By Jaelon T. Moaney, Commissioner, Maryland Commission on African American History & Culture
Like age-old shanties crooned by seafarers which escape the annals of written record, Vince Leggett has left a legacy equally timeless and immeasurable. From its treasured banks to its deepest channels, few listened to or understood the Chesapeake’s rhythms with greater care. Although sorrow visits my soul in this trying hour and forming coherent sentences as weariness engulfs remains a challenge, I’m moved beyond measure to be among the next generation of stewards the Admiral poured into and wish to share a memory that is keeping me.
Each time our eyes met, or our ears heard the voice of one another, the world seemed to stand still. Saturday, November 23 was no exception. We spent hours leaning into the purpose that bonded our hearts: unapologetic collective memory-keeping. Over the past several months, we had been engaged in the intimate honing of furthering robust, regional planning for a major artwork that will celebrate and honor the full arc of four centuries of Tidewater African American history. Billowing over with wonder, wisdom and laughter, his counsel was especially influential in the weekend’s public art bus tour to Philadelphia.
We immersed ourselves in the City’s dynamic landscape of Black expression and a sweeping array of media only bolstered the organic community built. During the lunch hour, our unhurried reminiscing drew connections between just how focal this early U.S. capital was to his family and its influence on the revered Annapolitan he would become. Then, en route back to Maryland, there was a sharp pivot towards my own journey. As the sun and Delaware River began to meld along the horizon, so too did the commonalities between our earliest beginnings. For the first time, we simply sat in our synergy—both enthralled and grounded in the destiny of this shared journey.
I still remember the day a copy of The Chesapeake Bay Through Ebony Eyes found its way into my palms. Life lived in harmony with tributaries across the Eastern Shore by those who came before initially drew intrigue. However, shortly thereafter, this local exemplar centering the African diaspora within maritime narrative voice is what forged a lifelong pursuit. Mr. Leggett inspired me to dig deeper into how my ancestors’ transformation of Middle Passage vectors into liminal spaces of refuge would inform the empathetic eye and hand of Ruth Starr Rose. Mr. Leggett encouraged me to pay forward U.S. naval service foundational to my childhood with interdisciplinary exploration through the Williams-Mystic program. Mr. Leggett supported my growth as an advocate in equipping vulnerable descendant communities around the country with resources to increase resiliency and combat environmental injustice. Fair winds and following waters, my dear friend. Your light shines on as a beacon for us all.