Spare Parts

Posted on June 12, 2013 by admin

During a recent road trip to organize ancestral ceremonies in Virginia, two members of the project’s executive board were taken on a tour of Fredericksburg. While relating its history, the guide commented on the intentions of one 19th century couple, Mary and William Blackford, and their views of black people’s liberation. Profoundly affected by what she saw every day as a member of Fredericksburg’s slave holding society, Mary developed anti-slavery opinions and became an active member of the American Colonization Society to assist in immigrating freed blacks and enslaved Africans to Liberia. Although her husband never shared her anti-slavery views, he did advocate for their removal to Africa, believing as Washington, Jefferson, and later Lincoln that black people could never be a part, equal or otherwise, of this nation. To prepare the men and women who would return to Africa, Mary began to teach them to read and write. Those who did master literacy were encouraged to etch their names on the couple’s windows; these names can still be seen today. For the Blackfords, this achievement was in preparation for freed people to go and live somewhere – Africa, the Caribbean – anywhere but here.

This is an underlying attitude that even today a number of black people support. For many with skill, talent, and knowledge there is a sense that people of color will never fully achieve or belong in the United States. We are considered spare parts, not integral to the nation’s well-being, identity, or progress. Historically, once we served a stated purpose, which according to some was most fully realized during enslavement, we were considered dispensable. During a crisis, war, or natural disaster, every hand and back is needed, but once conditions are stabilized we are perceived as unnecessary or non- essential. If our value is solely based upon labor, then the next immigrant group can easily replace us.

Several years ago Ghana embarked on a repatriation effort for black people in the Diaspora. Return to a place that wants you. In the early 20th century, Marcus Garvey  based his support on an appeal for a return to Africa. A century earlier, Liberia was created for and by black people who could not even consider themselves expatriates, although America was the only home most had ever known. Similar to Jewish people of the Diaspora creating Zion or claiming Israel as their universal home, the return to Africa as our place is in that tradition. A return to Africa to compensate for centuries of deliberate depletion of resources, including people, negates for many the idea of being a spare part. Those who consider this alternative see themselves as much needed contributors in a future.

Can we do that here as well? Are we needed? Do we have something critical to provide here in this nation? Will people of color fully accept and cherish their American existence? No one is going to give us this; we must state that we are essential and believe it. At this point many of us still do not. We do not fully know, appreciate, or value our history, our ancestors, or ourselves as crucial agents in the Diaspora.

 

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Separate and Unequal: The Nation’s Story

Posted on April 4, 2013 by admin

In the 21st century we are witnessing the unintended consequences of national and local history traditionally presented over centuries from limited points of view. Many of the heroes and sheroes are almost mythological or reflect only partial facts; others, because they do not conform to the accepted standard, have been maligned or eliminated completely from the narrative. With the establishment of ethnic studies in our institutions of higher learning, a new cadre of scholars, qualified as researchers and writers, have uncovered information that they consider critical to the dialog. They are in the process of debunking the fiction and incorporating a more accurate and, in fact, more interesting narrative. These scholars, researchers, and journalists are truly history’s detectives, committed to uncovering, analyzing, and incorporating the full story. Motivated to employ translations of primary sources, to consider the validity of oral history, and to weigh other’s interpretations that may not fit the prescribed approach, these historians are challenging the norm.

Previously, because the common practice of separating and evaluating a group’s worth and inclusion was based on its designated social status, the perception was that all or most people of color were inferiors, obstacles, or incidentals in this nation’s history. There are numerous examples of this approach across this country. The exhibit Slavery at Jefferson’s Monticello: How the Word is Passed Down (February 1 – July 7, 2013) at the Atlanta History Center is a prime example. In this installation, Thomas Jefferson, is in the shadow. He is fleshed out only in reference to his relationship to the people he enslaved and their descendants. After viewing this presentation, we know him more completely, not exclusively as the third US president or the primary writer of the Declaration of Independence, but as a man who also intentionally supported the enslavement and oppression of human beings for his personal and financial benefit.

In another example, a scholar in Rhode Island is focusing her study on the enslaved families of US presidents. In his newly published work, Finding Florida, T.D. Allman presents a detailed and well written history of Florida. Step by step, he applies his journalistic skills and fascination with the past to describe a state that seems almost committed to ignoring facts in order to create a history that is not even close to reality. Our beacon for this approach to presenting a full accounting of the past is Howard Zinn in A People’s History of the United States.

