The African American Maritime Cultural Landscape:
Fieldwork in Coastal Georgia
Introduction
The rivers, coastlines, creeks, and islands of coastal Georgia have been the home of maritime communities for thousands of years. Within the last three hundred years, however, some African Americans made the waterways their home and a part of their culture. Their interactions with that maritime environment varied greatly. In November 1827, subcontractors working on the Savannah Ogeechee canal placed an advertisement in the Savannah Georgian newspaper asking for 100 African Americans to work on a new canal that would link the Savannah and Ogeechee Rivers. In 1865, four freedmen received tracts of land to farm on Long Island in the Skidaway River. The land had previously been part of Wormsloe Plantation. In 1925, an African American named Willie Young purchased waterfront property on Wilmington Island where he built small boats for rent and later operated a marina. In 1942 African American families living in the Harris Neck oystering community were forced to leave their property to make way for the construction of an Army Air base needed for World War Two. During the 1980’s, Miss Helen Johnson, a member of the Gullah Geechee community outside of Savannah sold one of her two oyster bateau to Mr. Charles Russo who placed the boat on display outside of his seafood shop. These are just a few examples of African American involvement in maritime activities in coastal Georgia over the last two centuries. Numerous others worked in support industries such as dockworkers, seafood processors, clerical workers, etc. While they are all connected by water, they show the various ways African Americans created a maritime cultural landscape that has left its imprint for future historians to discover. Together they shed light on stories of exploitation, hard work, entrepreneurship, perseverance, and cultural persistence.
This website explores two aspects of African American maritime history. During the spring semester of 2022, a Georgia Southern University maritime archaeology class under the direction of Dr. Kurt Knoerl, examined the physical remains of five African American sites in coastal Georgia. For the second project, Dr. Julie de Chantal, examined census records to discover information about African Americans who participated in maritime occupations during the 1940s and 50s.
Maritime Archaeology
Georgia Southern University’s maritime archaeology class set out to do one day visual surveys of the five sites mentioned above. They were divided into five teams of five students and assigned responsibility for conducting a one-day visual survey of their site. Each team was asked to conduct historical research in support of their field work. The students created site maps and drawings, recorded interviews, took photographs, produced final reports, and gave public presentations on their findings. Along the way they learned about the rich African American maritime heritage in the coastal Georgia region. They worked alongside members of descendant communities and saw first hand what an honor it was to play a part in preserving that history and how gracious the descendants were to share their family stories. In addition to their reports and public presentations, the students’ work is presented in part in this storymap in order to share what they learned with a wider audience. It is their hope that they can spread awareness of this understudied but important part of Georgia’s history.
This was a collaborative project in many ways. The five sites include a federal, state, and municipal agencies (each of whom had different permitting requirements) and two private land owners. In addition we invited Associate Professor, Abbey Hoekzema, from the Department of Communication Arts and Mr. Zachary Paige from the Savannah Arts Academy. They involved their documentary film students and Document Savannah in creating a short documentary film that is part of this storymap (see Long Island - site 2). We are grateful to them and their students for helping us with this project.
01 / 05
1
Savannah Ogeechee Canal Lock 4
Savannah was founded in 1733 on the Savannah River as a port city. The Ogeechee River, located a few miles south of downtown Savannah, flows toward the Atlantic Ocean and serves as the city's southern boundary. For this reason, trade has always been an important part of the city’s economy. The Savannah Ogeechee canal was constructed between 1826 and 1830, with enslaved African and Irish immigrant labor, to aid in the transportation of cotton, lumber, and other goods throughout the region. After four long years of extremely humid summers and unpredictable winters, construction was complete. Small boats ferried merchandise along the sixteen mile waterway through six locks. The canal was eventually sold at auction in 1836, after only a few years of operation. It remained open until the 1880s. The introduction of the Georgia railroad system contributed significantly to its decline. Georgia Southern University maritime archaeology students documented lock number four in order evaluate its condition, identify potential threats to its preservation, and make recommendations for future management.
