in the early 1980s. 

While working in the Purchasing Department at John Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Maryland, she met Gabriel (Gabe) Purnell, and the couple married in 1970.  In 1971, Diana and Gabe moved to the Eastern Shore of Maryland and soon were confronted by racist and discriminatory housing practices. They applied for housing in the Moss Hill Townhouses complex in Salisbury, Maryland and were told that the owners of the complex rented only to locals.  The couple filed a complaint against the complex with the Human Relations Commission.  They also sought housing in Ocean City, which traditionally did not rent to African Americans.  Diana and Gabe eventually obtained rental housing in Ocean City, but during the winter months their housing cost $300 per month, but during the summer their rent was $1,800 per month, for the same unit. They also filed a complaint against the housing complex in Ocean City, which began the breaking of the racial barrier in housing in Ocean City. 

Housing was a definite problem for African Americans on the Shore.  However, housing was not the only barrier for Diana and Gabe, as obtaining gainful employment was also a factor. In 1971, Diana and Gabe began Purnell’s Special Cleaning Services, Inc.  They also worked several jobs to survive. Some of those jobs included raising chickens with Perdue, Inc., the cleaning of condos, and various businesses in Ocean City.  Diana worked at the Sheraton Hotel, first as a maid and then as a secretary in the office and in catering with Gabe’s mother at the Ocean City Convention Center. Their goal was to own their own business, but in the process of trying to reach their goal, they were harassed, had their telephones tapped, were followed by local law enforcement officers, and had to deal with racist practices.  In numerous instances, they also had to contend with people who would not pay them for the services they had provided.  

Ocean City Convention Center at 40th Street around the time it opened in April, 1970
Orlando Wootten Photograph Collection (1995.005)
Edward H. Nabb Research Center 
C. 1970

​Living and surviving under difficult circumstances encouraged Diana and Gabe to become involved in the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).  They worked with the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), due to the many challenges they faced.  One of the first challenges involved the March on Ocean City for Jobs in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Gainful employment was a very real factor because Ocean City had a long history of not hiring African Americans in jobs other than in menial positions.  Those policies also prevailed for African American college students who sought summer employment. The students could only find summer employment as maids, cooks, and janitors, whereas, white college students were hired as clerks, waitresses, and in semi-professional or supervisory positions.  African Americans could work in the hotels, but they could not stay in them, nor were they allowed on the Boardwalk.  They could only stay in the Henry Hotel, the only African American hotel in Ocean City.  For a very long time, African Americans could visit Ocean City only after the end of the summer season.  Then and only then were there specific days for African Americans to visit the area.  There was one day for black Virginia residents, one day for black Maryland residents and one day for black Delaware residents to visit Ocean City.   In an effort to change matters, Diana and Gabe, the NAACP and the ACLU set up a job placement office to partner with the local community, even though there was never a guarantee that African Americans would obtain the jobs despite their qualifications for the positions.  However, it did not stop them from trying to improve the conditions in which they were forced to endure.  

NAACP President Enolia P. McMillan and the Rev. John Wright begin their journey to Ocean City's Boardwalk
The Baltimore Sun
1996​

​A second challenge they encountered occurred in 1983 when Diana and Gabe challenged the Worcester County Commissioners when they found that the water in their community was contaminated, during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and their community was also the site of a landfill.  Diana and Gabe and members of the community challenged the Board of Commissioners over the landfill issue.  A Briddelltown Improvement Association (BIA) was formed, with Gabe as its first president, and began the protest to close the landfill, which was located in the midst of their community.  The BIA was aware of the toxic materials or toxins and demanded the immediate closure of the landfill.  Instead, the Board of Commissioners proposed to close the landfill in five years, where upon a lawsuit was begun against the Board of Commissioners.  In the interim, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) joined the lawsuit and the landfill was closed, and a new landfill was chosen.
​ 
A third challenge to the political structure of Worcester County occurred in 1992, when Diana and Gabe, the NAACP and the ACLU questioned the legality of Worcester County’s at-large voting system. As it existed, the at-large voting system under the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 did not allow the possibility of an African American to be elected to office. When the case went to court, it was listed as Honiss W. Cane, Jr., v. Worcester County, Maryland and Members of Worcester County Board of Commissioners.  On February 24, 1995, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the at-large system of government that had existed since 1742 effectively denied to African Americans the right to have a person of their choice as an elected official.  As a result of that decision, the at-large system was outlawed, new district lines were drawn, elections were held, and Mr. James Purnell was elected to the new district position as a Worcester County Commissioner.  In 1995, Mr. Purnell took office as the first African American County Commissioner elected in Worcester County’s 253-year history.  The election of James Purnell was a victory for the African American community, but numerous other issues remained unresolved between the black community and the Board of Commissioners.  

James Purnell (1937 - 2021)
Maryland State Archives

In the late 1980s, Diana and Gabe remained in the cleaning business, but in order to meet the needs of the community they opened the Purnell Moving and Hauling Company and Purnell’s Used Furniture Warehouse.  Their cleaning business was known as the Environmental Care Center.  They also operated a pest control business which was based on non-toxic methods to control insects and other pests.  They also distributed a natural line of pet grooming aids, Natra Pet.  In 1988-1989, they marketed and patented the Do-It-Yourself Flea Control Kit.  They changed the name of their business to the Environmental Care Center, Inc., so that it reflected their environmental awareness and new product lines that met the needs of pet and homeowners to safely control odors. 

Diana and Gabe developed an odor-controlling device, the De-Odor Rod, a rechargeable, environmentally safe odor eliminator that was designed for use in pet areas, litter boxes, terrariums and other enclosed spaces.  They received a patent for the device on July 6, 1993, and it was placed in litter boxes, pet cages and dog beds, and was listed among the best in the industry in 1996.  Their products were also placed under urinals in public men’s restrooms, in police locker rooms, in local hospitals in diaper pails in their employee’s day-care centers, and in local funeral homes which reduced the irritation morticians often felt in their eyes and nasal passages when they embalmed bodies.  Poultry producers also used the rods in their refrigerated trucks to absorb odors from chicken blood and juices, as well as to absorb smoke in automobiles and mildew in homes.  Diana and Gabe also developed other products and exhibited their products at pet shows nationally, as well as in Japan. 
​
Diana and Gabe persevered against many odds.  After a number of years, they phased out their Environmental Care Center and built the warehouse that became the Purnell Moving and Hauling Company and Purnell’s Used Furniture Warehouse.  The moving and hauling business became a full-time enterprise. 

