The Historic Resources Associated with African American Watermen of the Virginia Chesapeake Bay Multiple Property Document (MPD) was created as part of a three-state effort involving Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, to recognize the contributions of African American watermen to the seafood industries of Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay. The MPD provides the historic context for African American watermen within a portion of Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay watershed, which is defined as the tidal waters east of the fall line that drain into the Chesapeake Bay. While the MPD focuses on a select number of counties within the study area, the historic context is inextricably linked to all of those geographic areas within this portion of the watershed. The MPD concentrates on the resources associated with African American watermen during and after the Reconstruction period. However, to document and recognize all possible associations with African American watermen, the historic context provided in the MPD begins with an overview of the origins of African American watermen in Virginia’s earliest colonial contact period. The African American Watermen of the Virginia Chesapeake Bay MPD has been produced to encourage more historic designations to come forward and should make the drafting of individual nominations an easier task.