Oyster Shucking Champions
Middlesex County
Photo: Jon Lohman
One of the most beloved traditions on the Virginia Folklife Stage over the past decade has been the annual “Shucking Smackdowns” between Virginia’s own superstar oyster shucking sisters Deborah Pratt and Clementine Macon Boyd. After long and remarkable careers that resulted in both sisters dominating prestigious oyster shucking contests from St. Mary’s City in Maryland to the International Oyster Opening Competition in Galway, Ireland, Deborah and Clementine have decided to hang up their knives and enjoy a much-deserved retirement.
Deborah and Clementine’s parents met while working in one of the many small oyster houses that dotted the Northern Neck coastline. For communities on Virginia’s Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula, the oyster fishery was perhaps the largest and most influential industry from the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s. Men and women employed by the industry worked a variety of jobs, from boat cook, captain, and crew, to shore-based scow gangs and shuckers. Shucking in particular provided many employment opportunities for African Americans throughout the Chesapeake region.
Though the oyster industry declined in the mid-1990s, shucking remained a highly competitive and male-dominated sport until Deborah and Clementine arrived and soon essentially ruled the competition circuit for decades. At the same time the women became beloved ambassadors in the celebrated revival of the oyster industry along the Rappahannock River and Chesapeake Bay.
Deborah and Clementine were oyster shucking’s answer to Serena and Venus Williams, or perhaps more appropriately Ali and Frazier, with Deborah regaling audiences with her signature bravado while Clementine was more reserved, preferring to let her knife do most of the talking. The ladies routinely shucked two dozen oysters each in less than 3 minutes, yet our memories of those brief displays of dazzling dexterity will last us a lifetime, as the sharpness of their blades was only matched by the loving softness of their hearts. Please join us in this opportunity to let the ladies know how much we’ve enjoyed their epic contests and wish them well in their retirement!