Purnell Moving and Hauling/ Purnell's Used Furniture's warehouse today

U.S. Patent for a litter box deodorizer
Inventors: Gabriel L. Purnell & Diana W. Purnell
Patent Number: 5,224,975 
July 6, 1993

U.S. Patent for an insect elimination kit and methods for its use
Inventor: Gabriel L. Purnell
Patent Number: 4,882,873
November 28, 1989

Diana and Gabe were also very much involved in community affairs.  As early as the 1970s, they began the African American Festival and were instrumental in making the public aware of the Liberian Connection to the Berlin, Snow Hill, and Cambridge areas and local heroes, such as Reverend Charles Albert Tindley, Judy Johnson, Isaiah Fassett, the Buffalo Soldiers, the Tuskegee Airmen, and numerous others.  Diana was also very active in the creation of historic figurines which she developed, painted and sold at their warehouse and on weekends at the Flea Market in Laurel, Delaware.  Diana and Gabe also collected books, articles, African American memorabilia, and forms of documentation that related to the African American experience over the years in order to inform the public about African American history and culture and encouraged others to do the same. 

For nearly twenty-five years, Diana has been involved with Berlin Reclaim Attitude and Value Enhancement, better known as B.R.A.V.E. Diana did not form the organization alone, but Gabe and she, along with the Worcester County Health Department and other agencies formed the organization to address the needs of the youth of the county.  For over 16 years, Diana served as the Executive Director of B.R.A.V.E., and helped to develop several enrichment programs for children and teens, including summer camps, after school programs and fall programs. For those programs, the organization known as B.R.A.V. E. received awards from the Maryland Attorney General’s Office, the Worcester County Board of Education, and the State of Maryland Excellence for Minority Achievement Award.  

Diana has been actively involved with numerous agencies, including: the Worcester County Tourism Board, the Worcester County Ethics Board, the Worcester County VOLT Gambling Revenue Initiative Board, a member of the Worcester County Board of the NAACP, served as President of the Worcester County Commission for Women, a member of the Board of Directors of the Germantown School Heritage Center, member of the Wicomico County Airport Commission (2017-   ), member of the Local [Video Lottery], Development Council, member of the Social Services Board, the Drug and Alcohol Abuse Council (2015-    ), Worcester County Board of Health (2014-    ), Board of Directors of Atlantic General Hospital Foundation,  former Representative of the Public Sector of the Board of Directors of Shore Up!, Inc., member of the Recognition Advisory Committee, Commission on Indian Affairs, (2016-Present), and she represents the County Commission as a voting member of the Tri-County Council (TCC) for the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland (2014-Present). 
​
Politically active in the community, on November 4, 2014, Diana was elected a Worcester County Commissioner and replaced long-time serving Commissioner James Purnell.  She was sworn into office on December 2, 2014 and became the first African American woman to ever hold the post and only the second African American to do so.  For years, she was the only African American on the Commission and represented District 2.  In December of 2017, Diana was elected the first African American female President of the Worcester County Commission, after having served as Vice President.  She served as President of the Commission from December 5, 2017 to December 3, 2019. 

Diana W. Purnell
December 2, 2014

Diana W. Purnell
County Commissioner

Diana W. Purnell has been the recipient of numerous awards.  On January 20, 2015, she received the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Award during the 30th Annual Birthday Celebration and Commemoration, which was sponsored by the Tri-County Coalition in Salisbury, Maryland.  On March 16, 2016, she was named the Woman of the Year by the Worcester County Commission of Women. 
​
Diana W. Purnell is a multifaceted person.  She is an inventor who holds two patents, an entrepreneur, co-owner and operator of a successful business for nearly forty years, is an elected representative for the Worcester County Commissioners, and is a community volunteer who works diligently to improve the services and facilities in the town of Berlin and Worcester County. She is a true servant of the people.  She also works to preserve African American history and culture, and she shows no signs of slowing down. 

Article by Dr. Clara Small

​

Dr. Harrison DeWayne Whittington
​Anthony E Ward Funeral Home

Harrison DeWayne Whittington was born on June 9, 1931 to the late Marilyn Whittington and Alphonso Cottman, in segregated Crisfield, in Somerset County, Maryland.  His mother died nine days after his birth, so he was reared by his grandparents, Martina and Harry Whittington, who taught him to revere education and the Protestant work ethic.
  
His grandparents were not educated, but they instilled in him the value of an education.  As a child, he suffered from asthma and missed a lot of school, but his first grade teacher delivered his homework to him in order to make sure that he did not fall behind his peers.  His grandparents inspired him to excel and purchased him an encyclopedia and years later when his home burned DeWayne still had in his possession the encyclopedia, which was one of his most cherished possessions.  As a result, he was an avid reader and he religiously read three newspapers a day.

From the third to the 11th grade, DeWayne attended the Crisfield Colored High School.  From the ninth grade to the eleventh grade, he served as the janitor at the school as he stoked the school’s furnace for $30 a month.  That position required that he rose at five in the morning, walked almost two miles to the school to start the fire in the school’s furnace, returned home for a shower and breakfast and then went back to school for instruction.  It also demanded that every hour of the day he had to go down into the boiler room and fire the furnace.  He graduated from Crisfield High School in 1948.

DeWayne learned to work at an early age which was evident by him working as a janitor at the school.  He also delivered clothes for the local dry cleaners.  He also spent time at the local barbershop where he was learning to cut hair and shine shoes, while others of his age were going to movies and the theater.  He also sat at the feet of his elders and learned of their wisdom and collective experiences. 

Upon graduation from Crisfield Colored High School, he attended Morgan State College, now Morgan State University, in Baltimore, Maryland.  His grandparents were poor and did not have the means to pay his tuition, purchase his books, or provide other amenities that were necessary to make his college experience successful, so he joined the Reserved Officers Training Corp (ROTC), which paid him $27 per month.  He also worked as a custodian for eight hours in Holmes Hall from 4 p.m. to midnight.  That determination to succeed and his work ethic resulted in him earning a Bachelor of Science degree from Morgan State College in 1952 and he was inducted into the United States Army as a Second Lieutenant.  He was sent to Fort Benning, Georgia and to Fort Hurd in California and his responsibility was to train troops for the Korean Conflict.  He was also scheduled to go to Korea, but each time he was scheduled to go to war, he became ill.  He described that as a blessing because many of his classmates who went to war were killed or severely injured.  After having served for two years as a Second Lieutenant, he was honorably discharged from the United States Army as a Captain.
​
At the end of his military career in 1954, DeWayne began his teaching career.  He returned to Crisfield and served as a Coach of male sports at Carter G. Woodson School, the former Crisfield Colored High School, where he taught Physical Education for $2,400 per year until 1962.  Within one year of teaching, he contracted tuberculosis which had been connected to his military service.  He spent six months in the hospital until he recovered from his illness and returned to his teaching and coaching position. 