In order to tell an authoritative history of this nation, one group’s version of the story cannot predominate. There will always be varying perspectives. Let us encourage the lifting of the veil and shining the light on our past.

Posted in African American History, ethnic studies | 3 Comments

Are We Dreamers?

Posted on March 21, 2013 by admin

Over the past two weeks the Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project has been involved in discussions with communities in Florida to plan remembrance ceremonies for ancestors, in a workshop in southwest Georgia where African Americans were encouraged to value their history and family artifacts, and in reading Dreaming Up America, by Russell Banks. All these activities are related.

In his book, Banks states that the American (US) ethos incorporates three basic myths of national creation. The first is America as the City of God/the city on the hill and a spiritual place where all blessings flow from the Supreme Being, as long as the laws of orthodox Christianity are followed. He argues that this is the basis for the establishment of New England by the founding Pilgrims. The second underlying myth begins in the mid-Atlantic and continues into the South, where colonists and communities were characterized by unfettered commercialism in the hands of powerful men, exploiting natural resources such as animals, soil, water, and people for the accumulation of personal wealth. Finally, in the Gulf region and the Spanish territories, conquest and removal of resources were the mind set, not building communities. As an added bonus, this American territory enabled everyone to create a new identity, to be born again. Over time, these three driving principles blend to create the American dream, a land of opportunity blessed by God where anyone can attain wealth. For people of color, however, their “born again” could only be spiritual since the nightmare of enslavement, oppression, and obliteration defined their new national identity in America

And there are contradictions in these myths. In order to accomplish any or all of these goals, violence and murder were the first order of action since the land was already occupied. In the name of Christianity, civilization, and democracy all deeds were justified and necessary. This ranged from genocide, to removal, to enslavement, to discrimination. Even today, religion, American-defined progress, and democracy are the stated goals and rationale for all national and international action. We kill, we oppress, we demonize for the ultimate greater good, e pluribus Unum. As Americans we can do this because we have in writing two sacred documents upon which we base our ideals – the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Simply be patient; we’ll get there eventually. Ultimately, in keeping with the Founding Fathers, we may even separate church and state if we can figure out how to continue the concept of the “chosen ones.”

Complement these myths with the belief that the nation is “white,” specifically Anglo-Saxon, Nordic. It never has been and never will be, but that explains why only a certain group of people have the power to define what the nation is. No mixture, no Creole, all pure white folks built this and keep it going even today. They were first in, and everyone else should form a line behind them.

The result, according to Banks, is a nation full of dreamers depending upon national hallucinations. How does this relate to our work? First of all, we insist that the presence and contributions of Africans and their descendants be fully included in the country’s narrative, rather than systematically and deliberately omitted. This nation and its wealth were created by the labor and skill of many, not exclusively by Europeans. In order to justify expansion and accumulation of wealth, horribly wrong actions were taken against people of color – Native, African, Asian. Banks states that this nation must rethink and redefine its identity – quickly. Second of all, we want people to value their heritage, the before and after, and question the myth of nationality and pursuit of wealth as the defining motivator and measure of success.

At the end of Dreaming Up America, more questions are raised than answered, but we are challenged. What constitutes a successful citizen? What is the feature of US American – someone who can consume without limit or someone who shares the responsibility of guaranteeing the basics of food, clothing, shelter and education for all? What are our civil rights? What are our natural rights? How do we define America? Who defines America? Are we, as citizens of the US, unquestionably pursuing a dream that has no basis in reality? Everyone should take a stab at this thought-provoking text.

Posted in African American History, ethnic studies | 19 Comments

Transcending Race

Posted on February 14, 2013 by admin

Anyone who is able to see the exhibit on race now touring the country should do so. The information is posted in the Upcoming Event section of: www.middlepassageproject.org.

Mulling over the videos and interviews of people who participated in the exhibit, one phrase struck a chord; it has been repeated a lot since President Obama was elected in 2008. The idea that this country should “transcend race” has been offered as a remedy to racial bias and discrimination, and a measure of social progress. What does that mean? One of the interviewees  interpreted it as everyone who is non-white becoming honorary white person in a sense losing identity as “other.” Perhaps another spin could be applied.

In discussions with people under thirty years of age, the argument is made that if race is a historically enforced social construct then it can be replaced by ethnicity, which is more accurate because it recognizes cultural distinction and heritage. Would that work? There is always the inherent potential for ethnic rather than racial bias with that formula as well. That system has previously been used in this country as a system of identity. For example, citizenship before the 20th century was not granted to Armenians, Syrians, or East Indians unless they identified themselves as “white.” Their ethnicity was too undefined or unfamiliar. In  20th century in Boston, Chinese Americans were categorized as “white.” Even today, according to US Census, Asians for the sake of identity are just one huge group with no differentiation by national heritage and cultural variations. Pacific Islander is a catch-all category as well.

