National Museum of African-American History and Culture

 Since the National Museum of African-American History and Culture opened in 2016, I wanted to visit. The gentleman at the welcome desk gave me an orientation. He mentioned the suggestion that it can take up to two days to visit the museum; I had planned to be there half a day. Since the exhibits were so moving and dense it took the entire day from 10:00 to closing (5:00) to take in the floors on history. Every American should see this exhibit. It helps us understand many of the problems we have today. 

While the scale is difficult to gage from the decontextualize photo, these shackles were for a child. I just had to sit with the trauma the slave trade and institution caused on people.

The world in 1400

·      Slavery was everywhere.

·      The trade in gold, salt and spices far exceeded the trade in slaves

·      Slavery was not based on perceptions of race—what was is based on?

·      Slavery was a temporary status.

 

The World after 1400

·      Slavery because based on perceptions of race.

·      Enslaved people were considered property and dehumanized.

·      Slavery was an inherited status and passed down through generations.

·      Slavery was for life.

 

I admit I am sickened at the purchase of slaves…. But I must be mumm, for how could we do without sugar or rum?  --William Cooper

 

“to traffic in human creatures, may at first appear barbarous… the advantage of it ….far outweigh{s} all …inconveniences.”

William Snelgrave, 1734.

 

The cultivation of sugar was part of a deadly planation economy that satisfied a growing in the international demand for sugar, A line from a period poem entitle “On Sugar” captures the moral issue: “To me thy tempting white appears, Steep’d in a thousand Negroes tears.”

 

The prejudice of race appears to be stronger in the states which have abolished slavery than in those where it still exists and nowhere is it so intolerant as in those states where servitude has never been known.

--Alexis de Tocqueville. 1835

 

The United States of America was founded on dissent. American colonists waged a war for the principle that no one—no king, no lord, no president—held the right to rule without the consent of the people. This demand for popular sovereignty grew out of the experience of the founders, who understood the power granted by liberty. It also sprang, in part, form the actions and political philosophies of enslaved men and women, who contested the right of any person to dominate another. Freedom was revolutionary, contagious, and incomplete.

When I behold the frantic and delightful appearance of the country from nature I cannot but reflect on the awful sight to the seen at a place called Gadsdens Wharf of about four thousand poor Africans naked in a manner and lousy. The most distressing sight I ever beheld offered for sale every day at Auction to him who will give the most.

--James F. Legate, 1856

 

Pleasure as resistance

Enslaved people claimed their bodies for themselves. Arranging secret dances, they put on their best clothes and displayed a spirt free from bondage. Lynchburg Negro Dance ,by Lewis Miller, about 1853

 

 

Adults taught children that one of the greatest acts of resistance was to embrace the joys life can bring. They taught self-esteem and self-expression, in part, through adornment. Taking a small cut of inexpensive cloth, they sewed fine clothing to reflect their sense of self-worth. they made necklaces by piecing together seeds and dying them rich colors. Food, stories, songs and prayers all taught children who they were and how much they were loved.

Once you label me you negate me.

--Soren Keirkegaard, 1849.

 

Our lives matter

--Alicia Garza

 

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

--Maya Angelou

 

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or … some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change we seek.

--Barak Obama

 

The past of value only as it aids in understanding the present; and an understanding of the facts of the problem… is the first step toward its solution

__Chicago commission on Race relations.

 

If now isn’t a good time for the truth, I don’t see when we’ll get to it.

--Nikki Giovanni

 

There is nothing more powerful than a people, than a nation steeped in its history. And there are few things as noble as honoring our ancestors by remembering.

--Lonnie G. Bunch III