Crisfield Crab Cakes

Five weeks in Crisfield, Maryland, beginning on April 6, 1938 and running through May 10, 1938. Each and every day of that time period encapsulated much of the economic and social history of the United States throughout the twentieth century. Those five weeks not only summarize who we were then, but who we remain to this day. That summary is not only a story about our strengths, but also of our darker side. 

The five weeks marked the start and end of the Maryland Crab Pickers' Strike. 

Part One: A Little Background

For much of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Crisfield was known as the "Seafood Capital," not only of the Chesapeake Bay, but the entire world. While that capitol was built upon oyster shells (literally, as the shells were used as landfill to support the construction of buildings in the town), its lifeblood soon depended upon the blue crab. Watermen would dock at the Crisfield port and unload bushel after bushel of blue crabs. Those bushels were destined for the crab picking houses that lined the waterfront.  By 1938, Crisfield accounted for 13% of Maryland's blue crab catch, which amounted to more than 25,000 barrels. 

Yet, in 1938, the city of Crisfield was still in the grips of the depression. It was estimated that as much as 90% of the city's residents were unemployed. However, the waterfront was open for business, with 15 crab picking houses operating with workforces that consisted overwhelmingly of African-American women. The women worked long hours, sometimes 10 hours, 12 hours or even 16 hours per day. They earned only $0.35 cents per gallon of crab meat that they picked. That translated into about $1.00 to $1.50 of earnings per week. (Adjusted for inflation, the high end of that range would equal $33.76 of income per week in 2026.) And they did not even get all of that money at the end of the day, as the African-American women were forced to pay a $0.35 weekly charge back to their employer for the removal of the crab shells that picked.  So, in the end they were making $.65 to $1.35 per week for a job that required long hours of work in very bad conditions. 

Part Two: The Strike Begins

On April 4, 1938, the owners of the crab picking houses decided that they would reduce wages by nearly 29% from $0.35 per quart to $0.25 per quart. Although the owners claimed "economic conditions" forced them to make these cuts, the reality was that the owners expected that their workforce -- which was overwhelmingly comprised of African-American women -- would accept cut given they had jobs in a city that was wracked by unemployment. 

African-American women crab pickers in Crisfield, Maryland in or around 1938.
(Source: Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum and the Chesapeake Bay Magazine)

The owners were wrong. 

What happened next has to be viewed in a larger context. For years, there had been labor issues involving crab-picking operations up and down the Eastern Shore. In 1931, crab-pickers went on strike when the owners reduced the rates from $0.35 to $0.25 per gallon. The strike started with about 300 crab pickers, who marched door to door throughout Crisfield seeking support. Their ranks swelled by another 700 to 800 pickers. The strikers were largely African-American women, but about 100 of the strikers were white. They also got the support of the oyster shuckers working in the town. The owners backed off and restored the rates. 

Several years later, in 1937, the Congress of Industrial Organizations ("CIO") launched organizng drives among the all of the workers on the Eastern Shore. The CIO's biggest target was a seafood packing plant owned by Phillips in Cambridge, Maryland. The campaign involved over 2,000 black and white workers; and it culminated in a two week strike for wage increases and union recognition. The strikers were unsuccessful. However, that same year, the CIO successfully organized a crab picking house in Crisfield, Maryland. 

Thus, in 1938, the scene had been set. There had been prior strikes and prior union organizing, ending in both defeat and victory.  These factors may have been missed by the owners of the packing houses, but my guess is that they were known to the workers. Consequently, when the owners reduced the rates by five cents a quart, the African-American women who picked crabs went on strike. Six hundred of them struck, basically shutting down nearly all crab picking operations in Crisfield. The strike lasted for five weeks. And, a tumultuous five weeks it was. 

Part Three: The Violence

The strikers would meet at the Shiloh United Methodist Church on North Fourth Street. The strike committee would hold meetings there. They also had the assistance of the CIO, who sent an organizer, Michael Howard, who worked for the United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers union. (This was the same union that lost the strike the prior year in Cambridge, MD.) Howard and other union organizers worked with unions and churches in Baltimore, Maryland to raise funds to support the strikers.  The funds were needed because the packinghouses had been putting pressure on local businesses to deny credit to the strikers and their families.

An excerpt from an African-American newspaper
in Baltimore, MD about the burning of Michael
Howard's car. The Shiloh Church is in the 
background. (Source: Bay to Bay News)

As the strike continued, the situation deteriorated as racism was injected into the strike. A white crowd numbering between 100 and 300 people gathered near the Shiloh Church. The crowd was searching for the CIO Organizer, Michael Howard, and another organizer named Terry Fowler. They stormed the home of two sisters -- Eleanor Coulbourne and Martina Cooper -- seeking information about the CIO organizer. The white mob also overturned Howard's car, which was outside the church, and set it on fire. The mob threatened to "burn the whole block."  According to the Associated Press, "[t]he men were said to have been incensed because organizers had been seen often in the Negro settlement." According to oral history, Howard was hiding in Upturf, an African-American neighborhood on Collins Avenue, just outside of town.