For example, one possibility would be that all people in the US would be American, followed by the option of heritage/ethnic breakdown.  Using this method, individuals could also select their hierarchical preference, or it could be based upon mandatory DNA screening at birth, e.g. African 75%, European, 15%, Native American-East Asian 10%. Each person could have the additional choice of being more even more  specific in the nationality of ancestors – Ibo, Irish, Chinese, Cambodian, Jamaican, etc.

The question has been raised why we would still have to have these sub-categories. In the exhibit on race, the US Census states that these categories provide trends and the ability to analyze behaviors, patterns of discrimination, poverty levels, services, and legislation that impact different citizen or resident groups. With the nation’s past history of discrimination and bias, these markers serve as base lines and indicators for the population as a whole. The argument is that if you eliminate race, there still needs to be one or more markers that assist in evaluating the status of  different groups of people. Over time, if people are aware of their ancestral origins, there may actually be more commonality. This method would not eliminate individual or family history related to Latin America, the West Indies, Native America, Africa, or Europe, but this arbitrary definition of race that runs the gamut from physical appearance to “one drop” would no longer, over time, have the same impact on a person’s identity. Most people in this hemisphere are mixed, as is the world, so why not have a society that operates within that context. Celebrating who we really are and our origins could be a wonderful thing.

Posted in African American History, African Diaspora, African ethnic groups, ethnic studies | 8 Comments

Skill and Talent

Posted on February 1, 2013 by admin

In several posts over the past months, passing reference has been made to the fact that European explorers and conquerors were accompanied in the “New World” by Africans, many of whom were enslaved. Yet in most cases, until recently, people of African heritage were historical footnotes, if mentioned at all. For example, it is not an exaggeration to say that the white American explorers Lewis and Clark and Robert Peary would not have accomplished their missions into the Pacific Northwest and up to the North Pole without the skill and knowledge of York or Matthew Henson. In promoting the expansion and revision of the story, we are increasingly aware of the deliberate omission of the contributions of African people in order to maintain Euro-centric national myths.

European and American whites on these ventures realized what human resources were required. The success of any undertaking in the New World depended upon each person’s skill, knowledge, and talent. The selection of crew and team by most of these men, whether in the name of Spain or England or the United States, was intentional, not random, in the same way that after “discovery” or exploration the selection of African captives to perform the difficult work of development – such as building structures, husbandry, metal working, crop production, and militia – was intentional. Colonists, planters, and national founders were aware of the requirement to progress, and brute labor which historically has characterized the contribution of enslaved Africans was not their only consideration.

Reviewing the intense historical exchange between Africans and Europeans, especially since the Renaissance, one other attribute should be factored into the equation. With removal from a “home” culture, Africans who accompanied these European and American explorers, whether enslaved or not, became accustomed to surviving in bi- or multi-cultural environments. They normally spoke more than one language; they applied, selected, and adapted portions of cultures and belief systems from other groups; and they learned to navigate life more fluidly than the European. The role of facilitator, interpreter, negotiator, and guide was frequently assumed by the accompanying African. Esteban De Dorantes, the Moroccan who explored the southwest, had a reputation for easing entry for the Spanish explorers into Native American enclaves. Edward Curtis, the famous photographer and ethnologist, related that during the late 19th century when visiting a Plains tribe he asked about a group of darker Indian children. He was told that they were the children of York, the explorer who was accompanied by two white men. The entire historical reference was reversed – York was the main character because he had the ability to relate to and integrate himself with the indigenous people, while the white men (Lewis and Clark) were almost incidental, relatively unimportant to the Native Americans.

The social duality of African descended people who live in European dominated cultures was proffered by W. E. B. Du Bois in Souls of Black Folk (1903). Whether in Southeast Asia or the United States, this continued definition of self as “other” has, perhaps, given the Western Hemisphere’s people of color an intrinsic ability to relate to the unfamiliar. It is something that should be explored in a historical context. What also has occurred in many cases is a willingness to not pre-judge differences, to maintain a curiosity about the unfamiliar, and to demonstrate an absence of entitlement or sense of superiority when interacting with strangers. These could be the origins of the development of a global humanity. They certainly were traits that, in the past, were used to the advantage of our standard history books’ acknowledged explorers.