2
Long Island - Wormsloe State Historic Site
Long Island consists of 822 acres and is part of what was once the Wormsloe Plantation. In 1736, Noble Jones obtained a grant for 500 acres of land on the Isle of Hope that would form the core of Wormsloe. He constructed a fortified house on the southeastern tip of land that overlooks the Skidaway Narrows. He was also responsible for patrolling the local waterways looking for potential attacks by Spanish forces from St. Augustine, Florida. On the opposite side of the marsh off Jones’s fortification lay Long Island. In the Antebellum years, much was done to connect the island to the surrounding communities like Savannah. Before the Civil War, a road from Savannah to Skidaway Island ran through Long Island via a bridge across the Jones River. The bridge fell into disrepair as the events of the Civil War occurred. Near the south end of Long Island, the Confederate Army built an earthen causeway. In the Summer of 1865, Federal authorities seized Long Island and divided it among four Freedmen, Simus Howell, Bristol Drayton, Prince Jackson, and Charles Steele, each received a tract of between twenty and forty acres. Three of the four freedmen may have been former Wormsloe slaves.⁴ The island may have been used to grow sea island cotton. The property was restored to the Jones family in 1867. During the twentieth century, Long Island became overgrown and is largely inaccessible to Wormsloe State Historic Site visitors due to its remote location.
Georgia Southern University maritime archaeology students located and mapped features on the island such as the road to the bridge, two man made ponds, potential home sites, and a series of drainage ditches likely used to grow the cotton.
Source:
1. Swanson, Drew A. Remaking Wormsloe Plantation: The Environmental History of a Lowcountry Landscape. Vol. 24. University of Georgia Press, 2012. 103-112.
3
Timmons Family Home Site and Oyster Processing Facility
In 1870, Peru Plantation, a cotton plantation owned by the Thomas family since 1813, was divided into small plots and sold to freedmen families who had begun settling on the land in the years following the Civil War. Here, a burgeoning Gullah Geechee community began to take shape, revolving around important institutions such as a community school established by McIntosh County in 1875, Harris Neck First African Baptist Church constructed in 1867, and Gould’s Cemetery which was in use by 1882. In addition, industries such as oystering and basket weaving served as important commercial ventures for this community, the former of which reached as far north as Savannah in the first half of the 20th century.
An important and industrious member of the community, William Timmons, established his oyster factory in the early 1900s, one of only two known black owned operations at Harris Neck. Timmons competed with larger fishing camps and oyster processing plants such as E.M. Thorpe’s oyster house and club lodge and L.P. Maggioni and Co.’s Harris Neck Plant. According to his descendants, William Timmons operated this oyster factory through the Great Depression as well as a small farm. The building was destroyed in 1943 following the land’s condemnation by the United States government.
In 1942, the United States Government took the land through eminent domain in order to build an Army Airfield and Fighter Pilot Gunnery School. The over seventy-five families that made up the community were forced out. Crops and homes were destroyed and the former residents were left homeless. This episode remains one of the most deeply traumatic events in this community’s history.
In 1961, Harris Neck became a National Wildlife Refuge operated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In 2019 - 2020, members of, and those with ties to, the displaced families of Harris Neck formed the Direct Descendants of the Harris Neck Community (DDHN) which is currently working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to preserve the community’s heritage. The community has been brought together by their shared heritage and has become more deeply involved with the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the archaeological research being conducted on Harris Neck. They hold events and celebrations commemorating the community that once stood as a shining example of Gullah Geechee identity and agency.
Georgia Southern University maritime archaeology students worked with U.S. Fish and Wildlife archaeologist, Richard Kanaski and members of the local Gullah community, including members of the Timmons family to map the extent of an artifact assemblage related to the Timmons homesite and oyster processing facility. This map may be used to help plan further archaeological investigations by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
4
Young's Marina - Wilmington Island
The marina was originally founded by Willie Young as “Young’s Fish Camp” in 1906. Young was born around 1884, married Sarah Timmons between 1900 and 1910. Their eldest son Isaac Young, born in 1909, was the second-generation owner of the site. The house that currently sits at the front of the property was built in 1907. The camp was known in the community for building small boats that Young would sell to other fish camps in the area. The property was split in 1925 between Young’s children, with the southwestern plot continuing as what we know today as Young’s Marina. A couple of decades later, a cradle and rail system, which remain on the site today, were added at the edge of Turner Creek to facilitate repair and construction of larger boats and allow for expansion of that side of the Young family’s business. In 1940, Isaac Young was drafted into military service, with his draft card listing his place of employment as Savannah High School. He and his wife, Mary Young, had their daughter Sarah Anita Suggs, the current and third-generation owner of Young’s Marina, in 1955. According to Miss Suggs, it was around the end of segregation (c. 1964), that her father was approached by a businessman who suggested they pivot the business into its current form: dry and wet boat storage. It was at this point that they began phasing out boatbuilding in order to transform the site into a marina. By viewing aerial photos of the area between 1951 and 2022, the docks of the marina were expanded sometime between 1974 and 1983 to make room for over twenty boats, including sailboats, motorboats, and smaller personal watercraft such as kayaks and canoes.