Scorchy Tawes Photo of Class D Maryland State Champions
March 12, 1960
Back row from left: Tony Ames, Thomas Byrd, Charles Morgan, Joshua Davis and Lionel Stephenson.
Front row: are Samuel Whittington, Lorenzo McCready and Russell Coleman.
Other team members not named or pictured were William Fields, Edward Horsey, S. Miles and Elmer Sterling
Photo obtained from Crisfield High Crabbers Facebook

From 1962 to 1969, Whittington served as Principal of Carter G. Woodson School and guided the school through the desegregation process, which culminated in 1969.  In 1969, he was appointed to the position of Title 1 Coordinator of Somerset County Public Schools from 1969 to 1970.  As coordinator of the program, he wrote the first grant for the county to improve the schools and to upgrade the audio and visual equipment.  As a result of his successful endeavors to improve the Somerset County schools, Mr. Whittington was moved into the Somerset County Office to conduct the grant; the grant lasted from 1970 to 1992.  In the interim, from 1970 to 1974, he was appointed and served as Director of Federal Programs for Somerset County and was the Coordinator of Human Relations with the Maryland State Department of Education.  His efforts to improve the Somerset County Schools were recognized and in 1980, he served as Coordinating Supervisor of Supporting Services in the County.  By 1981, he became the first African American Assistant Superintendent of Somerset County Public Schools.  From 1988 to 1992, Mr. DeWayne Whittington served as the first African American Superintendent of Somerset County Public Schools, precisely 34 years after he had served as a gym teacher and janitor for the Crisfield Colored High School.

Mr. Whittington’s term as Superintendent of Somerset County Schools was not an easy task, as racism was an ever present factor in all that he attempted to accomplish. The Board of Education did not allocate sufficient funds to improve the schools, nor did it provide adequate resources for technical support.  When the schools desperately needed computers in order to facilitate the needs of the students and to help them achieve their educational goals, the Somerset County Board did not supply computers for the schools.  In order to supply the needs of the students, Mr. Whittington developed an alliance with various businesses, brought in state-of-the art technology, worked to improve test scores, and instituted an open-door policy with the community.  Mr. Whittington understood the necessity to introduce education to students at an early age and as a result, he introduced early childhood education in the county.  The program he introduced was ranked second in the state under his leadership.  He also introduced algebra in middle school and the concept of counselors in the schools, because he was concerned about the whole student. 

The working relationship between Mr. Whittington and the Somerset County Board of Education lasted until January of 1992, when the all-white Board of Education voted 3 to 2 not to renew his contract, with no explanation.  The non-renewal of his contract was the first time in approximately forty years that the Somerset County Board of Education had not renewed a superintendent’s contract.  Regardless of the number of protests by parents and community groups, the Board of Education refused to offer an explanation for Whittington’s dismissal. He even offered to return to his former position as gym teacher, but the Board refused to grant his wish, and instead hired a long-time substitute. 
​
When the local community became aware of Mr. Whittington’s dismissal as Superintendent of Somerset County Schools, Dr. Hytche, President of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), offered Mr. Whittington the opportunity to join the staff at UMES.  He accepted the position of Visiting Lecturer and Director of Field Experience in the Department of Education and remained in that position until he retired.  Another ardent supporter of Mr. Whittington was Dr. Earl Richardson, the President of Morgan State University, also a native of the Eastern Shore. 

Dr. William P. Hytche Sr
University of Maryland Eastern Shore

Mr. Whittington was not idle after he was terminated from his position.  As a lifelong learner, and an ardent supporter of education, he chose to continue his education, something he had continued to do once he received his B.A. degree from Morgan State College in 1952.  His post-graduate studies included a Master of Education degree from Penn State University in 1961, and a Doctor of Education degree in 1980 from Nova University.  Additional post-graduate studies were conducted at Temple University, the University of Maryland, Loyola College, Weber State University, Salisbury University, Makato State University, Bowie State University, George Washington University and East Strodsburg State University.

As news spread of his dismissal, half-truths, lies, innuendos and rumors also spread that began to damage his stellar reputation.  Reluctantly, Dr. Whittington appealed to a lawyer for a redress of grievances against him.  The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) assisted him in the trial that began on June 17, 1996.  When he went to court, Dr. Whittington had 26 cartons of information to support his claims.  During the trial, it was revealed that Dr. Whittington was the lowest paid superintendent in the State of Maryland.  To bolster his case, a newspaper reporter testified that the Board of Education Chairman had stated that “they did not want a “Nigger” as Superintendent.  Others also testified in support of Dr. Whittington’s ability to successfully and efficiently govern and the fact that he had been instrumental in helping to improve the educational level of students in Somerset County.  Testimony also reflected the racial animosity that existed among the members of the Board of Education that led to Dr. Whittington’s dismissal despite support of his leadership capabilities from many white and black citizens. 

Many local citizens and members of the jury were appalled at the manner in which Dr. Whittington had been treated and the fact that he had worked so diligently to improve the Somerset County School system despite the fact that the Board of Education had not provided sufficient funds to do so.  When the verdict in the case was rendered, the Somerset County Board of Education was found guilty of discrimination.   Dr. Whittington was granted the monetary award of $835,000.  However, the jury stated that monetary compensation was insufficient for such an overt act of “racism.”  The jury recommended that a school in Somerset County be named in Dr. Whittington’s honor as a living memorial to his life-time achievement in education.  
​
The trial vindicated Dr. Whittington and proved that he had done nothing wrong which had led to his dismissal and the verdict helped to restore his good name.  As a testament to his character, and his attempts to improve the education of all people in Somerset County, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Delmarva, Dr. Whittington accepted Dr. Hytche’s offer in 1997 to serve on the Advisory Panel to UMES’ President. Others were also cognizant of the injustices that had been done.  The Alumni Association at Morgan State University honored him with the Humanitarian Award.  In 2007, Dr. Whittington was honored by the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of African American History and Culture, in Baltimore, Maryland, for his history making achievement and community service.  He was also inducted into the Lewis Museum Black History exhibit and 35 of Whittington’s Morgan State University’s classmates of 1952 were in attendance at the ceremony.

H. DeWayne Whittington, Ph.D.
University of Maryland Eastern Shore

Not only was Dr. Whittington known for his educational contributions to the local community, but he was also known for his business, religious, fraternal and civic contributions because he served on over 28 different boards simultaneously.  He was a 32nd Degree Mason; a lifelong member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity; a member of the Phi Delta Kappa Fraternity; served on the McCready Memorial Hospital Governing Board for over forty years; a member of the Crisfield Chamber of Commerce; Chairman of the Board of Directors at Shore Up, Inc.; member of the Somerset County Economic Development Committee; Honorary Trooper of the Maryland State Police; and a host of other affiliations.

One of many affiliations Dr. Whittington and the community were exceptionally proud of was his appointment to the McCready (Hospital) Foundation in 1964, for which he served continuously until 2009.  He served on the board for 45 years and was among McCready’s longest serving board members.  He was the first African American appointed to the board of that healthcare facility, and he successfully lobbied the hospital to integrate its patient population and staff in the 1960s.  He was also instrumental in recruiting minority doctors to McCready’s medical staff, as well as chaired its building and grounds committee when a new hospital was built in the 1970s.  