As nations continue to push agendas of limited and self-defined interests, world citizens would be best served to employ the skills of these past facilitators. Where we could differ from them today would be to examine the real purpose and projected possible outcomes of these agendas. Our ancestors worked not on behalf of themselves or the people that were conquered but for a very narrow group of benefactors. In fact, in most cases, after the ventures were completed, not only were they not included in the story, but they were often returned to enslavement. Rather than benefiting personally from their talents and skills, they were once again relegated to an inferior and degrading status. Both York and Esteban are prime examples, and in many ways our war veterans of Vietnam and the Middle East are also experiencing this. Once again, this project asks that the role of Africans and their descendants in history be further examined and shared.

Posted in African American History, African Diaspora, Native Americans, slavery | 4 Comments

A New Year: Creating a More Perfect Union

Posted on January 22, 2013 by admin

This is the beginning. Always we start with hopes for a better year than the last. That is natural even in the face of frequently disappointing reality. In 2013 we will, as our ancestors have done in previous generations, work harder to view the glass as half full rather than half empty. It is, in fact, easy to do that when history is part of our assessment of the present.

What many across this nation will observe this year is the 150th year anniversary of The Emancipation Proclamation. There also is the 50th year anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington. All these observances are benchmarks that serve to reinforce concerns related to equality, liberty, freedom, justice, and the pursuit of happiness for people in the United States of America. A popular film now being considered for “Best Film” of 2012 is Spielberg’s Lincoln. While only portraying a sliver of history (1861-1865) this movie represents an accurate representation of the ambivalence that surrounded the issue then and continues today when addressing race in this nation. In her book, Lincoln: Team of Rivals, Doris Kearns Goodwin has provided a Lincoln quote that descendants of those who made the middle passage can relate when he speaks of the Declaration of Independence as a measure of the nation’s ideals:

“…they [the founding fathers] did not mean to assert the obvious untruth, that all were enjoying that equality…. They meant to set up a standard maxim for free society, which should be familiar to all, and revered by all; constantly looked to, constantly labored for, and even though never perfectly attained, constantly approximated, and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its influence, and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people of all colors everywhere.”

If we view history as a progression then these major benchmarks including The Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th and 14th Amendments, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the March on Washington are to be praised, still knowing that those who pushed for them understood that they never were the end, the final accomplishment in a constant struggle to maintain and gain ground. Not a one of us can rest on our laurels because there is always something more to be done, some other challenge to tackle.

Let’s take as a prime example the inspiring re-election of Barrack Hussein Obama to his second term as President. Many of us heard different things during his most recent inaugural address. It was plain that some professional pundits were stuck in the past when they labeled the President’s message a “civil rights speech.” People hear what they choose to hear, but to some associated with this project, it was a speech of inclusion, a speech embracing all people. It was like Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man,” eloquent, inspiring, and down to earth all at once. For some of those pundits, the ringing phrases were missing. Listening for the “Ask not what your country can do for you…” they missed the “we the people,” and the challenge that there is work left undone so that all of us can reach our full potential. Some may even have heard in the President’s address and Merlie Evers’ remarks a pair of bookends around messages of hope. Mr. Obama advised US citizens to act and look down the road “four years, forty years, four hundred years.”

In this year through this project’s initiatives we affirm and tell a story of ancestors that gives them agency – the power to change hearts, mind, and reality. We cannot stress a separate history from others in this nation but envision it as part of the fabric. The concept of race was created in this nation for the purpose of obtaining wealth or success through exploiting others’ land and/or labor. Real or not, this is a bitter truth among many of us today.

The concerns of the present: equality, opportunity, education, political representation, gun control, immigration, fair treatment and respect for the law, to name just a few, have to be examined so that remedies can be proposed while keeping US history in mind. For example, guns are a part of American culture. They were devices used to protect, expand and nourish people from the beginning. They were used for aggression as well. When proposals for gun control are offered, this well-known history has to be considered. Banning guns most likely will never work, but strict control related to registration and harsh penalties for illegal use just might make sense. Spending for infrastructure, health care, social security, education, emergency disaster assistance, and environmental protection have also to be considered as investments in “we, the people.”

It will only get better when we establish our priorities and act. This beginning is another chance to create a more perfect Union, to get it right. We remain optimistic about the significant new year before us.

