Littoral​ Society

  • Home
  • What We Do
    • Education
    • Conservation
    • Restoration
    • Advocacy
    • Fish Tagging
    • Presentations
  • Where We Work
    • Sandy Hook
    • Barnegat Bay
    • Delaware Bay
    • Jamaica Bay
    • Sarasota Bay
    • National Policy
  • Who We Are
    • History
    • Staff
    • Officers & Trustees
    • Financial Accountability
    • Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice
    • Contact
  • Newsroom
    • Littoral News
    • Press Releases
    • Videos
    • Publications
    • Reports
  • Blog
  • Join Us
    • Donate
    • Membership
    • Sponsor
    • Sign Up for Littoral Updates
    • Littorally Local
    • Lobster Run
    • Upcoming Events
    • Field Trips
    • Volunteer
    • Jobs
  • Store
  • Home
  • What We Do
    • Education
    • Conservation
    • Restoration
    • Advocacy
    • Fish Tagging
    • Presentations
  • Where We Work
    • Sandy Hook
    • Barnegat Bay
    • Delaware Bay
    • Jamaica Bay
    • Sarasota Bay
    • National Policy
  • Who We Are
    • History
    • Staff
    • Officers & Trustees
    • Financial Accountability
    • Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice
    • Contact
  • Newsroom
    • Littoral News
    • Press Releases
    • Videos
    • Publications
    • Reports
  • Blog
  • Join Us
    • Donate
    • Membership
    • Sponsor
    • Sign Up for Littoral Updates
    • Littorally Local
    • Lobster Run
    • Upcoming Events
    • Field Trips
    • Volunteer
    • Jobs
  • Store

The Society Blog

How Black Americans Helped Build the Oyster Industry

2/21/2023

 
Black History Month is a time to celebrate the accomplishments of the Black community. It’s also an opportunity to learn about people whose contributions are often left out of the history books. With that, we’d like to “dive in” to the story of how Black Americans have shaped the coastal economy through one of the most lucrative commodities on the east coast: the oyster.

In the 1800s, many Black Americans traveled north from the Chesapeake bay, where it was illegal for Black people to own or operate their own fishing vessels without a white man on board. They had gained vast ecological knowledge on how to raise and harvest oysters because the bivalves were used by plantation owners as fertilizer and as a staple in the diets of enslaved people along the coast. During this time, oysters were not nearly as popular to eat as they were, according to historian Anna Marie Gillis, considered “only suitable for a poor man’s pot.”
​

It wasn’t until 1825 that Thomas Downing, an abolitionist and the son of slaves, opened an oyster saloon in the Financial District of New York City. This helped to elevate the status of the oyster and created a massive demand for the slippery bivalve. More importantly, it helped to create a path to freedom through the oyster industry for those enslaved and oppressed along the coast.

The history of oystering in New Jersey also intersects with another path to freedom through the Underground Railroad and the Vreeland Jackson brothers. Thomas and John Vreeland Jackson became oystermen on the Hudson in 1830 after gaining their freedom from the family that had held them in slavery. Their oyster business funded the purchase of land and a home through which they bravely helped numerous enslaved people escape to the north.
By the early 1900s, the oyster was the crux of the South Jersey economy; at one time Cumberland County had more millionaires per capita than any other part of the state. But, for each of those millionaires, there were many more Black Americans doing the hard labor that generated so much wealth. They managed oyster farms, sailed, dredged and shucked for long hours.

These Black oystermen (and women), who were described by the former oysterman Robert Morgan, as “just as qualified as any white man,” were paid significantly less than their white counterparts and most of the wealth that they generated went to the business owners. 

In 2009, 90-year-old Beryl Whittington described his time working in the oyster industry by saying, “I can’t say nothing too good about them because they was slave drivers and I got to say it.”
​

Still, others acknowledge that oystering was one of the best ways for their Black ancestors to make a living at the time. Income earned from oystering is what supported Sandy Ground on Staten Island, which was one of the first free Black settlements in North America.

Today, Black oystermen are a “vanishing legacy.”

