The Black Caulkers of Fells Point

The Black Caulkers of Fells Point. Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park and Museum. , African Americans played a huge role in Baltimore's maritime history. Ship caulking (a process of air tightening ships using oakum) between 1838-1858 was considered primarily an African American trade. These Caulkers lived in Fells Point earning much higher than average wages for free Black Baltimoreans., In 1826, while enslaved, Frederick Douglass was sent to live in Fells Point where he worked as a caulker. He also participated in a free Black literary society where he forged great friendships with free Blacks who later assisted him in 1838 when he sought his freedom in New York., Years after, Isaac Ms worked as a free Black caulker in Fells Point. He was elected to lead the Colored Caulkers Trade Union whose mission was to protect Black workers and combat racial inequality. The Union's success resulted in the creation of the Chesapeake Marine Railway and Dry Dock Company, the first Black-owned marine railway and Shipyard in the US, in 1866. the company, located just west of this park, employed both Black and White workers., [Sidebar:] , During the era of sail, all sailing ships needed to be hauled out of the water periodically to have their wooden hulls repaired. The Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park and Museum, created by Living Classrooms Foundation and opened in 2007, has a working marine railway that carries historic ships onto dry docks for repairs.