Posted in African American History, American politics | 229 Comments

American Histories

Posted on December 26, 2012 by admin

In the last post of 2012 and on this first day of Kwanza we encourage people to talk with elders, especially those in the family. What may be recorded and remembered will probably provide another historical viewpoint. For example, December 13th in the official US story is the day that George Washington died, first president of the republic and one of the founding fathers. For one family, however, it marks the day that wrenched them apart: husband from wife, parent from child, child from siblings.

George Washington stipulated in his will that one year after his death all his enslaved workers were to be emancipated. His wife Martha would not agree to set her people free. Over the years of their  long marriage, the Washingtons identified their enslaved people in household accounts as “his” and “hers” –  people who had built families, constructed friendships, shared traditions and customs, and made  lives seldom anticipating an end of those relationships except by natural causes or escape. All of that changed on December 13, 1799.

Martha Washington realized that she lived on an isolated property with half the people on the brink of freedom and the others, often related, shackled for a lifetime, so she decided for her own safety to let her husband’s enslaved go free before the one year deadline and to disburse her enslaved to her grandchildren and great grandchildren immediately. They went to households in Alexandria, Arlington, and the District of Columbia. Since then, that nuclear family’s descendants have never been reunited. Recorded historical events are not abstract. To close observers, they describe reality.

For another family, July 4, 1863 was literally independence day, but by no means was it a typical national holiday.  For on that day, the Confederate Army surrendered Vicksburg, Mississippi to General Ulysses Grant after a protracted battle. That was also the day that an ancestor prepared a meal for her “master” while the master berated other enslaved people for deserting him while Vicksburg was under attack.  After preparing and serving the meal, this woman dropped a dozen of the biscuits she had made into her apron, and ran out the back door to freedom. She eventually married a man from Alabama and they founded a black farming community in Duncan, Mississippi called “New Africa.”  By the way, the city of Vicksburg did not officially celebrate or observe July 4th as a national holiday again until 1945.

This project continuously focuses upon the stories of African people and their descendants in the Diaspora. Much of the reading and research for this weblog during the year covered groups and movements. Very few of our posts center upon individuals, yet we realize that each of us is part of a broad community and we want to reinforce that fact.

As we end this first full year of operation, having accomplished many of our goals, we urge each person to follow an African tradition and be involved in oral history. Talk with someone, perhaps an elder, during this holiday season about memories from the past. The opportunity to record the conversation, especially with a family member, could be a gift to the entire family. Starting the conversation with pictures is a great “ice breaker” and an easy complement to the narrative.

When we ask that you include and remember ancestors at this time, that is not a trite statement. We are encouraging people to understand lessons learned for better or worse. Elders have a role to play in our lives. They are our foundation. By the laws of nature, elders are on the brink of becoming ancestors themselves. Carve out a portion of your holiday and talk with someone about what it was like “back in the day.”

There are treasures to be discovered, and your effort to listen to older people and ask them questions conveys how much value you place upon the individual’s life. It can mean a lot for everyone. You also may be surprised by what you learn. These stories make history relevant and personal because the memories of individuals combine to make the history of a community.

The Directors of the Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project wish you a joyful holiday season and a happy new year. We hope this will also be a time to learn a little more about your own origins and those people who have helped make you who you are today.

 

 

Posted in African American History, African Diaspora, ancestors, oral history | 7 Comments

Hope: The Days After

Posted on December 18, 2012 by admin

According to a Christian writer, the path to salvation requires faith, hope, and charity. He singles out charity as the greatest of the three. As we review the history of this hemisphere there is sufficient evidence to challenge that. In order to continue to invest and believe in a better tomorrow the underlying virtue may be hope, even before belief.

This is written only days after the massacre of children and adults in suburban Connecticut. For those residents, families, and classmates to face this day, to get out of bed, to continue, there must be the hope that they can confront the sorrow. There is no need to compare one massacre to another. These are not exceptional in our national history. From the very beginning we created a trail of tears. This is the legacy of the country’s foundation, and repeated over centuries through enslavement, germ warfare, and lynching. This behavior is in our blood history. Those who personally are victims to the horror don’t see how they can face the tomorrows – surely life can end now. But it does not. The sun rises and another day begins.

President Obama as the national leader stated that this violence has to stop. That is a voice of hope. Belief that it can change will be based upon our response to how. We must examine our rationale of manifest destiny, the right to bear arms, the definitions of citizen responsibility. Of course the final measure is action, not words.

