Events at a Glance
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The Maritime Park is a national heritage site that highlights:
- African American maritime history
- The saga of Frederick Douglass’s life in Baltimore as an enslaved child and young man
- The life of Isaac Myers, a free born African American who became a national leader
- The founding of the Chesapeake Marine Railway and Dry Dock Company
- The establishment of the African American Community in Baltimore during the 1800’s
- Shipbuilding traditions of the Chesapeake bay
Almost 5, 000 square feet of gallery space, divided into permanent and temporary galleries and interactive learning centers where an engaging visitor experience is created through:
- Historic maps and images
- Artistic Renderings
- Audio Components
- Historic artifacts
- Archaeological findings
Did you know... The Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park is where history actually happened?
- Frederick Douglass lived and worked on the Baltimore docks
- He purchased his first book a block away
Did you know... The First African American owned and operated shipyard was only a few yards from this historic warehouse door?
About Frederick Douglass
| February |
1818 |
Born Frederick Bailey near Easton, Maryland |
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1826 |
Travels to Baltimore, Maryland to work for Hugh Auld |
| September |
1838 |
Escapes to New York; changes name to Frederick Douglass |
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1864 |
Meets with Lincoln to formulate plans to lead blacks out of the South in case of a Union defeat |
| February |
1866 |
Meets with President Andrew Johnson to discuss black suffrage. |
| May |
1870 |
The Fifteenth Amendment is adopted and blacks are granted the right to vote; becomes editor of the New National Era
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About Isaac Myers
| 1855 |
Hired to supervise one of the largest shipyards in Baltimore’s harbor |
| 1860 |
Begins work as a shipping clerk and chief porter for a wholesale grocery firm |
| 1865 |
Returns to the shipyards and experiences a strike protesting black labor in the maritime industry
and helps form a union of “colored mechanics” |
| 1866 |
Myers and 15 other well-known Afro-American men convene at the Sharp Street UM auxiliary hall; they work together to form the Chesapeake Marine Railway and Dry Dock Company [CRDDC] |
| 1869 |
Myers is one of nine black delegates to attend the National Labor Movement Convention
Creates the Colored National Labor Union and is elected as the first president |
| 1870 |
Becomes the second Afro-American in Maryland’s history to receive federal appointment as a messenger to the customs service in Baltimore |
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