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The Arabbers of Baltimore: A Photo Essay

"Arabbing" (a-rab-bing) is a folk term peculiar to Baltimore, Maryland, for the selling of goods from horse-drawn wagons, pushcarts, trucks and corner stands by hawkers of street vendors. It derives from "arab" or "street arab", colloquial words for a peddler. The term is most often applied to the selling of produce from horse-drawn wagons.

Selling from horse-drawn wagons was once a major means of supplying city-dwellers with fresh fruit and vegetables, fish and poultry, and ice, wood and coal. Today, this kind of street peddling is nearly extinct in major American urban areas—except in Baltimore, where some 100 wagons still work the streets.

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