An arabber is a street merchant who sells fruits and vegetables from a colorful, horse-drawn cart. Once a common sight in American East Coast cities, only a handful of arabbers still walk the streets of Baltimore. Regional definitions vary from source to source. ... Nickname: Monument City, Charm City, Mob Town[1][2] Motto: The Greatest City in America[3], Get in on it. ...

History of Arabbing

The term arabber is believed to derive from British 19th century slang for street urchins (perhaps because of the nomadic lifestyle of some Arab peoples)[1]. Arabbing began in the early 1800s, when access to ships and stables made it an easy form of entrepreneurship. African American men entered the trade following the Civil War.[2] Brightly painted and artfully arranged, arabber carts became a common sight on the streets of Baltimore. To alert city dwellers to their arrival, arabbers developed distinctive calls: Entrepreneurship is the practice of starting new organizations, particularly new businesses generally in response to identified opportunities. ... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... Combatants United States of America (Union) Confederate States of America (Confederacy) Commanders Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee Strength 2,200,000 1,064,000 Casualties 110,000 killed in action, 360,000 total dead, 275,200 wounded 93,000 killed in action, 258,000 total...

Holler, holler, holler, till my throat get sore.
If it wasn't for the pretty girls, I wouldn't have to holler no more.
I say, Watermelon! Watermelon!
Got 'em red to the rind, lady.[3]

During World War II, factory jobs opened to white laborers, leaving arabbing an exclusively African American vocation. [4] By then arabbing was already in decline, threatened by the expansion of supermarkets and the dearth of public stables. In the later 20th century, arabbers faced additional challenges from city zoning and vending regulations, and from animal rights advocates concerned about the health and welfare of the horses. Combatants Allied Powers: United Kingdom France Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Axis Powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Charles de Gaulle Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33... A factory worker in 1940s Fort Worth, Texas. ... Supermarket produce section A supermarket is a store that sells a wide variety of goods including food and alcohol, medicine, clothes, and other household products that are consumed regularly. ... A typical zoning map; this one identifies the zones, or development districts, in the city of Ontario, California Zoning is a North American term for a system of land-use regulation. ... A civet, or sea fox, photographed in the Zigong Peoples Zoo, Sichuan, 2001. ...

In 1994, the Arabber Preservation Society was founded to help bring the Retreat Street stable, which had been condemned, up to city building codes.[5] The society continues to renovate and promote the preservation of the stables serving the remaining arabbers, who number fewer than a dozen. Besides providing a nostalgic glimpse of the past, arabbers still serve a practical purpose, bringing fresh produce and other goods to urban neighborhoods that are underserved by grocery stores.

Arabbing in the Media

• The documentary We Are Arabbers (2004) by filmmakers Scott Kecken and Joy Lusco Kecken profiles contemporary arabbers.

• The first season of the television series Homicide: Life on the Street featured a plotline about an arabber suspected of murdering a little girl.

• Arabbers appear in the television series The Wire, on which Joy Lusco Kecken is a writer.

Homicide: Life on the Street is an American television drama series chronicling the life of a fictional Baltimore police homicide unit. ... The Wire may refer to: British music magazine The Wire American television show The Wire The telegraph service. ...

References

• Arabber Preservation Society Home Page, retrieved December 27, 2006.
• "The Wanderers' Songs", Catherine Finn, Preservation Online, November 3, 2006.
• "Baltimore: No Harbor for Entrepreneurs", Scott G. Bullock, retrieved December 26, 2006.