A few of some of the other agencies/organizations on which Dr. Whittington served included:

• Served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Shore-Up. Inc., a private, non-profit agency in Salisbury that helps “people reach economic self-sufficiency.”
• Member of the Advisory Committee for the University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s Upward Bound Program.
• Served on Somerset County’s Commission on Aging.
• Served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of MAC, Inc., the area agency on Aging.
• Served on the Board of Visitors at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
• Served on the Governor’s Advocacy Committee of Eastern Shore Correctional Institution; and a host of others.

Dr. Whittington was an avid supporter of his church from his youth.  From his grandparents who reared him, he learned that education and religion were in-separable, and he never strayed from that belief.  As a child, Vacation Bible School was closely tied to Princess Anne Academy, now UMES.  He was a lifelong member and supporter of Shiloh United Methodist Church in Crisfield, Maryland, where he held several positions in the Peninsula Delaware Conference.

Shiloh United Methodist Church

Dr. Harrison DeWayne Whittington
Crisfield Mural
​618 W Main Street, Crisfield

Article by Andre Nieto Jaime

The Negro Motorist Green-book
An annual guidebook for African-American travelers
1946
Library of Congress  (2016298176)

The infamous Supreme Court ruling in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson in 1898 had profound effects throughout the country, including in Maryland. The ruling effectively made segregation legal with the “separate but equal” clause and from there, segregation laws became common place in the United States. Maryland passed its own Jim Crow laws, some of which segregated transportation within the state. In 1902 a bill was introduced that, if passed, would have made segregated transportation mandatory. African American leaders quickly stood up against this bill and were joined by railroad and steamship companies, mostly out of economic interest, to defeat the bill. However, this victory was short-lived and two years later a bill requiring segregation on railways and steamships was passed.1 Despite this, Black residents of Maryland, many from the Eastern Shore, were steadfast in their opposition to Jim Crow and pushed back against the law through boycotts, pressuring politicians to support a repeal, expressing their disapproval to the press, and challenging the law in court, all for over 40 years until the law was finally repealed in 1951.

In 1904 the Maryland General Assembly passed what was dubbed the “Kerbin Act,” named after the bill’s sponsor William G. Kerbin of Worcester County. This law required companies “operating cars or coaches by steam” on railroads within Maryland to provide separate cars for White and Black passengers. Partitions within cars with doors were allowed to be used in place of separate cars, presumably to assuage the previous economic concerns of railroad companies of increased operating costs from additional cars. These separate cars and spaces, dubbed Jim Crow cars, had to be “without any difference or discrimination in quality or of convenience or accommodations” to conform to the separate but equal doctrine established by the Supreme Court. In addition, this act gave conductors the power to segregate passengers. Railroad companies, conductors, and passengers, failing to adhere to these new requirements faced fines and misdemeanors. Similar stipulations were made for steamboats with the same emphasis on separate, but equal accommodations for White and Black passengers. Yet, despite the claim that accommodations were to be no different in quality or convenience, segregated transportation was inherently inconvenient for people of color who were often forced to move upon reaching Maryland’s border. This forced movement and being at the mercy of conductors was humiliating for Black passengers and the conditions in these separate compartments were far from equal. 

This discriminatory act was quickly met with a boycott of railways with the Maryland Suffrage League and the Afro-American Ledger organizing resistance. However, this effort only lasted 8 months. This boycott, meant to put the railroad companies in an economic choke hold, ironically put a financial strain on the Black community via their churches. Many churches depended on rebates offered by railroad companies for chartering their cars for meetings, but participating in the boycott meant that they were unable to claim these rebates and the community caved. However, other methods of resistance were still possible. 

The Railroad Lost Money: Are Several Hundreds of Dollars Out on Account of Jimcrow Law.
The Baltimore Afro-American
1904
Western Maryland's Historical Library (​ItemID acaa482)

Complaints about the conditions of Jim Crow cars quickly emerged and in 1910 the Public Service Commission (PSC) was established with several responsibilities, one of which was to listen to complaints related to service on rail cars and steam ships. W. Ashbie Hawkins, one of Baltimore’s first Black lawyers, represented several plaintiffs before and after the PSC was established. One of these was Professor Thomas W. Turner who, in 1912, went on a trip to Salisbury with his wife to celebrate Thanksgiving. On the way, and especially on the return trip, the poor conditions prompted Turner to write a letter to the PSC expressing his disdain

In his letter Turner criticizes the Baltimore, Atlantic, and Chesapeake Railroad (BCAR) for subjecting Black passengers to filthy conditions including dirty toilets, proximity to the smoking area of the train, and seemingly months of dirt piling up in the colored sections. This complaint escalated to a hearing with the PSC where Hawkins claimed that the 1904 Jim Crow law was violated due to unequal conditions. After investigating, the PSC sided with Turner and Hawkins, ordering steamboat and railroad companies to provide equal accommodations for passengers of both colors. However, this was a shallow victory as the order did nothing but reiterate the separate but equal stipulation of the 1904 law. Additionally, neither party went as far as directly challenging the Jim Crow transportation law. 

Seeing that the PSC was of little help, the Black community sent their grievances directly to the Maryland General Assembly through the Maryland Interracial Commission, which was formed by the Maryland General Assembly in 1927. Activist groups also emerged, such as the Citizen’s Jim Crow Repeal Committee and the Independent Voters Political Welfare Club of Maryland, to voice their resentment of the Jim Crow car law and worked to convince elected officials that the law needed to be repealed.

In 1933 the Citizen’s Jim Crow Repeal Committee reached out to Senator David J. Ward from Salisbury asking him to support the upcoming repeal measure. However, Ward refused, saying that it was “absolutely against my wishes” and that Eastern Shore Citizens, both Black and White, did not want the 1904 law repealed and that both races were content with Jim Crow. Despite admitting to be acting according to his own personal wishes, Ward asserted that the Eastern Shore did not want a repeal of the law and that everyone was happy with the status quo. Senator Dudley G. Roe of Sudlersville also refused to vote for a repeal of the law, but was willing to reconsider if provided with evidence of unequal accommodations, which the community had been providing for years. Black leaders were quick to denounce Ward’s claim and called upon the community to write letters supporting the repeal of the law. 

James Franklin Stewart, a prominent figure from Salisbury’s Georgetown Community and part of the Maryland Interracial Commission, made a statement which was published in the Baltimore Afro-American a week after Ward’s statement. In his statement Stewart refuted Ward’s claim that the Eastern Shore did not want a repeal of the Jim Crow car law. Stewart found it insulting that Ward made such a statement without first consulting with the very people the law had the most effect on. He also took offense that anyone believed that African Americans were willingly subjecting themselves to such a law. Claiming to speak on behalf of the Black residents of the Eastern Shore, he notes that “As an Eastern Shoreman and native of Wicomico County, I can never give sanction or encouragement to a law” which humiliates an entire group of people. Stewart concluded his statement by labeling the Jim Crow law a “curse to our racial group” and suggests Ward reconsider his stance on the repeal.

