Programs

Past Lectures:

Smithsonian Environment Research Center
"Black Watermen of the Chesapeake"

July 20, 2021

The Chesapeake Bay region is a significant setting in African American history. The region was a gateway for the first blacks brought from Africa to the colonies. Throughout the mid-1800s, the Bay and its rivers were important pathways along the Underground Railroad.

Lectures/Presentations

Harriet Tubman Day is an American holiday in honor of the anti-slavery activist Harriet Tubman, observed on March 10 in the whole country, and in the U.S. states of New York and Maryland both of which have national parks named in her honor.

The BOC have been working with the Harriet Tubman Organization for more than twenty-five years.  The BOC’s "Chesapeake Underground Research Project" highlights Harriet Tubman’s use of the Chesapeake Bay and its many tributaries to aid enslaved people to freedom.

Harriet Tubman Organization Annual Banquet, Cambridge, Md.
Vincent O. Leggett, Keynote Speaker
Blacks of the Chesapeake
"Oh Harriet Have You Heard?"

Arts and the Humanities

The BOC has served as historical consultants on several multimedia projects.  Dr. Joan Gaither, Fiber Artist, Maryland Institute of Art collaborated with the Blacks of the Chesapeake in the fabrication of the Black Watermen of Chesapeake Documentary Story Quilt and Steve Torriano Berry consulted with the BOC in the production of the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake Documentary Film.

Environmental Programs

Environmental Education and Conservation organizations such as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, The Living Classrooms Foundation, The Chesapeake Conservancy and the Chesapeake Bay Trust have sought out the expertise of the BOC around issues of diversity and inclusion.