Montpelier, home of America’s fourth president, James Madison, in Orange County, Va

In Support of Montpelier Descendants Committee

Across the Diaspora, ancestors

In the spirit of truth-telling and inclusive representation, the Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project (MPCPMP) supports the Montpelier Descendants Committee (MDC). Montpelier is a model for the inclusion of descendants of the enslaved and an affirmation of their parity to exercise decision-making at many of the iconic U.S. historical sites where ancestors lived in bondage. With the support of staff and others, the national rubric for the interpretation Read More

United Nations

Across the Diaspora, United Nations

On January 29, 2016, the United Nations’ Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent issued a press release of its findings and recommendations on the conclusion of its official visit to the US (January 19 – 29, 2016). The Working Group gave special thanks to the hundreds of civil society representative organizations, lawyers and individuals from the African American communities in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, MD, Jackson, MS, Chicago, Read More

United Kingdom

Across the Diaspora, United Kingdom

The history of Africans in London covers many centuries, and the movie, Belle, tells a portion of the country’s process of African enslaved abolition. “London’s Legacy in the Slave Trade” The New York Times (June 2014)

Jamaica

Across the Diaspora, Jamaica

This Spring 2015, a member of MPCPMP‘s  Executive Board traveled to Jamaica and visited several sites that relate to this Project and the remembrance of our ancestors, those Africans who survived the Middle Passage and forged a new life in the “New World.” Minutes from Duncans Bay, Jamaica, in a small fishing town about halfway between Montego Bay and Ocho Rios, is a cave (believed to be Arawak) where escaped Read More

Brazil

Across the Diaspora, Brazil

Since 2011, there has been an effort to excavate and preserve Rio de Janeiro’s Valongo Wharf. Built in 1811 and then buried for more than 150 years beneath layer after layer of stone and pavement, Valongo Wharf was once one of the largest ports in the world engaged in the transatlantic human trade. Please follow this link for more information: “The Fight To Preserve This Historic Slave Port Site In Brazil Read More

Cuba

Across the Diaspora, Cuba

Inside these walls, I could hear the voices that once cried out  — “voices of thousands of  slaves forced to work and build walls, position batteries, dig tunnels, place iron bars,    and drill wells . . .” (“Places of Memory”, UNESCO Habana) During a trip to Cuba this Spring 2014, one of our Executive Board members travelled to  the city of Matanzas, 56 miles east of Havana. The purpose Read More