Stewart was not the only Black Eastern Shore leader to speak out against Ward. Thomas H. Kiah, the principal of Princess Anne Academy (today the University of Maryland Eastern Shore), also expressed Black resentment of the 1904 law and lamented Ward’s response. With these statements, Stewart and Kiah made it very clear that the Eastern Shore was not content with the degrading laws that made Maryland’s Black citizens feel like second-class citizens. 

Moving forward over a decade to 1945, the now 41-year-old law was still being debated in the Maryland General Assembly and Black civil rights groups were still hard at work challenging it. In a newspaper from March of 1945, it was noted that Maryland’s senate voted 20 to 9 in favor of a repeal and that even the governor at the time, Herbert R. O'Conor, endorsed the repeal bill. In an effort to get the bill to pass the House of Delegates, 17 speeches were made before the Judiciary Committee of the House of Delegates in which representatives, both White and Black, from various organizations as well as individuals urged for the repeal of the Jim Crow transportation law. A few of these speakers hailed from our Eastern Shore, including Elwood Jewett, son of Frederick Jewett, and Salisbury’s James Stewart, who was still fighting for equal rights on behalf of his community. All of these speeches emphasized the need to repeal the Jim Crow law in order to make Maryland more democratic, ease racial tensions, and end the humiliation that many felt from the law.

One speaker, Mrs. H. Milton Wagner, claimed to speak on behalf of the mothers who have children fighting in the ongoing global war and that her son “has carried and buried men of every race in the battles... I can’t believe that he or others like him want to see more seeds of hatred in Maryland than they have given their lives for”. Wagner’s powerful declaration uses World War II, which was ongoing at the time, to support the argument for repeal. Her son was actively fighting against a regime based upon racial and ethnic discrimination. Wagner’s son burying men of every race demonstrates that skin color does not matter in death and it also highlights the hypocrisy of the United States fighting against hatred abroad while hatred and discrimination festers at home. Unfortunately, the repeal bill was defeated again, but this did not deter efforts to challenge the law through other means.  

Salisbury, MD., Union Station - 2016-096-2339
Walter Thurston Photograph Collection (2016.096)
Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture

While groups were pressuring politicians and the General Assembly into repealing the act, other efforts were underway. African Americans were using the press to appeal to people’s emotions. Many of the representatives sent to the Maryland General Assembly made references to the humiliation and treatment that the Jim Crow law subjected them to, but other news articles went into far greater detail and crafted hypothetical stories based on reality that put the reader in the shoes of Black passengers. One such story, titled “Maryland Where Jim Crow Begins” places the reader in the shoes of person of color traveling from New York to Cape Charles, Virginia. On most of this trip, the traveler enjoys an uninterrupted journey where Black and White passengers casually interacted without much hostility between them. However, once the traveler approaches Delmar, the White passengers begin to feel uneasy, casting glares at the Black riders who they were cordial with just moments before. At this point, passengers were ordered to move seats. If there were fewer White passengers, they were moved to a separate car and if there were fewer Black riders, then they were moved to a separate car. The same hypothetical traveler notices the opposite when returning north. The further away from the Mason-Dixon line they go, the more the color line blurs and the train desegregates itself.
​
This story, based on the experiences of Black travelers, was meant to elicit an emotion response from White readers. It allowed White readers to experience what Black travelers in and through Maryland experienced on a daily basis, drawing out sympathy and support for a repeal of the law. This story also demonstrates the dehumanizing effect of Jim Crow, illustrating how a political boundary and a law could have a physical, social, and emotional effects on the citizens of Maryland. The crossing of an imaginary line on a map almost immediately dehumanized these passengers and left them as social outcasts. Finally, the scenario also shows how the law effects White passengers as they too can be moved at the will of the conductor in order to enforce segregation.

Ocean City, MD., Train Crossing Bridge - 2016-096-1196
Walter Thurston Photograph Collection (2016.096)
Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture

Apart from articles meant to draw sympathy from readers, there were also legal battles against the 1904 law. In 1934, Mrs. Isabella Smith of Philadelphia was riding on a Greyhound bus returning from Princess Anne when the bus made a stop in Salisbury. Smith, who had been seated toward the center, was ordered by the driver to move to the back to give a White passenger her seat. Smith refused and the situation escalated as the driver threatened her, saying “we lynch colored people down here when they don’t obey orders given by whites,” seemingly referencing the lynching of Matthew Williams less than three years ago. Smith, was not intimidated and did not yield to the demands. As a result, she was arrested, jailed overnight by police, and brought before a judge the following morning. However, the judge ordered for Smith’s release since the law was, at least on paper, not supposed to apply to interstate passengers, and only applied to trains and steamboats, not buses. Mrs. Smith’s bravery and refusal to sacrifice her rights as an American citizen resulted in a legal victory here on the Eastern Shore.

A similar situation occurred in 1946 when another resident of Philadelphia, Levin Holland, was forcibly segregated by police on a bus ride from Philadelphia to Showell, Maryland. The Short Line Bus Company driver had ordered Holland to move to the back of the bus twice, once at Milford and a second time at Selbyville, before calling the police who promptly moved Holland to the back. The NAACP wrote a letter to the bus company, asserting their determination to bring an end to Jim Crow in transportation. While Holland was not jailed, he did fight for his right not to be segregated on an interstate trip, which the Supreme Court had decided was illegal, and he did not remain silent about his mistreatment on the Short Line bus. Both Smith and Holland refused to let themselves be dehumanized and treated as second class citizens by refusing to sit in segregated seating years before Rosa Parks became known for her refusal to give up her bus seat in 1955. However, neither of these individuals appeared to have been intentionally participating in civil disobedience as Rosa Parks and many other activists did in the second half of the 20th century. Nonetheless, these two individuals helped challenge and brought about change that helped desegregate transportation in Maryland.

The efforts of the Black community here on the Eastern Shore and across Maryland paid off in 1951 when a repeal bill first passed the House of Delegates in a 70 to 40 vote and then passed the Senate in a 22 to 7 vote. In both Houses, Eastern Shore representatives, who were expected to pose unified opposition to the bill as they had in the past, were divided. Pressure on Eastern Shore representatives appears to have worked in convincing enough to vote in favor of a repeal. In the Senate, three Eastern Shore Counties voted for the repeal: Wicomico, Worcester, and Somerset counties.
​ 
Despite this victory, segregation in other aspects of life were still practiced, but the Black community kept fighting for equality. They continued protesting and pushing segregation to its limit as was seen by the actions of the brave individuals in the 1961 Crisfield Freedom Rides and protests. Another victory was secured nationwide in 1964 with the Civil Rights Act, outlawing segregation in public space. Lower Shore residents demonstrated that change was possible. Through their efforts, they helped bring an end to a nearly four decade old repressive law and brought Maryland a step closer to the American value of equality.

