Page 42 - August 2024 Issue.pdf

A Choptank River History Project by Kennedy Thomason

Currents of Change: The Choptank River’s Legacy in Slavery
and the Pursuit of Freedom

By Kennedy Th omason Chesapeake Bay’s temperate climate created ideal conditions
for tobacco farming. However, the labor-intensive nature

The Choptank’s waters, once pathways for the arrival and of tobacco farming necessitated a substantial workforce,
auction of enslaved African people, later became lifelines leading to a growing reliance on enslaved labor. Hence,
guiding daring escapes to freedom. Locals tend to boast Caroline County became a significant area for the expansion

that their lands are tied to some of history’s biggest heroes: of slavery.
Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and William Still.

But why did settlers on the Eastern Shore seek out slave Due to shifts in agricultural profits leading to many
labor, and how did Maryland become the state with the slaveholders freeing their enslaved peoples, the Eastern
most documented freedom-seekers? The answer lies in the Shore of Maryland had one of the largest free Black

existence of the “Great Choptank River.” communities in any slave-holding territory. This free Black
community found its niche in the maritime industry. Th e

The Choptank River played a significant role in facilitating Chesapeake Bay was a major player in trade, making the Bay
the growth of slavery in the region. In the 17th and 18th and its rivers hotbeds for communication between free and
centuries, the economy of the Mid-Atlantic region was enslaved African Americans working aboard trade ships.

heavily influenced by tobacco cultivation. This cash crop The smuggling of enslaved African Americans from the

quickly became the cornerstone of Maryland’s economy, shore on Northbound boats was rampant- Gilpin Point in
driving settlers inland and up the Choptank River in Preston becoming one such trade-center-turned-runaway-

search of fertile land. The river’s rich floodplains and the

haven.
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