Hope enables us to face the next day, the remainder of days in our lives. Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon once described for an audience the emotions of an enslaved mother whose child was sold from her. The mother knew (believed) that she would not live through the night after that separation. She was shocked when she woke the next morning. Still numb, she took her hoe and went into the cotton field. None of this was bearable but she survived maybe through a personal compact with the Almighty that a better day would come (hope).

As we read the history of broken treaties, massacres, encroachment, genocide and mandated cultural oppression fomented upon indigenous people by citizens and the US government, the violence perpetrated is regarded as the cost of civilization and progress. After decimating these original people for centuries we now shed a tear and wholeheartedly express regret for their present circumstances.

In all this history, those of us who have been historically on the receiving end of this violence hope that as these effects of a portion of our national character hit closer and closer to home that all will assess this culture of tolerated violence. It is reflected in the mass media, children’s games, literature, language. No longer does it happen to the other. It is now happening to us indiscriminately. Routinely and frequently justified by laws based upon interpretation of the Second Amendment, resolutions and solutions to personal fear, anger, or paranoia are reached through violence or threat of violence. Those who may be unstable do not make the fine distinction, only reach for the method. The “why” of their actions is for the psychologists and sociologists to determine in individual cases. The killers are “crazy,” the schizophrenia of this nation’s stated ideals is “crazy,” the ‘stand your ground’ laws are “crazy,” night after night of popular television shows portraying gruesome murders and violent behavior is “crazy.” Putting a curfew on broadcasting or movie rating does not address the portrayals or access. Gun control will limit these acts and access only to a degree.

In one of the richest nations in the world a quarter of our children are living in poverty, and no one can figure out how or why to eliminate total unemployment. Mental and physical health costs are excluding people who need treatment in a country where the most advanced technical health capability exits. Malcolm X said it, “chickens coming home to roost.” Listing of all these things is necessary because they are all related to the “why” this happened and continues to occur more and more frequently.

We hope that we can believe in change and act to make a better world. What are our values? To what are we committed? Will we take the responsibility to change? Charity? Oh, that comes in on that second admonishment by a Jewish teacher: Love thy neighbor as thyself. We can only hope.

Posted in African American History, American politics | 5 Comments

Africans in Europe

Posted on December 9, 2012 by admin

This web blog on the Middle Passage has been offering a fuller explanation of the history of enslaved Africans than the traditional one many have known.  Of course, history tells the story of past events from a specific point of view; usually from the perspective of those who claim victory. Telling a people’s history is a matter of the power of persuasion as much as the recounting of information. For example, the biography of Richard Nixon, RN, tells a different version of his resignation than the one told in All the President’s Men by Woodward and Bernstein. When there is an attempt at re-telling, there are frequently charges of “revisionism!”  The writers of the Middle Passage blog claim that revision is necessary if it means a more accurate and complete account of historical facts. Change is traditionally resisted. As this web blog re-examines the history of Africans, especially in the Diaspora, we anticipate reaction.

A good example of examining history in a new light is the ground-breaking exhibit in Baltimore at the Walters Art Museum: The African Presence in Renaissance Europe. Anyone in the Baltimore-Washington area during the holidays should make an effort to see it. Reinforcing some of the ideas that the Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project has explored in other posts since its inception, this exhibit sheds light on traditional misperceptions about Africans. It explores the story of why Africans became the enslaved people of choice for Europeans after the Fifteenth Century, touches upon ethnic studies, and most importantly illustrates who determines how history is written. This exhibit makes a profound argument for diversity in all disciplines, since narrow interest appears to often trump truth telling. One of the contributors to the exhibit’s catalog is Professor Kate Lowe who is an established expert in the field of Africans in Renaissance Europe.  Professor Lowe’s observations in this area help put the visual examples of the exhibit into historical context.

We are cautioned always when reviewing history and attempting to explain present day circumstances that we not define the past by our current experience. But, even those organizing this exhibit have addressed some on-going concerns through museum-sponsored activities and discussions. Among these are classic questions:

  • How did the construct of race and racism develop?
  • Why is so much of this presence of Africans in Europe unknown to us?

Historians like Lowe are exploring those questions, and uncovering a wealth of material.