Primary Sources:
“The B.C. &A Must Not Discriminate: Equal Accommodations Must Be Accorded All Passengers of The Company.” The Baltimore Afro-American, March 1, 1913.

“B.C. & A. Railway Before Public Service Board: They Are Charges with Giving Inferior Accommodations to Colored Passengers.” The Baltimore Afro-American, February 1, 1913.

“Chapter 109.” In the Laws of the State of Maryland, Made and Passed.  John Murphy Co., Publishers, 1904.

“Chapter 110.” In the Laws of the State of Maryland, Made and Passed.  John Murphy Co., Publishers, 1904.

“Court Jim Crow Decision Defied.” The Baltimore Afro-American, July 6, 1946.

Dunbar-Nelson, Alice. “Maryland Where Jim Crow Begins.” The Baltimore Afro-American, October 22, 1927.

“Eastern Shore Citizens Do Not Want J.C. Repeal Says Salisbury Senator: David J. Ward Tells Committee Both Races are Satisfied with Jim Crow Law. Group Asks Shore Leaders to Write Him and Other Senators Letters,” The Baltimore Afro-American, March 11, 1933.

“House Committee Hears 17 Pleas for JC Repeal.” The Baltimore Afro-American, March 1, 1945.

“J.F. Stewart and Principal T.H. Kiah Say People on Shore Resent J.C. Law.” The Baltimore Afro-American, March 18, 1933.

“House Passes Jim Crow Repealer in Md. 70-40.” The Baltimore Afro-American, February 10, 1951.

“Maryland Wipes ‘04 JC Travel Law Off Books.” The Baltimore Afro-American, February 24, 1951.

“Pa. Woman Sues Greyhound Bus Line for Jim Crow: Driver Had Cop Eject Her on Lynching Shore and Threaten Her. Kept in Jail Entire Night She Declares. Judge Freed Her as J.C. Law is Not for Buses.” The Baltimore Afro-American, October 6, 1934.

Hutchison, Anne W. “Jim Crow Law Killed by Senate: No Segregation on Bay Ferry System After June 1.” The Baltimore Afro-American, February 16, 1951.

“Shocking Conditions on B.C. & A. Railroad: Mr. Thomas W. Turner Complains to Public Service Commission, Hateful Discrimination is Practiced.” The Baltimore Afro-American, December 14th, 1912.


Secondary Sources:
Bogen, David S. “Precursors of Rosa Parks: Maryland Transportation Cases Between the Civil War and the Beginning of World War I.” Faculty Scholarship 70, vol. 63 (2004): 721-751.

Maryland State Archives. “Commission on Civil Rights.” Maryland Manual On-Line: A Guide to Maryland and Its Government. Accessed October 10, 2024, https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/25ind/html/44humanf.html.

Article by Dr. Clara Small

Jesse Hersley Turner was born December 19, 1930 in Craddockville, in Accomac County, Virginia to Emma Sample and Esley Turner. His first five years were spent on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, but at five years of age his grandmother, Hester Henry took him to live in Berlin, Maryland. His early education was in the Germantown Elementary School in Berlin, and in 1948 he graduated from Worcester County (Colored) High School. ​

​Jesse Turner graduated from high school at the age of seventeen, but at the time there was very little opportunity for him to obtain gainful employment. After not being able to find a suitable job, one day as he was walking down the street in Berlin, he saw a help wanted sign that advertised for someone to work in a shoe repair shop.  He was hired as a shoe-shine boy, and he carefully observed the work of the other employees as they repaired shoes for their customers.   

Cobbling became his life’s work.  It was not an easy job, and it took him about five or six years before he became proficient in the trade.  After another eight or ten years, he was capable of running the shop alone because it also gave him the opportunity to practice on the machinery, and he also learned how to properly repair them.  He rapidly learned that safety was important at all times because it meant that he had to be cognitive of wearing the right type of clothing, and thinking safety at all times.  Even more important, he liked what he was doing. 

He sincerely loved his job, but he was drafted into the United States Army and served from 1955 to 1957, which temporarily kept him from practicing his craft. The GI Bill benefits he earned during his tour of duty in South Carolina, Georgia, and Arizona were used in later years to help defray the cost of his education at Delaware Technical Community College (DTCC), in Georgetown, Delaware.  In the early 1970s, he took a business course at DTCC when he thought of possibly becoming a radio and television technician.  However, he soon realized that was not to have been his occupation or mission in life, so he continued to work as a cobbler. 

When Jesse began his journey to become a cobbler and shoe repairman, shoes were made of leather, the “good stuff,” as he called it, but in the late 1980s and early 1990s, twenty-five or thirty years ago, the soles of most shoes were composed of rubber or other materials that could not be repaired in the traditional manner.  As a result, a majority of his work consisted of the construction and the rebuilding of orthopedic shoes, as well as the repair of very expensive shoes worn by doctors, nurses, and lawyers.  Most of that work was prescriptive from doctors and it consisted of building up shoes by one-half or one-quarter of an inch. 

The repairing of shoes was a labor of love for Jesse Turner, and he was in business for over sixty years in the same shop and in the same location, The Berlin Shoe Box, on Main Street in Berlin.  In 1977, he purchased the shop from his second employer and continued the business under the same name.   Mr. Jesse Turner became the town of Berlin’s first African American owner of a shoe repair business.  He believed that he had been in the shoe repair business longer than anyone else south of Dover to Cape Charles, Virginia.  For many years, he was the only African American to have a shop on the plaza.  He was also the second African American in town who worked on the plaza. 

​His work was a challenge because he worked mainly on saddles, golf bags, leather-made gun holders, and other objects.  He was basically self-taught, even though there was a cobbler repair school in Philadelphia, but it was not feasible for him to attend at the time.  The machinery in his shop was nearly 150 years old, but he learned to repair it because there were so few people who knew the trade and how to repair the machinery. 

Mr. Turner was also involved in other enterprises as well.  He also owned a grass cutting business.  It was in that business that he hired young males in order to teach them monetary responsibility and to learn “the Protestant work ethic.”  It was a profitable business for approximately five years, and the young males and one young lady worked for him until some parents took their hard-earned money and the incentive to work was taken away from the young workers.  Mr. Turner served as a mentor to those young men, who continued to work in the grass cutting business and eventually established their own businesses.  Mr. Turner eventually gave up the grass cutting business at the age of 65.  

As a shop owner, Mr. Turner was a member of the Berlin Chamber of Commerce.  He served as the first African American Chamber member, and he served as president of the Chamber from 1993-1994.  He was an active participant in many of its activities, and one of his favorite events was the Annual Bathtub Race, which he won for nearly twenty years.  In order to compete in the races, he built his own bathtub and his competitors anxiously waited for him to retire so that they could win.  He won more races in the history of the Berlin Bathtub Races than anyone.  

