The unique history of the Chesapeake Bay commercial fishing industry is a well known story around the world. Imani Black, Founder & CEO of 501c3 Minorities In Aquaculture, is a native Eastern Shore oyster farmer currently researching the Bay’s heritage through a social lens at University of Maryland’s Center for Environmental Sciences (UMCES) Horn Point Laboratory in Cambridge, MD. From her appreciation of the Bay’s commercial fishing industry (past & present), her thesis specifically focuses on the historic timeline & contributions of African Americans in many sectors of Maryland’s maritime occupations from the slave era (1865) to present day participation.