On our blog in some previous posts, we have tackled these as natural progressions, many of which were framed by European national self-interest. Our arguments were not restricted to the Renaissance exclusively, but relied heavily on that period. In one post we described the process of enslaving Africans as the “perfect storm” — from historical, social, cultural and economic viewpoints. At the time, Europe was emerging from the “Dark Ages” in relation to the accessibility of information and knowledge. This was also when nation states were forming. Wars were changing the landscape as well. Constantinople which previously had been Western Europe’s source for slaves, mainly from the Balkan or Slavic regions of Eastern Europe, fell to Islamic rulers in 1453. This enabled Portugal to become the primary source of enslaved people for the west. The Iberians focused geographically on the closer African continent to exploit. As a further consideration, the Bubonic Plague had just ended, but not after a major portion (at a minimum twenty-five percent) of the European labor force had been wiped out. Furthermore, international merchant systems were developing alongside the increasing exploration of distant lands by better-equipped ocean-going vessels.

Now to address the African presence in Europe: There were always slaves and Africans in Europe since the beginning of record-keeping. In the Roman Empire, the term “slave” defined a person of inferior status, a non-citizen. Until the Renaissance, most slaves were from Europe, so the association was purely by class, geographic region, and legal status. There also was a tendency or an acceptance in these societies for manumission. If fortunate, the freed European slave could blend into the majority population. There were also other personal features that reinforced a person’s status: knowledge of and familiarity with the dominant culture, education, language, marketable skills, religion, and dress. Such was not the case with an enslaved African.

The idea of perceiving “difference” was the topic recently of a 60 Minutes feature story about an on-going Yale University study of toddlers. Just how do humans differentiate the “other?” Researchers found that behavior, attitude, and choices by even very young humans can be attributed to perceived affiliation. To accept diversity and to accept the “other” may not be natural, but a learned process. Renaissance Europe serves as a perfect example of how this human tendency, if unchecked, operates with outcomes that affect us to this day.

Until the Renaissance, Africans were not routinely visible in great numbers or in groups in Europe. At the beginning of the 15th Century, as the business of human trade in Africans was expanded by Portugal and Spain, the numbers of sub-Saharan Africans mushroomed. They came in ships by the hundreds intended for enslavement and immediately were defined as such. The one distinguishing feature was their color. Because they reflected an array of cultures, languages, adornment, and religious practices which were not known or acceptable to the dominant Christian society, their “otherness” now defined them as not civilized, not having a national European identity.

The opposite of “civilized” is “barbaric.” Sub-Saharan Africans especially were easily categorized then as uncivilized savages, exotic at best. Even when black African slaves were manumitted, guilds and religious societies excluded them, although there were some exceptions made for mulatto offspring in such areas as food guilds (bakers). If economically successful, they were fishermen, sailors, inn keepers, and independent small business people. In these European societies they typically, if free, were more likely to be poverty stricken and marginalized because of limited social and economic opportunities based upon discrimination, prejudice, and appearance. Males, in particular, were denied families and marriage. As an aspect of enslavement and inferior status, traditional African names were not recognized or permitted. When the numbers of persons of color increased in each European nation, treatment and behavior towards them was characterized by commonplace prejudice, discrimination and exclusion. They were defined as “the other.”

Even today in the United States there is a measure of when the scale tips on integration. Diversity is fine as long as it does not exceed a certain percentage (less than ten percent). Above that level, “the other” is perceived as rampant and taking over. Those standards may have been set indirectly during the European Renaissance. By 1521, Portugal officially established the legal inferiority of black Africans as their presence in Lisbon had exceeded ten percent. In 1598, in an effort to address the poor black residents of London, Elizabeth I proclaimed that they be removed from the country.  She wrote, of  “…diverse blackamoors brought into this realm, of which kind of people there are already too manie.” Genoa, Italy, home of Christopher Columbus, was by the end of the 15th Century a major slave trading port for Europe. There were numerous complaints that the city was being overrun by black Africans. This Italian city’s role during that time as a major European slave trading hub can be attributed to Bartolommeo Marchionni who worked closely with the Portuguese according to Cambini bank records.

Those Africans who were ambassadors, scholars, pilgrims, and “acceptable” were treated as isolated and exceptional – sound familiar? Eventually, it was very easy to deliberately eliminate their presence from the national histories as the Germans, Brits, French, Russians, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish and Italians formulated and recorded what they determined to be their national, cultural, and political identities.