​He was also actively involved in the reformatting of the Berlin Christmas Parade that has been called Turner’s greatest achievement.  For over twenty-plus years, he was in charge of Berlin’s Old Fashioned Memorial Day Celebration, with the assistance of Emma Briddell, Sandra Oliver and Gabe Purnell.  Some of his other projects included the Fiddler’s Convention and the renovation of the Germantown School. 

The Germantown School project was near and dear to Mr. Turner’s heart because his early education began there.  The Germantown School had remained in active use until 1962, eight years after the United States Supreme Court rendered the Brown v. Board of Education Topeka, Kansas decision of May 17, 1954.  With the Brown decision and the “all deliberate speed” decision of May 1955, the belief that American society and the quality of education would be equalized and that black schools would have received the same quality of books, equipment, school structures and the salaries of all teachers would be the same, did not materialize, at least for the next 20 years.  The reality was that most formerly all-black schools were vacated or abandoned, and most African American principals and teachers lost their jobs or were demoted. 

Germantown School, as many other all-black schools nationwide, had provided the rudiments of an education for hundreds of children and had spurred their growth, and that thirst for knowledge to succeed despite the odds that had been against them.  In spite of its contributions to society and the education of multitudes, Germantown School was closed because the Worcester County Board of Education no longer needed it as a school.  On December 11, 1962, for the sum of one dollar, the school was turned over to the County Highway Association, and it converted the former school into a county road barn.  The Association removed the front wall, the floor and windows, installed four garage bays and a ground level concrete floor and made it a truck and storage garage. 

Some former students of the Germantown School, including Jesse Turner, former teachers, and concerned citizens recognized the value of their heritage, and the struggles they endured in order to have obtained an education, as well as the heroic efforts that had been made by their teachers and concerned others to obtain those goals, in spite of the racism and discrimination that prevailed at that time.  In 1995, some of those concerned citizens met, organized, and five years later, established an article of incorporation as the Germantown School Community Heritage Center.  In 2000, the Germantown School, a Rosenwald School, was designated as a historic site, and through the insistence of James Purnell, the committee was granted ownership of the school for the purpose of preserving it.  After a series of grants, and the corporation of Worcester County and the State of Maryland, the Germantown School Committee successfully completed the renovation of the school.  James Purnell served as the first president of the committee for ten years.  The second president of the Committee, as well as a member of the Board of Directors was Jesse Turner.  By 2010, the Committee held a ground breaking ceremony that officially began the renovation of the school.  The renovation was completed in May of 2013, and Jesse Turner and the other members of the committee continued to work and preserve the school that had provided their earliest rudiments of an education and provided the foundation of their educational and life experiences. 

Due to his involvement in the local community, Mr. Jesse Turner was the recipient of many awards and accolades.  One award was the 40th Annual Berlin Award (2005), which is presented annually to an individual who has by unselfish effort and dedication, made outstanding contributions to community service in the town of Berlin.  In 2010, he received the Omega Psi Phi Award for Businessman of the Year.  He was one of the original members of the Go-Kart Unit of ABACAHAB, the award-winning unit that traveled across the county and country. He was a 33rd Degree Life member of the Prince Hall Masons, Lincoln Lodge # 53.  He was Past Master of Lincoln Lodge No. 53 Free and Accepted Masons, Prince Hall affiliation in Berlin where he had been a member for 57 years.  He was also recognized for nine years as Imperial Deputy of the Oasis of Prince Hall Shriner of Abulahab Temple No. 206.  Mr. Turner was Past Commander-in-Chief of King David Consistory No.284, Past Potentate of Abulahab Temple and many other honors.  He also held the distinction of having been the first African American Potentate in Berlin and served in that capacity in 1984.  In 2006, Mr. Jesse Turner was named Grand Inspector General by the United Supreme Council No. 33 of Freemasonry.   

After more than 60 years as a cobbler, Mr. Turner still loved his craft but was concerned that it was a dying profession because of the type of materials of which the shoes and soles were made. He was also concerned that there were almost no young people desirous of entering or taking the time to become a cobbler.  Despite those concerns, Mr. Turner had celebrity customers who attested to the quality of his work.  One customer, the country singer and musician, Johnny Cash, his wife, June Carter Cash, and a bodyguard walked into Mr. Turner’s shop in 1994 and asked him to stretch Johnny’s boots, because they were too tight.  Cash pulled off his boots, walked down Main Street, Berlin, in his socks and ate lunch, while his boots were stretched.  Johnny Cash had been performing in Ocean City at the time, but before he left the shop he signed a picture for Mr. Turner.  Cash’s picture and autograph were proudly displayed on the wall of Mr. Turner’s shop.  Another celebrity and politician, Spiro Agnew, who as Governor of the State of Maryland once owned a home in Ocean City, often visited Mr. Turner’s shop.  When Spiro Agnew became Vice President of the United States, he and his wife continued to visit Mr. Turner’s shop for the repair of their shoes and other items, but he did not like to be announced to the customers in Mr. Turner’s shop, as he wanted to remain anonymous.  The Agnew portrait and signature were also displayed on Mr. Turner’s wall, as well as others.   

During the filming of the movie “Runaway Bride,” Julie Roberts’ shoes from the movie were prominently displayed close to a mounted poster of the movie in his shop.  Other stories of Mr. Turner’s craftsmanship spread beyond Berlin and prospective customers searched him out to repair their items.  For instance, on September 1, 2015, a lady entered the shop and inquired if Mr. Turner could repair a man’s toiletry case that formerly belonged to President Woodrow Wilson.  Mr. Turner took the prized object, inspected it and gave the lady a date on which to retrieve her case.  She left with the assurance that her case would be given the best of care and that it would be restored to its former condition. 

After over sixty years as a cobbler, Mr. Turner still had all of his fingers.  He loved his craft, but he did not know who would continue his work after his retirement.  Unfortunately, he was not able to find anyone he could have trained or leave his business.  Mr. Turner had a fantastic career, a rewarding business, had an excellent reputation as the only cobbler in the Berlin area, and had practiced a craft that required an immense amount of skill, patience, and love.  In early 2017, he retired and as a testament to his service to the community, the Germantown School Community Heritage Center Executive Board presented to Mr. Turner a plaque in recognition of his 68 years of service to the Berlin community on March 7, 2017.  Sadly, March 31, 2017, a mere 24 days later, Mr. Jesse Hersley Turner passed away, and he was eulogized on April 8, 2017 at First Baptist Church in Salisbury, Maryland.  His remains were interred at the Maryland Veterans Cemetery in Hurlock, Maryland.  Mr. Jesse Turner will be remembered as a community activist, a businessman, and an entrepreneur, but most of all, he will be remembered as a master craftsman.  

