Black history does not, to say the least, begin with the transatlantic slave trade n the first humans were African, and Africa evolved vast, complicated kingdoms when Europeans were still, by comparison, undeveloped villagers.
And, for all the untold millions lost in the drain of labor from Africa to the Americas, black history does not end in the slave trade but continues in the perseverance and courage of a people who changed the rhythm of the culture of the world.
Black history does, however, pass through the Middle Passage, and there is no point in trying to understand where we are today without confronting its painful facts.
On Sunday, February 6, in the early days of Black History Month 2005, the Missouri History Museum will open a free exhibition, “Captive Passage: The Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Making of the Americas,” that will make visitors face this gruesome but foundational chapter in history.
As a close look at “Captive Passage” makes clear, the slave trade belongs to world history, not only black history. The exhibit was organized by The Mariners Museum in Newport News, Virginia, and the mariners represented here were European merchants and their crews. During the four centuries of the slave trade, European nations ruled the seas when they were the only medium of transatlantic commerce.
History’s worst nightmare for African Americans has its roots in accidents of European geography. England (which did not start the transatlantic slave trade, but profited from it most) is a small island nation with many miles of navigable coastline and enormous population pressure driving its citizens away, by sea, the only way to leave.
Compare that to Africa: a vast, fertile continent with a high land mass that renders much of its coastline forbidding to navigation. Africans could and did sail the seas from ancient times, but geography dictated that the basic African migration pattern would be inland. Africans simply did not share with Europeans their powerful geographic imperatives to master the dangerous art of transoceanic travel.
Africans suffered unimaginably for this, when well-organized foreigners who commanded the seas began trading in a new transatlantic product: human labor. And there sat West Africa, directly across the ocean from all the new plantations in the Americas, where the native inhabitants were dying in masses from Old World diseases.
The rest is black history.
This tale is told effectively in “Captive Passage,” curated by Jane Hotton (who will speak at the museum on Sunday). Emotions rage on the subject of slavery, as they should, but the curator took pains to document the history as plainly as possible, revealing how and why it happened as well as its human devastation.
One visits a museum to see artifacts, and “Captive Passage” presents many of the items used in the trade: European firearms and African forms of currency, such as the katanga cross and kissi stick. Various shackles, both historical and reproductions, will send shudders down spines, as will slave purchase lists and replicas of slave holds.
The exhibit is also rich in language. Handsomely drafted placards unfold the story in simple language with vivid illustrations. Ample quotations are provided from many angles n slave traders and slaves n and performed by actors in an audio component you can access with a handset.
People whose knowledge of this crucial period was formed mainly via Alex Haley’s Roots and the television miniseries devoted to it may be surprised to learn just how many first-hand historical documents about the slave trade exist. “Captive Passage” serves as a reminder that we don’t have to rely on modern historians or analysts to study slavery. Take notes of names in this exhibit and then hit a good bookstore or library, and your journey back to this painful time can continue long after you leave the Missouri History Museum.
Curator Jane Hotton will speak at the museum at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday as part of an opening ceremony that will also include performances by the St. Louis Black Repertory Company (1 p.m.) and African dancers Diadie Bathily and Afriky LoLo (4 p.m.).