The International Slavery Museum, located in the same ports that saw slavery ships depart for the African continent and the New World some two hundred years before, is an exhibition at the Albert Dock in Liverpool. The museum has exhibits and displays dedicated to celebrating the culture of the Africans who were enslaved and brought to work in the New World, commemorating the experiences of those who were enslaved and informing visitors on how the slave trade operated. In this essay, I will discuss how the museum presented the African population and their culture, how the transatlantic slave trade was presented and finally compare how the museum presented these topics to how historians have presented them. The native African population who Phillips paints a picture that the African culture and population was backward at the time of European contact with the African continent and suggests that their life was "savage". He even goes on to question whether contact with the Europeans was a blessing or a curse. These views are reiterated by other historians, Stanley Elkins ' book describes African culture as "primitive" and questions whether African culture was culture. He says that the distance between African settlements in Africa meant that "hopeless diversity" prevented the African population from resisting. Resistance to European masters is scarcely mentioned in the book. It is therefore obvious that the views presented in the museum do not reflect older views of the African The museum focused more on the experience of the African slaves in the Americas than anything else, but there was some key information on how they travelled to the New World and the conditions they faced. The use of videos and displays was much more prevalent in this area. This is likely due to the fact that this was the main area of the museum. The museum used videos (see Figure 2) to inspire emotive feelings amongst visitors – one video was of a woman describing the punishment and attempted escape of a friend, whilst the other was a detailed, wordless video of slaves being transported aboard a slave ship to the Americas. The second video was on two curved screens spanning three hundred and sixty degrees and with surround sound, fully engaging the visitor in the experience. This was a clever use of video and sound in order to arouse a moving response from the visitor as they began to feel the reality of a slave’s journey to the Americas. The museum also used comprehensive models of plantations (see Figure 3) and slave ships (Figure 4) to allow the visitor to interact with the slave’s experience travelling to and working in the Americas. Interactive displays were again used in exhibitions discussing where the African slaves come from and were taken to work in and what colonies European states held in Africa (see Figure
Slavery was a main contributor in the South in the 1800s. African Americans were enslaved in large plantations growing cotton, instead of tobacco. Slavery was the same old story it was in the 1600s, barely anything had changed. Slavery was the dominating reality of southern life in the antebellum period due to economical, social, and political reasons.
One of the major questions asked about the slave trade is ‘how could so Europeans enslave so many millions of Africans?” Many documents exist and show historians what the slave trade was like. We use these stories to piece together what it must have been to be a slave or a slaver. John Barbot told the story of the slave trade from the perspective of a slaver in his “A Description of the Coasts of North and South Guinea.” Barbot describes the life of African slaves before they entered the slave trade.
In the first segment of his film series, Different but Equal, Basil Davidson sets out to disprove the fictitious and degrading assumptions about African civilization made by various Western scholars and explorers. Whether it is the notion that Africans are “savage and crude in nature” or the presumed inability of Africans to advance technologically, these stereotypes are damaging to the image and history of Africa. Although European Renaissance art depicts the races of white and black in equal dignity, there was a drastic shift of European attitudes toward Africa that placed Africans in a much lower standing than people of any other culture. The continent of Africa quickly became ravished by the inhuman slave trade and any traditional civilization
An estimated 8 to 15 million Africans reached the Americas between the 16th and 19th century. Only the youngest and healthiest slaves were taken for what was called the middle passage of the triangle trade, partly because they would be worth more in the Americas, and they were also the most likely to reach their destination alive. Conditions aboard the ship were very gruesome; slaves were chained to one anoth...
Go out to an urban neighborhood and find a game of pickup basketball. Listen if you can hear any of the kids yell “Iso!” What does it mean? It literally means isolation, but on the court it means “Give me the ball and let me do it myself.” In Forty Million Dollar Slaves, author William C. Rhoden argues white journalists perpetuated the stereotype that black athletes are selfish with a “one-on-one” mentality. However, Rhoden fails to acknowledge that this “one-on-one” mindset on and off the field is a very real dynamic, with legitimate cause.