As for the city's response, the Associated Press reported that the mayor blamed the events on "radical" and "hot headed" persons. As for the burning of the union organizer's car, the mayor was reported by another newspaper, The Afro American, to have said that he was unsure whether the mob burned the car or the car "caught fire itself."

White residents continued to target other union organizers, forcing CIO organizer Leif Dahl to leave town. They also confronted another organizer, who was from the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union and in the area trying to organize 200 workers at a Boycraft factory. The white mob dragged the organizer down a dirt road before telling him to "to get out of town." The racist, anti-union white residents even forced a mediator from the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service, to leave the city. They thought the mediator was Michael Howard. The residents eventually found Michael Howard and forced him to leave, to the sound of guns being fired in the air. 

The situation was dire for the African-American crab pickers who continued to strike. As one African-American newspaper summarized the situation: 

Observers here point out that the defiance of the packers is one of the most open revolts against the National Labor Relations Act and are watching to see what the NLRB will do in the Crisfield situation where both labor and racial rights have been invaded.

Indeed, the National Labor Relations Act -- the law passed to protect union organizing and regulate labor disputes that affected commerce -- was only three years old at the time. And, it faced a major challenge in Crisfield Maryland. 

Part Four: A Major Victory for Workers

Having been expelled from Crisfield, CIO organizer Michael Howard went to Washington, D.C. with three strikers to meet with federal mediators, government officials and elected leaders. The United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers union also filed unfair labor practice charges protesting the unlawful conduct of the packing houses. Those employers were facing pressures of their own, as watermen started selling their crabs in other towns, creating the potential of lost business going forward. 

On May 9, 1938, most of the large packing houses agreed to the workers' demands, both to restore the wage rate to $0.35 per quart and to recognize their union. Organizer Michael Howard returned to Crisfield met with representatives from eight packinghouses and negotiated a collective bargaining agreement covering the workers. The employers recognized the union and restored the wage rates. The agreement was signed on May 10, 1938, and it represented one of the first collective bargaining agreements covering seafood processing workers on the east coast. 

By 1942, the union would go on to organize oyster shuckers at several Crisfield facilities; and, by 1948, the union -- now known as Seafood Workers Local 453, would become the exclusive bargaining representative for all packinghouses in Crisfield, Maryland. Over the next four decades, from the 1950s to the 1980s, Local 453 negotiated wage increases, safer working conditions and other terms and conditions of employment for these workers. 

Part Five: In the End

My hope is that when someone looks at a crabcake, such as this Crisfield crab cake, it will lead to an understanding of the history that lies within its slightly crispy exterior and the lump meat that resides within. That history is out there for those who look for it. And, the history continues to be written each and every day. Since the 1938 strike, the crab picking industry continued on, although on a decline that corresponded with the populations of blue crabs in the bay. The demographics of the workforce changed over time, going from one that was predominantly African-American women to one today that is predominantly Latino. 

Yet, we live in a time where history is being manipulated and whitewashed. The struggles and triumphs of African-American women -- such as going on a five-week strike to obtain one of the first crab-picking collective bargaining agreements -- are being erased, especially where those struggles overcome the virulent racism of white men and women. The efforts to hide the racism result in the loss of what truly makes this country great ... the hard effort and sacrifice of its people in pursuit of a better life. 

And, on this May Day, celebrate those sacrifices and triumphs with a crabcake from the one-time Seafood Capital of the World. 

CRISFIELD CRAB CAKES

Recipe adapted from many sources in and around Crisfield

Serves 4-5

Ingredients:

• 1 pound crab meat, backfin or lump
• 12 saltine crackers, finely crushed
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tablespoon prepared mustard
• Salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste
• Butter
• Vegetable oil

Directions;

1. Prepare the crab mixture. In a large bowl, combine the egg, mayonnaise, mustard, milk and seasonings. Mix well. Gently fold in the crabmeat and crushed crackers. Use a light touch to avoid breaking up the large pieces of crabmeat. 

2. Prepare the crab cakes: Drop the mixture by the tablespoon onto a well greased cookie sheet. Refrigerate the cakes for at least 30 to 60 minutes before cooking. 

3. Cook the crab cakes. One option is to place a sliver of butter on top of each cake and broil for 3 minutes, moving to the bottom of the oven and baking for 15 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until golden brown. Another option is to heat the butter or oil in a heavy skillet for 3-4 minutes per side until crispy. 

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Post Script: For more about the history of the Crisfield crab pickers, including earlier strikes, check out Washington Area Spark, who provides a very detailed account of those strikes, as well as the 1938 strike.

PEACE.