Georgia Southern University maritime archaeology students mapped the remains of the marine railway and cradle. They also surveyed the marina's shoreline and mapped features relevant to the marina's history.
5
Oyster Bateau Miss Helen
The oyster bateau Miss Helen, was built in the Gullah Geechee community of Pin Point, Georgia and was owned by Miss Helen Johnson until she sold it to Mr. Charles Russo of Russo's Seafood. The bateau is on display in front of the seafood shop. It may be one of the last Gullah Geechee built oyster bateaux left in the Savannah area. Students from Georgia Southern University's maritime archaeology class obtained permission from Mr. Russo to document the boat by taking a series of measurements. They then used those measurements to produce a set of lines drawings of the Miss Helen. In this way the vessel's history and construction characteristics will be preserved.
The Maritime Trades
For this project, we collected data from the 1940 and 1950 Census nominal lists. We looked for everyone, regardless of race or sex, who worked in the Maritime industry. We included workers in professions that were directly related to the maritime world—fishing, deck hands, and pilots for example—as well as workers in closely connected professions, such as boat builders, dock workers, seafood processors, clerical workers, sales & marketplace workers, etc. While these people did not necessarily take to the sea, their livelihoods depended on a thriving maritime industry to exist.
In both decades, the maritime industry remained a segregated industry with the majority of the workers being Black. In 1940, Black workers constituted 57.4% of the maritime workforce while whites only amounted for 42.54%. By the 1950s, the proportion of white workers increased slightly to 46.06%, with 53.94% of workers being Black.
Men and women held different roles in the industry. Fishing remained almost exclusively a male-dominated profession in both decades, while processing at the plants was a distinctly Black women’s profession. As the industry modernized after World War II—especially with the advent of freezing techniques—and as large plants took over independently-run operations, the division between men and women's work became more acute. In 1940, 289 women (194 Black and 95 white) worked in fish and seafood processing. While not involved directly into the processing itself, 55 Black men and 15 white men worked in the processing plants as supervisors, laborers, janitors, etc. In 1950, a total of 451 women (328 Black and 123 white) worked in processing, while 68 Black men and 34 white men worked in the plants.
For independent operations, the selling of catches also remained a women’s affair. Men did the fishing while the women worked as hucksters, selling their catches from carts throughout the city. As larger operations either absorbed or forced-out the smaller independent businesses, this dynamic changed. Where black women had dominated the sales positions in 1940 (24 Black women, 1 Black man, and no white women or men), white men had started to take over sales work by 1950 (16 Black women, 1 white woman, and 19 white men).
Small or independant operations had greater flexibility in planning their work hours, but were also more vulnerable to the impact of smaller catches, seasonal weather, and equipment maintenance. Those who worked in larger operations saw less fluctuation of employment, though they often worked longer hours (at least full time) than those who worked in smaller or independent operations. Their income, for the most part, was also more stable.
The geographical distribution of the industry remained similar through the years. Glynn (37.8%), Chatham (25%), and McIntosh (23%) counties remained the centers of the maritime industry. Glynn was overrepresented in all maritime professions, but especially in terms of fishing and processing. Chatham provided a large number of pilots (41 of the 47 pilots for the region) in the 1940s, though there are no pilots listed for the county in 1950. This may have been due to the assistance of the US Army Corps with Savannah River navigation during this time, or the 1950 census enumerators may have used a different term for the profession that does not easily indicate to us that they were maritime pilots.
In 1950, the number of people involved in the maritime industry increased for most counties, with the exception of Camden and Liberty County. Both counties saw a substantial drop in the number of maritime workers—from 219 to 88 in Camden, and from 54 to 21 in Liberty. This drop may be attributed to the opening of factories, such as the creosote plant and the crate factory. It can also partly be explained by the need for year-long employees in the naval stores industry, compared to the seasonal work offered by the maritime industry. Some young men also found better prospects in the construction industry, or in tourism, where they served as caddies on the golf courses.