Article by Dr. Clara Small

Louis Matthew Jones

Louis Matthew Jones was born February 15, 1948 to Gilbert and Alene Jones at Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury, Maryland.  Called “Jewboy” by his family, he was reared in Mount Vernon, Maryland.  The grandchild of share-croppers, he was inspired to acquire an education and to learn as much as possible.

Louis attended the public schools of Somerset County, Maryland and graduated in 1966 from the former Somerset High School in Princess Anne, Maryland.  He was very popular in school and often served as an escort for school queens and their courts, and the teachers often commented about his good behavior and the manner in which he carried himself.  He also played baseball with the legendary Oaksville baseball team which was located just outside of Princess Anne. 

​Upon graduation from high school, Louis decided to pursue his dream of becoming a mailman, something he wanted to do from his youth.  It was something he wanted to do even though there were no local African American mail carriers in the area.  He thought that it was a “cool” job, so he went to the Princess Anne post office, but could not even obtain an application, but three months later he got a draft notice.  

Kiah Hall at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore
Formerly the segregated Somerset High School

Oaksville Eagles
c. 1970s
Nabb Research Center Online Exhibits & ​Courtesy of Dr. Kirkland Hall

Upon the receipt of the draft notice, Louis joined the United States Army.  He served in the Army from March of 1967 to July of 1973 with foreign duty in Vietnam and received a Vietnam Service Medal, the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal.  While in the service, he attained the rank of Sergeant and received a Certificate of Retirement from the Army dated July 1, 1973.  Under the GI Bill, he later received certification from Robinson’s Clock Repair School in Salisbury.  Louis also worked as a Tower Operator at the Chesapeake Plywood Company in Pocomoke, Maryland. However, he is best known as “Mr. Louis, the Postman.” 

It was through the United States Veterans Affairs program which encourageed the hiring of veterans that helped Louis to obtain his position with the Postal Service.  For the first eighteen years at the post office, Louis served on the “midnight shift,” as he processed mail and unloaded trucks.  During the last ten years on the job, he delivered goodwill at the drive thru window, one of only two drive thru windows in Maryland.  The Route 50 Post Office was the only one with a drive-thru on Delmarva.  Louis claimed it and it became known as “Mr. Louis Window,” because he manned it since it opened.  As “Mr. Louis, the Postman,” Louis’s smiling face greeted everyone at the window.  He believed that “if the post office had more drive-thru windows, it (the Post Office) would make tons of money because the aging population loved it.”   

​The drive-thru window was scheduled to open at 8:30 a.m., but by the time Louis opened the window for business, a long line had already formed.  During the course of the day, hundreds of cars and patrons would pass through the drive-thru window spaces, and he knew most of the patrons by name.  They too, were also very familiar with him and his personnel file was filled with letters from appreciative customers who referred to him as “Mr.  Personality,” “Mr. Congeniality,” and the post office’s “Mr. Wonderful.” He was so beloved and appreciated by some patrons that if he was on vacation, they would pass through the window space without stopping. 

Post Office, Salisbury MD
Walter Thurston Photograph Collection (2016.096)
Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History & Culture

Aerial Photo: Post Office Rt 50, Salisbury MD
c. 1960s
Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History & Culture
Walter C. Thurston Jr. Collection (2016.096)​

Some patrons so admired his mild manner and personal touch that they had not been inside of the post office in years.  Others would only visit the Route 50 post office because of Louis’ friendly demeanor to conduct their business instead of visiting their nearest post offices.  If he were at lunch, in a meeting, or away from the post office for a couple of days, some patrons simply waited for his return, and that also included some political figures and Senatorial staffers.  

Mr. Louis was so admired by so many people that he became “Mr. Louis” to them and many people thought that Louis was his last name.  For many patrons, a trip to Mr. Louis’ window meant more than a three-minute therapy session to calm the soul and lift the spirits because he embodied the spirit of optimism, since no one left his window in a bad, evil mood.  

Mr. Louis was dearly loved by young people because he got to know them and called them by name.  As their family’s car approached his window, they began to laugh and they loved him, often waving and blowing kisses at him.  When they saw him at the grocery store, or some other place, they often yelled, “Mom, he’s got legs.”  As they grew and aged, those same young children, as young adults and older, still called him “Mr. Louis,” still as if that was his last name.   

As patrons got to know him, he also knew them as well, as he often knew of many of their experiences, accomplishments, and difficulties.  As such, his mild temperament and congenial manner exemplified a generous love of mankind or simply just doing the right thing, as he often went beyond the call of duty in his interactions with them.  

Mr. Louis Jones became a legend for his upbeat personality among city postal patrons, his legion of fans.  By March of 2008, he had manned the drive-thru window for ten years since it opened.  His tenure at the post office was from September 1981 to January 2013, and he had completed 32 years of federal ser-vice.  He had completed 28 years at the post office, alone, when he retired at the end of January 2013.  His colleagues told Reverend Brenda Hughey-Jones, his wife of 37 years, that in all of those years at the post office, there was “never a missed stamp, a missed penny from his drawer, or missed delivery.”  When he retired, it was never the same for most of his loyal patrons.  After his retirement, Mr. Louis’s window did not remain open for very long, as many patrons no longer desired to visit the “drive-thru” window because he was no longer there.  

Retirement from the United States Postal Service afforded him more time to spend with his family and friends, the care of his meticulous lawn and playing cards.  He was an avid Washington Redskins (now known as the Washington Commanders) football fan and Baltimore Orioles baseball fan.  He also spent time at the Shorebird’s games.  He was also very active in the community and held membership in various veteran organizations and participated in numerous civic activities.  

Mr. Louis Matthew Jones was highly respected and beloved by children and adults alike.  Sadly, at the age of 70, he passed into eternal rest on August 28, 2018.  His smile and demeanor will be forever missed by all who came in contact with him.  His celebration of life was held on September 8, 2018 at First Baptist Church in Salisbury and interment was at Springhill Memory Gardens in Hebron, Maryland. 

​As a testament of devotion to his job, the manner in which he performed it, and those who came to love him for his diligence and dignified style, a street was named in his honor.  The newly named Louis M. Jones Way is located at the corner of Grace and Naylor Street.  During the street naming ceremony, Delegate Sheree Sample-Hughes presented to Louis’s widow an Official Citation from the Maryland General Assembly, dated September 2, 2021.  Jacob “Jake” R. Day, Mayor of the City of Salisbury, also presented a proclamation from the City of Salisbury to Louis’ family.  The naming of the street at the entrance of the Route 50 post office, where Mr. Louis worked, is an assurance that Mr. Louis Matthew Jones will not be forgotten.  

Proclamation Renaming Grace St. to Louise M. Jones Way
2021
City of Salisbury

Dedication of Louis M. Jones Way