MAPPING BALTIMORE ARABBERS

Jessie Davis, was a second generation East Baltimore Arabber. He purchased the McElderry Street Stable from  Joe Lotz in the 1960s. Davis was able to support his wife and six children from the money he made renting out horse and wagons, as well as from having his own business “Jessie’s Fruit and Produce.” Arabbing was an important tradition in the Davis family. One of Jessie Davis’s four sons, Vernon or “Moochie,” is still an active member of the Arabbing community. “Moochie” is a third generation East Baltimore Arabber. He learned the trade by following along with his father beginning at the age of three.[1]

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East Baltimore is largely ignored in modern discussions of the Arabbers, because all three of the existing stables are in West Baltimore. However, most of the historic stables were in East Baltimore. [2] Unfortunately, East Baltimore was largely demolished by urban renewal strategies and by slum clearance efforts beginning in the 1950s. Decisions about where and when to demolish neighborhoods were made swiftly, and without significant community engagement.  For example, the Broadway Redevelopment Project, managed by Johns Hopkins University, demolished 54 acres and displaced over 1,000 East Baltimore families. [3] Moochie, and other East Baltimore Arabbers believe redevelopment like this destroyed the tradition of Arabbing in East Baltimore.

 

[1] Vernon “Moochie,” interview by Sydney Jenkins, May 15, 2017.

[2] Vernon “Moochie,” interview by Sydney Jenkins, May 15, 2017.

[3] Marisela B. Gomez, Race, Class, Power, and Organizing in East Baltimore: Rebuilding Abandoned Communities in America” (Lanham, Maryland, The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc: 2013), 46-47.