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It is difficult to overstate how African Americans of the Upper Eastern Shore have influenced the general culture here
and the history of slavery in the nation. The region was slave-holding, and the local economy was tied to the institution. Slavery allowed families like the Lloyds and the Tilghmans to amass great
wealth. Conversely, the abolition movement was incubated here. The Choptank River was a major regional conduit for the Underground Railroad, and Frederick Douglass was born near Tappers Corner, Talbot
County.
Plantations and their large houses can be found across the region. Their large land holdings have since been
divided into smaller commercial farms. Following the Civil War, former slaves congregated into distinct pockets of communities organized around their churches. Many descendants of slaves migrated to the
waterfronts and took work on the water and as seafood pickers and produce packers.
Because of the history of African American settlement in the region, it is assumed that this theme is represented in
sites all over the four-county area. Based on current but limited research, however, Kent County has a high concentration of resources. Further study may validate the assumption that African American
cultures left their marks in the canneries along the Choptank in Caroline County, in seafood picking and packing areas like Kent Narrows, and in small agricultural towns across the region.
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