Issue 86: The Eastern Shore edition

Journalism isn’t just the first draft of history. Sometimes it is the work of adding details that were ignored or erased the first time around. That’s what we’re trying to do here, in our first-ever issue dedicated to Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The mostly-rural land that lies between the Bay Bridge and Ocean City feels far away from Baltimore City, but the two places are linked in things like food, history, and culture.

‘Preservation is also making the history’: Inspired by Harriet Tubman, two Eastern Shore aunties are determined to be the elders their community needs

At the heart of this, for the Aunties, is an understanding that “what’s here” means more than solely the attractive expanse of fruit trees and native grasses. In their daily life, “what’s here” extends to the memories and knowledge that rest within the land they take care of, knowledge that they have been rediscovering together since they bought the farm’s land over 30 years ago.

by Amari-Grey Johnson

Jason Patterson’s historical portraits ask us to reframe how we view the past

Patterson, an Illinois-born artist, has spent the last seven years drawing and painting portraits based on photos from Washington College’s digital archive documenting the Black experience on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

by Rhea Ramakrishnan

This Other History

Beneath the white-washed veneer of Chestertown’s history lies a rich tapestry of Black culture centered around the Uptown Club.

by Kylynn Couture

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News

Cambridge’s Bethel AME Church carries on a long legacy of activism

As a young woman, lifelong member Guinervere Banks witnessed history firsthand, attending civil rights meetings led by Cambridge Nonviolent Action Committee leader Gloria Richardson in the church’s sanctuary and observing negotiations for the Treaty of Cambridge.

by Allana Haynes August 26, 2026August 27, 2026

Baltimore’s new Fells Point ID checkpoints are ‘obviously unconstitutional,’ lawyers say

“Calling a neighborhood a ‘permitted space’ does not turn a public sidewalk into a nightclub door,” said Todd Pugh, a prominent criminal defense lawyer.

by Madeleine O’Neill August 11, 2026August 27, 2026

The Baltimore Baby Fund hopes to give city parents of newborns an economic jumpstart

Nate Golden, president of the Maryland Child Alliance, said the language of the amendment leaves plenty of options for the city: it could be “universal, means-tested, cash, in-kind resources, paid leave,” or something else, as long as it “enhances the economic stability of parents with newborns.”

by Sarah Bregel August 21, 2026August 21, 2026

Arts & Culture

‘The Labor/The Luxury’ feels like the beginning of something new

Nia Hampton has exploded into different avenues across multiple media, always finding fascinating and nourishing new ways to mix the intimate with the historical, the interior and the larger whole.

by Dominic Griffin August 26, 2026August 27, 2026

Bry Reed: My family has made seafood salad for generations

“In a 21st century world where opulent seafood displays of lobster and caviar signify luxury and a secured class position, seafood salad shows the down-home, working-class side of seafood. We find home by the water and we feed each other,” writes Bry Reed.

by Bry Reed August 26, 2026August 26, 2026