Legacy of Vince Leggett, founder of Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation, support alive – CBS News

Baltimore – Vince Leget dedicated his life to telling the full history of Chesapiik Bay and black aquatic people.

He was a teacher, speaker, author, cultural historian and environmentalist. He was even declared Admiral for Chesapik by Maryland Glansening Governor Glendening, the highest honor in the country for environmental achievements.

When he died in 71 -year -old in NovemberHe left behind a remarkable heritage.

Who was Vince Leget?

WJZ sat down with a legth colleague and his grandson to learn how they plan to continue his work in his life through the blacks of the Chesapik Foundation.

Akil Legti -Jr. said his grandfather Vince Legeth was called a village boy from East Baltimore.

“He had the shark of someone who grew up in East Baltimore in the 1950s and 60s, but he also had the easy lifestyle of his other family members in tiliri, North Carolina,” Akil said.

Deede Strum, the temporary CEO of the Blacks of the Chesapik Foundation, and a close colleague of Legeth said that when Leget grew up, he would return to North Carolina every summer to work the Earth.

“He said he believed it was the beginning of his connection with the environment,” Strum said.

Connecting to the story

Strum said LEGET also felt a connection with the past and was always interested in history.

“He started this, I think he has to connect more with the history of enslaved Africans who were brought here and then their descendants,” Strum said.

Strum said LEGETT was curious about the old photos of black watermelon, which became visible in Chesapike Bay in the mid -1800s, but whose stories are often left out of history textbooks.

“He said there were no stories with that, no inscriptions,” Strum said. “It would just say something like” oysters shuckers, crab pickers “and that bothers him a lot.”

Determined to fill out the workpieces, Leget founded Chesapiik’s blacks in 1984. He visited the families of black aquatic people and documented their stories.

“They owned seafood processing companies. They were entrepreneurs who hired the whole community,” Strum said.

Keeping the inheritance of black watermelon

For 40 years, Legeth has been working to preserve the legacy of black watermelon through his growing base. He also struggles to keep one of the last pieces of land owned by a former enslaved man, Fred Carr in Annapolis.

“The result is a new city on the shore of Anapolis,” Strum said.

Elktonia-Carr’s Beach Heritage Beach Park will honor the heritage of the beaches of Carr and Sparrow. The beaches serve as a haven for generations of black families during the height of segregation.

Akil said it was one of his grandfather’s most great achievements.

“By guaranteeing that especially Bipok, the indigenous, marginalized, groups of people have access to the waterways after the park opened,” Akil said.

Inheritance

Over the years, Leget has accumulated a large collection of photos, recordings and artifacts, which he began to digitize through the State Archives in Maryland in 2017.

MSA assistant State Archivist Corey Lewis works with a legend on this project and is still working on him today.

“He was always ahead, thinking about the stability of his collection and what he could leave behind,” Lewis said.

When Leget died in November, Strum became temporarily acting CEO of Blacks of the Chesapeake.

“Vince was a great man who all hugged because he hugged everyone,” Strom said.

Akil, who will take over the foundation when he graduated from college, said he was looking forward to expanding the foundation’s youth program, the next generation of environmental champions.

Akil said his grandfather was passionate about teaching young people to be the governing bay and her story.

“The best way to raise Vince and to ensure that his inheritance lives is to ensure that Chesapik blacks live,” Akil said.

Learn more about Chesapik blacks here.