American Blues: The Diverse, Delicious Story of the Chesapeake Blue Crab, Presenter Kate Livie

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Join Chesapeake writer and historian Kate Livie as she shares the fascinating history of the Bay’s crab industry through untold stories of the underdogs who shaped our cuisine and culture. From enslaved cooks and watermen, to Black entrepreneurs persevering and profiting during the height of Jim Crow, immigrant spice merchants and migrant pickers, Livie will share the history of the Chesapeake’s iconic fishery—and explore the ways climate change and globalization are threatening its future.

Kate Livie is a professional Chesapeake educator, writer and social historian. As an Eastern Shore native, Kate is passionate about the Chesapeake Bay’s culture, history, traditions and environment, and contributes regularly to publications like Chesapeake Bay Magazine, Baltimore Magazine and Edible Delmarva, and has hosted programs for MPT, NPR and the History Channel. Her 2015 book, Chesapeake Oysters: The Bay’s Foundation and Future, won the Maryland Historical Society’s Marion Brewington prize for Maritime History. Formerly the director of education and associate curator at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, Kate teaches courses about the Bay’s culture and environment at Washington College and lectures on Chesapeake topics at cultural institutions, colleges and non-profits throughout the region. Kate lives in her hometown of Chestertown, Maryland, and spends the weekends on the Chester River with her husband Ben and their son, Laurie.