This Bay Shall Yet Bear Me to Freedom
- Frederick Douglass
This altar is made of water, and bound with memory.
African and Diasporic beliefs see water as the realm of the dead, the lower half of the circle of life. Water is a sacred resource both ecologically and spiritually, and needs to be protected as it holds the memories and lives of our ancestors, human and non-human.
The water and marshlands of the Chesapeake Bay, along with The Great Dismal Swamp, made up parts of the Underground Railroad and Maroon Societies. They also served as the land which many Black communities were built on, or near.
The bay and it’s subsidiary waterways continue to be cultural hubs for current day conjurers, and a vital ecological connection to our ancestors.
Ancestral Tides: Conjuring Legends of the Chesapeake that made waves
Harriet Tubman
Revolutionary
Rootworker
Conjurer
Born in Maryland as Araminta Ross, she later took the cover Harriet Tubman as her freed name. Harriet Tubman escaped to freedom, helped several others escape to freedom, used rootwork during her time as a nurse in the Civil War, and helped to free hundreds of others during the raid on Combahee.
Harriet Tubman is honored as an elevated ancestor of the Hoodoo tradition.
Frederick Douglass
Orator
Conjurer
Born in Maryland, Frederick Douglass is a famed abolitionist that spoke adamantly against slavery once he escaped from it. Douglass used a root for his protection while enslaved as well as during his journey to escape from slavery.
Frederick Douglass is an elevated ancestor in the Hoodoo tradition.
Benjamin Banneker
Scientist
Inventor
Astrologer
Benjamin Banneker, born in Maryland, was a famed astrologer, farmer, and mathematician. His almanacs provided insight about the relationship between the earth and the sky.
John Henry
Road Opener
Folk Divinity of Technology and Labor
John Henry was a steel-driving man, said to have beaten the ability of a steam drill with just two hammers in his hand. The hero making legend of John Henry was born in the Tidewater and Appalachian areas of the Chesapeake Region. Although historians vary on where the tunnel of his story occurred, they agree that it took place in either the central eastern parts of West Virginia, or the central western parts of Virginia, where the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad was being built.
John Henry is an elevated legend and folk divinity in the Hoodoo tradition.
Agnes Kane Callum
Genealogist
Ancestral Investigator
“Agnes Kane Callum is a distinctive genealogist and front-runner on African American history in Maryland. Kane has worked relentlessly to chronicle her family lineage and the history behind slavery in St. Mary's County, inspiring others to do the same. A lifetime resident of Baltimore, Maryland, Kane's work in the fields of genealogy and history have resulted in the preservation of a crucial aspect of Maryland's history that remained unstudied. Kane's contributions to the history behind the State of Maryland is massive, and her developments in genealogy have affected those all over the nation.”
Gladys Marie Fry
Folklorist
Story Holder
Gladys Marie Fry, born in Washington D.C., was a trailblazing folklorist. Her work includes helping to interpret archeological finds of Hoodoo in the Chesapeake area.
Gloria Richarson
Freedom Fighter
Civil Rights Movement Activist
“Richardson was the first woman to lead a prolonged grassroots civil rights movement outside the Deep South. In 1962, she helped organized and led the Cambridge Movement on Maryland's Eastern Shore with sit-ins to desegregate restaurants, bowling alleys and movie theaters in protests that marked an early part of the Black Power movement.”
James Hemings
Culinary Innovator
Entrepreneur
James Hemings (brother of Sally Hemings) was born in Charles City County VA. He died a free man in Baltimore City. Hemings, a classically trained chef who also inherited AfroChesapeake culture, innovated many of the popular foods we see in Black American / American foodways.
There are no verified images of Hemings (often a painting of Hercules Posey is used as a stand-in image for Hemings).
We honor the Hemings aesthetic with food, as we have done NOURISHING COMMUNION: AN AFROCHESAPEAKE FEAST IN THE CULINARY LINEAGE OF JAMES HEMINGS.