CRISFIELD — A third official state historical marker along the dual highway here will be dedicated this week to recall a transformational crab pickers strike that took place 86 years ago.

The unveiling across from Shiloh United Methodist Church at 2 p.m. Friday, May 10, will mark the last day of the five-week walkout when some 600 predominantly Black women in 1938 protested wage reductions and demanded recognition of their union.

The church at the corner of North Fourth and Locust streets was more than a place of refuge but hosted strategy sessions as members faced not only lost wages but vigilantism including home invasions against strike leaders and the burning of a union organizer’s car.

Ultimately the women prevailed against white-owned packing houses, and the United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers of America, an arm of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), was recognized and remained active until 1990.

The Rev. Emanuel L. Johnson, pastor of Shiloh UMC, has been working on this project for two years in conjunction with The Holy Pickers Union Center, a group of active and retired crab pickers and clergy who are part of the United Covenant Union (UCU).

Rev. Johnson said at the time that “Many Crisfield residents know nothing of the heroism of the women who struck in 1938.”

He wrote that the strike “was such an important event on the Eastern Shore that it need not be lost to history but remembered and honored by both the residents and visitors of Crisfield.”

This sign is identical to two others in Crisfield fabricated by the Maryland Historical Trust and Maryland Department of Transportation. The one at West Main and Ninth Street on Crisfield’s incorporation in 1872 was posted in May 2013 but replaced several months later when facts were shown not to be correct.

The other is for Gov. J. Millard Tawes and was unveiled next to the municipal park gazebo on Richardson Avenue in April 2015.

The public is invited to the unveiling, and a reception will follow in the church hall.