Oyster diseases like MSX and water quality issues from stormwater runoff caused oyster populations to drastically decline and forced people to seek employment elsewhere. This is why people like Mary Hill, the 7th generation Black Oysterman from Virginia, and Ben “Moody” Harney Jr, owner of “Real Mother Shuckers,” a Black owned business whose goal is to make oysters approachable to all people, are working to bring people of color back into the oyster industry. 

Learning about the history of the oyster industry and the contributions that Black Americans have made along the coast shows us another reason why a healthy coast is important. At the Littoral Society, we work to restore oyster reefs and prevent stormwater pollution from harming the coastal ecosystem. We also work to be inclusive in all that we do, so that the benefits of a healthy bay are felt equitably, creating a pathway to a better future for everyone.

 If you’d like to learn more about the history of Black oystermen, please visit the resources below:

The Abundant Oyster: Bayshorecenter.org; Bayshore Center at Bivalve. https://www.bayshorecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/the-abundant-oyster.pdf

Maria Gillis, A. (2011). Oyster Wars [Review of Oyster Wars]. Humanities, 32(3). https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2011/mayjune/statement/oyster-wars

The Vibrant and Complex History of Black Oyster Culture. (n.d.). Thrillist. Retrieved February 13, 2023, from https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/history-of-black-oyster-culture

Urbina, I. (2003, November 4). They Will Not Be Moved; A Bastion of Black History Amid S.I. Development. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/04/nyregion/they-will-not-be-moved-a-bastion-of-black-history-amid-si-development.html

Wilson, K. (2022, June 21). The Black Oysterman Taking Half Shells From the Bar to the Block. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/21/dining/brooklyn-oysters-real-mother-shuckers.html

Dana Barbato
2/27/2023 01:04:59 pm

Sandy Ground one of the nation’s first free black settlement, is actually in Staten Island. It was a community of farmers and oysterman, and is the nation’s oldest, continuously inhabited community. Some of the ancestors are still involved in trying to preserve it. They are struggling to keep up with repairs. Here’s an SI Live article about it:

https://www.silive.com/news/2023/02/sandy-ground-images-of-the-nations-oldest-free-black-settlement.html?outputType=amp

American Littoral Society
2/27/2023 01:14:24 pm

Thanks for the clarification and citation on this historical issue. It is much appreciated.


Comments are closed.
    BLOG HOME

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017

     Subscribe in a reader

    Categories

    All
    5k
    Action
    Advocacy
    Amazon
    Art
    Asbury Park
    Ballot Question
    Barnegat
    Bay
    Beach
    Benefit
    Biomedical
    Breakfree
    Camp
    Celebration
    Cleanup
    Climate
    Coast
    Conservation
    Crafts
    Delaware Bay
    Delbay
    Drilling
    Dune
    Dune Grass
    Earthday
    Earth Day
    Economy
    Eggs
    Election
    Estuary
    Event
    Family
    Fishing
    Fun
    Global Warming
    Horseshoe Crab
    Jamaicabay
    Legislation
    Litter
    Live Music
    Lobster
    Long Beach Island
    Marine Science
    NJ
    NY
    Oil
    Open Space
    Oyster
    Oystere
    Parade
    Party
    Plastic
    Policy
    Pollution
    Protect
    Race
    Rain Garden
    Red Knot
    Reef
    Restoration
    River
    Run
    Sandy Hook
    Shark Fin
    Shell-a-bration
    Shell Bagging
    Shore
    Shorebird
    Summer
    Superstorm Sandy
    Surfcasting
    Tag
    Tagging
    Tourism
    Volunteer
    Wetlands
    Wreck Pond

     Subscribe in a reader

Picture
18 Hartshorne Drive
​Highlands, NJ 07732

What We Do

Education
Conservation
Restoration
Advocacy
Fish Tagging

Where We Work

Sandy Hook
Barnegat Bay
Delaware Bay
Jamaica Bay
Sarasota Bay
National Policy

Who We Are

History
Staff
Officers & ​Trustees
Financials
Contact

Newsroom

Blog
Press Releases
Videos
Publications
Reports

Join Us

Memberships
Donate
Sponsor
Upcoming Events
Field Trips
Volunteer
Jobs
Donate
Membership
Mailing List
Volunteer
Privacy Policy
Copyright ​© 2017, American Littoral Society, All Rights Reserved
Photo used under Creative Commons from A. Strakey