Child labor was not the norm in the maritime industry. The average age of those working in the industry was around 54 years old, with the older practitioners well into their 70s or 80s. A small number of teenagers of 13 and older, who joined the professions as minors, did so by following in the footsteps of their family members. They either worked at the same plant as family members or worked for the family enterprise. While a few worked only a small number of hours each week, most worked more than full time, with a handful reaching 70 hours a week.
While most people who worked in the maritime industry had been American-born workers, there was a small population of workers who were immigrants. Portuguese workers—who were all counted as white on the census—stood out as an overrepresented group. Out of the 57 immigrants listed as working in the industry on the 1940 census, 51 had been born in Portugal. The 1950 census identified 42 immigrants, of which 30 were from Portugal.
01 / 06
1
Chatham County
In 1940, nominal lists indicate that 330 people worked in the maritime industry in Chatham county. Of these workers, 71% were Black and 29% were white. This distinction became less pronounced in 1950, where we find an almost 50-50 division between African Americans and white workers.
In 1940, the largest proportion of maritime laborers fell into two sectors of the industry. A little more than 40% (134 people) worked in fishing, while 18% (60 people) worked in processing. Black men held the majority of fishing jobs (70%), while Black women held most of the processing jobs (60%). In addition, Black men dominated the positions for both piloting (90%) and dock work (86%), while Black women accounted for 96% of those who sold catches.
In 1950, the industry changed very little. Nearly 63% percent of the fishermen were Black men, 75% of the processing workers were Black women. Dock work (86% Black men) and sales of catches (72% Black women) were still the prerogative of Black Chatham residents.
For more information on occupation data for Chatham County click on the links below.
2
Bryan County
The industry in Bryan county was relatively small, with only 13 people listed as working in maritime professions in 1940, and 11 people in 1950. Most of these workers were white men (10 in 1940, and 10 in 1950).
For more information on occupation data for Bryan County click on the links below.
3
Liberty County
Liberty county had a relatively small maritime industry, with a total of 54 workers in 1940 and 21 in 1950. It is notable that census data does not identify any white women as working in the maritime industry in Liberty county.
In 1940, 90% of these workers were employed in either processing (80% Black women, 20% Black men) or fishing (8% Black women, 84% Black men, 4% white men). White workers, all men, primarily occupied white collar positions as executives or managers, owners, market employees, or government workers.
The total number of maritime workers decreased by more than half in 1950, with processing and fishing accounting for 66% of the industry workforce. Racial division of labor remained consistent in both processing (100% Black women) and fishing (82% Black men) jobs, while white workers continued to hold all of the white collar and leadership positions.
For more information on occupation data for Liberty County click on the links below.
4
McIntosh County
Black workers dominated the maritime industry positions in McIntosh County, making up 72% of the laborers in 1940 and 69% in 1950. In 1940, nearly 69% of the fishermen were Black men, while their white male counterparts only accounted for 25%. A total of 98% of the workers in the processing side of the industry were Black (70% women, 28% men).
Despite the displacement of the Harris Neck community by construction of an Army airfield in 1942, the number of workers associated with the maritime industry increased substantially by 1950 (444 people compared to 287 in 1940). Labor demographics stayed consistent, with Black men holding the bulk (62%) of the fishing jobs, and Black women and men accounting for nearly 86% of the workers in processing.
A large number of “helpers” working on boats appeared in the census of 1950, signaling a possible transformation of the professions aboard ships.
For more information on occupation data for McIntosh County click on the links below.
5
Glynn County
Glynn county appears to have been the only county not to follow the same segregated patterns in the maritime industry. In 1940, only 38% of the workers were Black, while 62% were white. In the fishing sector, 33% of the workers were Black and 67% were white. In processing, 41% of the workers were Black and 59% were white. Dockwork was the only outlying sector, where 97% of the workers were Black. Text and pie chart here.
In 1950, data shows that men pulled away from the industry—Black male workers dropped from 146 to 118, and white male workers dropped from 236 to 233. In contrast, women joined the industry in large numbers—Black women workers increased from 49 to 184, and white women workers increased from 81 to 110.
Labor divisions along racial lines continued to be skewed in fishing, where 25% of the workers were Black men and 74% were white men. In processing, however, the number of Black workers increased substantially to 67% of the workforce, 55% of whom were Black women.
The number of dock workers dropped significantly on the 1950 census, with only 13 workers (10 Black and 3 white) reporting their positions as dock workers.
For more information on occupation data for Glynn County click on the links below.