Throughout European history, Africans were participants, influential contributors, and leaders. They were members of the Roman Legions who sailed to Great Britain to subdue the Picts and Britons under African Roman Emperor Septimus Severus. Prince Alessandro de Medici, who ruled Florence for almost a decade and whose family is included in the Walters’ exhibit, is another example. Anton Wilhelm Amo, the famous German philosopher born in Ghana, must be added to the list of the unacknowledged. The Roman Catholic Church had such African notables as St. Benedict of Palermo, St. Augustine of Hippo, Popes St. Victor (189-199AD), St. Miltiades (311-314AD), and St. Gelasius (492-496AD). There were Moors (North Africans and Arabs) ruling Spain and Portugal for centuries; and there is the little known fact that Queen Victoria’s grandmother, Charlotte Sophia, the devoted wife of King George III, was of black African descent by way of the Portuguese Sousa line. During the Enlightenment, military general and engineer, Abram Hannibal, an African slave of Tsar Peter the Great and maternal great grandfather of the iconic writer Pushkin, played an integral part in Russian imperialism.

The questions is does all this make a difference? We think that it does. What would happen if in the next century Barrack Obama was not identified as an African American? Would people view this nation and its history in a different way?  What does it mean to folks of color living in Europe today who think that they and their cultures are new experiences, except in terms of colonialism, for this tip of Eurasia? Again, we promote the telling of the full story.

Posted in African Diaspora | 7 Comments

Here We Go Again

Posted on December 1, 2012 by admin

Over Thanksgiving weekend in Jacksonville, Florida, Jordan Russell Davis, a seventeen year old black male, was shot by Michael David Dunn, a white man. This time the young person’s death was triggered because he and his friends were, allegedly, playing music too loud in a car at a gas station and did not respond to Dunn’s request to turn it down. Since the incident, with no supporting evidence from witnesses or the crime scene police investigation, the defendant’s counsel has stated that Jordan had a shotgun, and words were exchanged during which the defendant’s wife was threatened. This man says that he shot and killed the popular high school student in self-defense.

Without knowing all the details and circumstances, this sounds an awful lot like the Trayvon Martin case in Sanford, Florida all over again — with shades of Emmett Till thrown in. Like the Trayvon Martin case, the accused perpetrator claims the young man was armed, this time with a shotgun, even though no weapon or trace evidence has been found. The man said that he and his wife’s lives had been in danger. Although Dunn has been arrested and is in jail, his lawyers have already invoked the infamous Stand Your Ground law as legal justification.

Like Emmett Till, the attack seems to be a white man’s response to a perceived threat by a young black male to his wife.  Like Emmett Till’s mother, Jordan’s mother was in Chicago at the time of the shooting. She is now pleading not only on her son’s behalf but on the behalf of other young men just like him. Meanwhile, the defense team has quickly put together and disseminated a familiar story. Oddly, this latest case of a black youngster dying at the hands of a white man so far has not attracted the nationwide outrage sparked by the Trayvon Martin case.  And oddly too, this seems to be a marginal story in the view of news outlets that have not given this very similar case unfolding in the Deep South very much attention.

Jordan Davis’ parents will bury their son. They publicly have committed to advocating for change to gun laws in Florida. It is difficult to imagine if the ethnicities of  the parties were reversed that justifiable homicide could be plausibly invoked. For many, it still rings true that in this nation young men of color are considered dangerous unless they are obedient, humble, or grinning. In the past, such behavior usually accompanied foot shuffling and avoiding eye contact. Today, the very idea of acting this way leaves a sour taste in the mouths of many people, especially teenagers. These are times when it appears that on the street there are gun toting people who, when they feel vulnerable or threatened by black youth, are likely to act out. In these instances, such people have pulled out weapons for frivolous reasons and started firing. Apparently the Wild, Wild West has erupted once more.

This madness has got to stop! In twenty-five states, the Castle Doctrine that is the basis for the Stand Your Ground law allows anyone who perceives a physical threat to blow that threat away. If that law remains in place and extends to other parts of this nation we are in for some rough times.

So, what do we tell our children? The following suggestions are offered so that young people can retain as much wisdom as pride and develop as much awareness and perception as bravery:

  • Know with whom you are dealing. Young people of color are not perceived in the same way as young white people;
  • Know where you are. There are still places in this country where directly responding, approaching, or staring at some people remains a risky business;
  • Never assume that you are perceived as an equal. Your equality is dismissed by many, especially when you are away from home;
  • Know when you are overmatched and outgunned. Guns, alcohol, drugs, and anger are a deadly mix easily ignited on either side when trash-talking gets out of hand;.
  • Understand you do not have to “take low,” but you do have to be wise enough to pick the right time to stand up for the right thing;
  • Be aware that there are armed people out here who dislike you to the point that even your appearance is enough to trigger hostility and they will use the least provocation to harm you.
Posted in American legal system | 105 Comments