Frederick Douglas Isaac Myers Museum and Chess Tournament

The Frederick Douglas Isaac Myers Museum is a fantastic place to visit. It is a hands-on museum. I had the opportunity to visit the museum as a chess coach with the Y of Central Maryland.

Sam Johnson of Atlantic Way picked up my kids and me at our school and took us to the museum. A big asset in his van was his GPS. It took us right to the front door. I know that I would had had trouble finding the place. In fact, I had the wrong place in mind.

Sam provided my office with very reliable transportation. Whenever I had trips that needed a van, he was the first person whom I called because he would confirm almost immediately and I never had to worry about anything. There are bus companies out there who were not very helpful. One cried for business and when I gave him my schedule, I kept asking him to confirm and at the last minute he said that he could not do the trips. That was the last time that I used him.

The museum is the oldest industrial building in Fells Point. It is curved. The corners are rounded. This was the sugar house or coffee house. It was curved to make it easier to clean.

Alexander Prince told us that the building across the river still handles sugar. When the ship there came in, the gray and red parts were under water due to the weight of the cargo. The propeller is usually 15 feet under water. The Lady Mary was built about 23 years ago. This is the size of the sugar ships around 1800. In the summer the Lady Mary goes to Massachusetts.

The owner of the bigger ship is saving the crew. The bigger the ship, the easier it is to move through the water and it also needs less fuel. Plus, the ship can carry ten times more cargo but the crew needs to be only twice the size. Labor is the biggest expense for a ship owner.

From here we can go anywhere in the world. The southern end of the world is extremely dangerous because of the winds and waves.

In 1978 Europeans finally figuraed out a way to go from Europe to America through the north.

Mrs. Bank, Associate Curator for Education told us that the museum celebrates African American in maritime. They celebrate two people in particular, Frederick Douglas and Isaac Meyers. Shipping was a good business to be in.

Their logo takes lessons from the past and looks to the future.

Isaac Myers started the first black owned ship yard in the United States. Living Classroom was founded in 1985 for disadvantaged and at risk youths.

Frederick Douglas’ mother was a slave on Maryland Eastern Shore. He did not know his father and his owner separated him from his mother. When he was very young she would travel several miles just to be with her son and if she got caught, she would be severely punished.

When he was ten, he was sent to live with is master’s relatives in Baltimore. He settled in Fells Point and knew that he entered a different world. It was here that he came to believe in the equality of human beings. His master started to teach him to read but stopped because it was illegal to teach a slave to read. So he bargained with others to teach him how to read. “The more I learned, the more I wanted to learn.”

Isaac Meyers was 17 years younger than Frederick Douglas. His parents sent him to a private school. He was not a slave. Frederick Dougla spent most of his teenage years working in the ship yard.

The death of his master required him to return to the Eastern Shore where he experienced plantation living.

Isaac Myers worked in the ship yard from the ages of 16-25. He later owned his own grocery store. He returned to the ship yard. There was tension because of the Irish and German immigrants. Baltimore became the epic center of racial trouble. Isaac Myers taught Sunday School at the AME church. They created theChesapeake Marine Railway and Dry Dock Company. The Bethel AME Church was a source of inspiration for Frederick Douglas. His earnings were going to his master, and not to him. He escaped and went to New York in 1838. He was already 20 years old. He eventually claimed his freedom. Ann Mary followed them there and they were married.

After receiving his freedom, Frederick Douglas spent time traveling all over the country. He led the Colored National Labor Union and was named US Marshall in DC and was an advisor to President Abraham Lincoln.

This building is a historical warehouse built in the 1810s. The goods were stored here and was shipped further out. This is a hands-on museum. The canoe in the center of the gallery was built in the African tradition. It was discovered in a swamp in eastern Maryland over 100 years ago. To get the wood out, the Indians would burn it. The Africans chipped it out.

In the Myers family there were nine free black people. He was classified as a mulatto. He was also a Mason.

Of all the 4,000 ships of the Civil War, only one is still standing, the Constellation. It was in use 50 years. They are rebuilding the four boats that were with it. The Constellation helped stop the slave trade. When the ship got close enough to another ship, they would send a warning shot to the ship. It was the fastest sailing war ship on the ocean. It would shot a bullet the size of a small watermelon and it could travel four miles. When it hit, it would explode.

One day they found 700 Africans chained and squeezed in a ship. The Africans could not even stand up. The Constellation crew took over the ship and sailed it to Libya, a colony that the United States established for freed slaves. The people were put ashore and they then lived a normal life. The boats that the children are building played a part in ending international slavery.