'Take Me to The Water: Histories of The Black Pacific'

Exhibit Included with General Admission Opening Saturday, May 23

Maritime Museum of San Diego, the 501c3 non-profit waterfront Museum with a mission to serve as the community memory of our seafaring experience by collecting, preserving, and presenting our rich maritime heritage and historic connections with the Pacific world, announces the opening of "Take Me to the Water: Histories of the Black Pacific" Saturday, May 23, 2026 aboard the National Historic Landmark Victorian-era steam ferryboat Berkeley.

The Maritime Museum of San Diego partnered with UC San Diego curator Dr. Caroline Collins to launch the new exhibit and educational program exploring Black maritime history in the Pacific. Dr. Caroline Collins is Assistant Professor of Social and Spatial Justice in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, UC San Diego.

Christina Connett Brophy, PhD, President & CEO for the Maritime Museum of San Diego is proud to support and share this special work. “The San Diego region helped inspire 'Take Me to the Water: Histories of the Black Pacific' and the experience help visitors extend our understanding of the origins of Black people in America, and the essential nature of the roles they played in the maritime enterprise and American genesis.”

The project Curator and Director, San Diego native Dr. Caroline Collins, charts her interest in Black people’s relationships with water and watercraft to a childhood that included regular visits to Southern California beaches.

Dr. Collins is an Assistant Professor of Social and Spatial Justice in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at UC San Diego where she is also affiliated with the Democracy Lab, the Design Lab, the Indigenous Futures Institute, and The Scripps Center for Marine Archeology, and is a co-founder of Black Like Water, an interdisciplinary research collective at UC San Diego that examines Black relationships to the natural world.

This exhibit reveals the deep and historic connection between people of African descent and the Pacific Ocean. White seafarers disproportionately populate most accounts of the United States’ maritime enterprises. Yet, from the 16th to the 20th century, Black whalers, commercial mariners, fishers, explorers, soldiers, and sailors traveled along the Pacific Coast and traversed the Pacific’s high seas. Others carried cargo across its wide expanse or worked its waterfront docks. Black people also surfed, swam, and studied the Pacific. The stories of these individuals, their impact in shaping the U.S. Pacific, and their legacy in the context of development of society and identity, are all explored in this exhibit.

Dr. Collins explains “Through integrating stories of Black seafarers into the cultural narratives that define early maritime activity, including the sociocultural, economic, and political import of those activities on the Pacific region of the United States, 'Take Me to the Water: Histories of the Black Pacific' represents a unique vehicle for considering the ongoing quest for a more just, inclusive, and sustainable society. The immersive experience offers visitors the opportunity to re-imagine Black people’s relationships with water and watercraft. In doing so, the public will be exposed to an important yet obscured history, while expanding their understanding of Black origins in America beyond the slave ship.”

Parking Information