6
Camden County
The data for Camden county show interesting transformations. The number of workers decreased by more than half between 1940 and 1950, dropping from 219 to 88. This substantial drop could be attributed in part to women (59 total out of 219) leaving the industry altogether. In 1950, the data shows that only men, almost equally represented between races in most professions, reported working in the industry. Text and pie chart here.
The disappearance of the processing industry as a sector on the nominal list of the 1950 census proved to be a mystery. Documentation, especially photographs of the Camden Seafood plant, show that the industry was still vibrant at the time of the enumeration. A second look at the lists, however, did not yield success in finding these women. While it is possible that the enumerator used different terms to describe their jobs, no seemingly relevant or connected terms could be found to link to these positions.
For more information on occupation data for Camden County click on the links below.
Conclusion:
This project, to which so many students, faculty, and community members have contributed, provides a brief introduction to the extent that African Americans participated in the maritime trades. From sea island farming to canal construction, members of this community constructed a complex maritime cultural landscape that has left its mark on coastal Georgia. Maritime archaeology and archival research provide a glimpse into the ways that the environment shaped African American culture and how they shaped the landscape in return. Their story includes episodes of exploitation in the use of enslaved labor to build the Savannah Ogeechee canal as well as cultural perseverance demonstrated by the diaspora community of Harris Neck. The five sites described in this storymap, along with the census data, only scratches the surface of a rich opportunity for future research in coastal Georgia’s African American maritime experience.
Credits
Project Directors:
Maritime Archaeology: Dr. T. Kurt Knoerl
The Maritime Trades: Dr. Julie de Chantal
Archaeological and historical research and writing
Savannah Ogeechee Canal Lock Four Team: Sarah Fulford, Caleb Hartshorn, Kim Lieb, Cooper Munson, and Edher Vega.
Long Island Team: Ozalynn Davis, Ansley Hanson, Dylan Kennedy, Jordan Moore, and Ethan Reaves.
Timmons Family Home Site and Oyster Processing Facility: Anna Grace Bazemore, Nia Brunskill, Zach Graham, Jack Kronowitz, and Carson McBrayer.
Young's Marina Team: Kaleb Craft, Zach Kole, Jeremiah Miller, and Jake Quinn.
Miss Helen Team: Marchello Graddy, Evan Joiner, Karla Maynard, Charter Nickles, Kaitlynn Perry, and Morgan Warzynski.
The Maritime Trades Photography: Our thanks to photographer Pete Marovich who granted us permission to use pieces from his collection, “ Shadows of the Gullah Geechee ”
Acknowledgements
The faculty and students wish to thank the following individuals and groups for their support for this project:
Richard Kanaski - Archaeologist U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Archaeologist, Alison Schwartz -Archaeologist U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Archaeologist, Rachael Black - State Archaeologist Georgia Department of Natural Resources State Archaeologist, Gretchen Greminger - Historic Site Manager Wormsloe State Historic Site, Timmons Family of Harris Neck, Sarah Suggs - Young's Marina, Charles Russo - Russo's seafood, Connie Shreve - Savannah Ogeechee Canal Society, Bridget Lidy - Director of Planning and Urban Design City of Savannah, Pete Marovich - American Reportage , John Florio - Juniper Systems and Uinta for a donation of a mapping software license, John G. Peden - Program Coordinator Recreation & Tourism Management Georgia Southern University. Mona Behl - Associate Director of Georgia Sea Grant, Sara Ross - Executive Director UGA-CREW Center for Research and Education at Wormsloe, Tom Hand - Americana Corner.
Grants of funding and services for this project were provided by the following:
Visit their website at https://www.americanacorner.com/
This project was funded in part through a grant approved by the Americana Corner Preserving America Grant Program. Americana Corner was founded by Tom Hand in 2020 as an online resource to help others rediscover America’s incredible founding and first century of expansion. From the American Revolution to the settlement of the American West, from the Declaration of Independence to the Emancipation Proclamation, and from George Washington to Abraham Lincoln, Americana Corner contains positive stories of the great events, founding documents, and inspirational leaders who helped create and shape our country. Perhaps most importantly, Tom discusses why these events and people from so long ago still matter to us today.
This project is supported in part by an institutional grant (NA18OAR4170084) to the Georgia Sea Grant College Program from the National Sea Grant Office under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. Visit their website at https://gacoast.uga.edu/
Visit their website at http://www.themua.org
This project is supported in part by the Museum of Underwater Archaeology which provides maritime historians and archaeologists with a platform to share their research with the world.