Following this account, Smallwood expands on the process of preserving and recreating of African identities in the Americas by drawing from records of slaves and social relations formed amongst the African minority. The last two chapters deal with the immersion of the African slaves into the American culture and their challenges in the New World. Despite the fact that a plethora of historical references regarding slavery and the Atlantic slave trade exist, Smallwood interestingly and uniquely comes up with a book more personal to the inner workings of the slave trade. Smallwood wrote a chronicle that places more importance on personal experiences to enlighten the readers in a more captivating fashion.
In the “Interpretive Essay”, Kenneth Banks discuses the consequences of the Atlantic slave trade. The negative effects on the Africans due to the Atlantic slave trade range from the influence on Africans societies and warfare, inhumane and atrocious living and working conditions, decrease of their population, and the long-term impact of bigotry. During the Atlantic save trade’s peak, the movement to abolish slavery started because it went against certain religious beliefs, several thinkers saw it as inefficient, and was unethical.
The film “Slavery by another name" is a one and a half hour documentary produced by Catherine Allan and directed by Sam Pollard, and it was first showcased by Sundance Film Festival in 2012. The film is based on Douglas Blackmonbook Slavery by Another Name, and the plot of the film revolves around the history and life of African Americans after Emancipation Proclamation; which was effected by President Abraham Lincoln in 1865, for the purpose of ending slavery of African Americans in the U.S. The film reveals very brutal stories of how slavery of African Americans persisted in through forced labor and cruelty; especially in the American south which continued until the beginning of World War II. The film brings to light one of my upbringing
Fredrick Douglass’ autobiography is in a broad sense an overview of slavery and all that comes with it along with the life of Fredrick Douglass himself. To be more specific though, it is the story of a slave losing his innocence, and losing his ignorance so to speak as well. A man learning the ways of the world through education- a painful but prosperous journey that ultimately led to his escape of slavery and a life of freedom.
Rediker, Marcus. The Slave Ship A Human History. New York, New York: Penguin Group, 2007. Print.
Slavery was a big problem back then. It was cruel that a person got treated like a slave. I’m going to list reasons why slavery was wrong in America and resources that describe slavery. One of the resources was a book called 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup. This book is about an african american man who is free but gets kidnapped and gets sold into slavery. He talks about his life as a slave when he gets kidnapped in New York. This resource will support my argument because it shows that slavery is wrong. A free man gets kidnapped and becomes a slave which show that slavery is cruel and not right. A person shouldn’t get captured and not be able to live their life freely because there a slave. Also websites of first hand accounts of slaves.
Slavery was a part of history since 1619 till the civil war where slavery was ended. The south needed slavery to help grow crops tobacco and cotton so they could sell the crops and make money off of the crops. Slavery was important in south and the north wanted to abolish slavery. John brown cotton gin the compromise of 1850 the Dred Scott case and other events helped shape slavery in the new nation.
Slavery is older than the first human records. Slavery was not based on race and not until the 15th century associated with people of African descent. (Source G). In learning about the history of slavery, we can only go so far in looking through our textbooks. However, often times, if you look hard enough you can find witnesses who have been there in slavery. We receive i...
Slavery is when a person is owned by another person and has complete control over that person by where they live or what they work as and is generally classed as property. The presidents didn’t have much say in law due to lack of power over it (articles.latimes.com). Slavery has happened throughout history such as, the Aztecs, Incas and the Romans, who all had slaves. (abolition.e2bn.org)
A museum gives us insight on the culture from an out standing point of view, and the things we are shown are supposed to be looked at from the outside. The people who decided what things to exhibit did not belong to that community saw it, and decided what they considered is different to what we are used to, and what we would be interested in learning from that. The display of things in a Museum are things that we look at as something that is outside from normal. In contrast to the movie or movies, where scenes substantially show how the person felt and dealt with situations and tools from their own perspective, with their own knowledge and experience and through different means such as real images, sounds, language and others produces a different knowledge on the racial discourse. When looking at exhibitions in museums the other culture is unknown, and almost uncomfortable to us, but in movies we can be standing in their