Project shares history of black watermen

Stitch by stitch, many hands are joining to tell the untold stories of the black men who have worked the waters of the Chesapeake Bay.

Joan Gaither, an artist and college professor who created a community storytelling quilt focused on President Barack Obama, is back with another quilt and a new mission: to share the history of the bay's black watermen.

"These are new stories I'm learning myself," Gaither said as she oversaw a quilting session in Annapolis Thursday.

The quilt was spread across several tables at the Wiley H. Bates Legacy Center in the old Bates High School complex.

Colorful and detailed, the quilt uses all sorts of fabrics, photos, lettering and small objects to create a vivid picture of life on the water.

At the center of the quilt is bright blue fabric as a visual representation of the bay itself. Around the edges of the quilt are pictures of black watermen: Eldridge Meredith, boat captain and restaurant owner; Lloyd Price, a captain from Grasonville; Benjamin "Sonny Boy" Brown, a waterman and oyster boat cook from Shady Side; Lester Jones, an oyster and clam "raw man"; and others.

Photos show men tonging for oysters on the water, shucking oysters at Harris Seafood on Kent Narrows and the old McNasby's Oyster Company building in Eastport, which is now a museum.

Artifacts from boats - including sailcloth and zippers - are incorporated into the quilt. So are actual oyster shells and fishing line weights.

"I call it quilting for the soul," Gaither said. "I use anything and everything neccessary to tell the story."

Most of the photos were provided by the Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation. Gaither was able to print the photos onto fabric.

"We're just elated over the fact Dr. Gaither has taken on the challenge of finding another medium of telling stories of black life on the Chesapeake," said Vince Leggett, founder of the Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation.

While the Chesapeake is a new topic for Gaither, black history is not. She created several other quilts that feature black history.

Last winter, she finished the Obama-inspired quilt, "Journey to the White House." Another recent project was "Trails, Tracks and Tarmac," a quilt that documented African-American history in northern Anne Arundel County.

Gaither said she was looking for a new project after completing the Obama quilt. In particular, she was searching for a subject matter that wasn't well known.

"What's the next story that needs telling?" she asked herself.

Gaither talked with Leggett and others who suggested she consider black watermen. Her research confirmed that it was a good idea.

"As I looked at books on the Chesapeake Bay, I noticed a lack of black presence," said Gaither, who lives in Severn and is chairwoman of undergraduate art education at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore.

She hopes the quilt will help people learn about the rich and storied history of black men working on the water, fighting winds and tides and other obstacles to pluck precious fish, oysters, clams and crabs from the bay.

As with her other quilts, Gaither is encouraging people to help finish off the quilt. She's left spaces to include more pictures and artifacts from people who might have their own stories of fathers or uncles or brothers who were watermen.

And even people without stories to share can stitch the straight lines that hold the quilt layers together.

On Thursday, several people pulled up folding chairs around the quilt to add their own personal touch.

Don Bessicks of Severn used white lettered beads to spell out, "I remember fishing with George Roy," a Grasonville watermen whose picture is featured on the quilt.

Bessicks was involved with the north county quilt through his work with the North Arundel Cultural Preservation Society, and was happy to help with the watermen quilt, too. He recognized plenty of familiar faces on the quilt and on a documentary that was played on a screen at one end of the room.

Nearby, Annapolis resident Roberta Brown Hawkins added stitches to the quilt. Her father, Freddie Brown Sr., was a watermen, as were her uncles, grandfathers and cousins.

But today, no one is left in her family working as a watermen. They've all passed away or moved on to other jobs.

Working on the quilt brought back memories, such as when her dad would board boats at Annapolis City Dock and head out for a day of crabbing or fishing.

"I just got overwhelmed," she said. "It just brings back so many memories."

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ADD A STITCH

Artist and Severn resident Joan Gaither invites the public to contribute to her new 'Black Watermen of the Chesapeake Bay' quilt.

Upcoming public quilting sessions include:

• Today 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the Banneker-Douglass Museum, 84 Franklin St. in Annapolis.
• Nov. 20, 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., at Meredith's Seafood & Carry Out, 3227 Main St. in Grasonville.
• Nov. 21, 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Capt. Salem Avery Museum, 1418 East West Shady Side Road, Shady Side.

To learn about the quilt and share stories about watermen, visit Gaither's blog at www.joangaither.com.

To learn about black history, visit Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation at www.blackschesapeake.org or the Banneker-Douglass Museum at www.bdmuseum.com.