Slavery Museum Project

Director: Mr. Richard Edward Smith II

http://www.slaverymuseum.com/

To continue a fruitful dialog on race in this country, it needs to be understood that Black slave history in America is important not only to Americans who are the descendants of Black African slaves but as well to those of European, Asian and other origin ancestries.  What perhaps can be agreed upon is that slavery itself was a crime and a sin perpetrated upon the people forced into it.  However, for today's America, there ends the agreement about what its effects have been since slavery was legally ended. Segregation, which certainly can be seen as an extension of slavery, continued the pain and suffering of blacks in this country, and moved the inheritance of slavery from one generation to the next all the way into the 1960s. The conflict is that most Americans do not believe in the "inheritance" of slavery.  In their view, removing the legal obstacles to access to all facets within American society should have been sufficient to remedy all of slavery's effects. But the story for most Black Americans is quite different.  Herein lies the great racial divide within the United States of America.

The issues of black slavery in the United States and more importantly, its grand legacy to today's citizens are much more relevant than many realize.  Although black slaves are no longer alive, today's 35-year old black men and women were born to a society that did not by law accord them the same rights as their white peers. These black citizens' parents lived their adult lives under legalized segregation. And on the other side of the same coin, their white counterparts have enjoyed superior access rights to this society's offerings, including education and employment without interruption for hundreds of years.

 Despite the fact that legalized slavery and segregation ended with the passing of judicial rulings and governmental legislation, the generation-to-generation legacy of both criminal acts is so deeply embedded in the psychology of everyday life in the United States that it seems unreasonable to expect those most deeply affected by this legacy to just "get over it" or for anyone to just "move on" with their lives. Most of us try to do this but we pay a heavy price. Too little time has passed since legalized segregation ended in the United States for there not to be even the smallest acknowledgment from the "powers that be" of the extended humiliation which slavery wrought on a significant portion of the U.S. population.

Obstructions towards the effort to bring national recognition to the issue of black slavery in The United States, in the form of restitution or memorial have existed simultaneous with the ideas for recognition. As recited in a New Yorker magazine article entitled The African American Century, the time line is indeed short when one connects the African-American of today with his slave ancestor of the mid-19th century United States.  Yet it is in fact time, or rather timing that seems to be the chief culprit in the fight for any form of national, memorialized recognition of the black slave in the United States.

Though it may seem that slavery was long ago, the aforementioned article makes the point that when the 20th century began, most adult African-Americans were former slaves and the continuance of segregated conditions for most blacks made the connection between past and present quite short. Still, it seems that the memory of slavery and segregation for blacks in The United States has become so painful and bitter that forgetting and "moving past" this historical fact is easier for most Americans and their leaders to do.

 So far in the United States, there exists no national expressions of memory or honor for black African slaves and their descendents.  Recent plans for a national memorial/museum have been thwarted by the United States Congress every year since 1989.  Today, while plans for the construction of a new building for deserving groups such as the Native American population and new memorial/museums for the victims of the Holocaust exist, no such structure is planned for the victims of slavery in the United States.

 It therefore becomes the aim of this project to envision and create a fitting memorial and museum which will offer the cleansing ritual to and honor the victims and victors of the Conflict of Slavery in the United States. Long ago the earth indeed was painfully cut.  It must be time by now for healing to begin. Architect: Richard Smith, Photography: David Fleming

Three major ideas emerge as the primary points of interest in the design of the United States Slavery Museum, the idea of Normalcy, the idea of Denied Entry, and the idea of Culture....

THE IDEA OF NORMALCY

Slavery was a practice of normal people within a normal society. Its brutality and injustice hid behind a mask of normalcy.  The manifestation of this fact is the creation of a plain facade of glass curtain wall on the Constitution Avenue street side, with marble walls flanking its sides.  The glass attempts to reflect the typical Washington, D.C. marble facades of the Commerce and Interior departments across the street.

THE IDEA OF DENIED ENTRY

Black slaves in America were denied normal entry into not only American society but buildings as well. Often the "back door" was the Black slave's only entry point.  This back door access remained a theme in American society until recent times.  It is therefore imperative that all people experience this denied entry and become forced to enter the museum through the back door.  This "back door" is manifest through a main entry off center of either major facade. The entry becomes a side door within a dark cylindrical chamber.

THE IDEA OF CULTURE

While African culture has influence American culture in significant ways, for many African Americans, the realization of their actual links to Africa are largely unknown, forgotten or nostalgic at best. Because America has ignored and denied its African links, recognition of African connections has become monumentally difficult.  To reflect this fact, the facade of the south wall (the Mall side) represents a mask of allusion without specificity towards African influence and design.  It is, however, a wall which glows with possibilities at night, made of translucent marble for all to recognize the potential of things unknown and long forgotten but soon to be revealed. 

THE "FRONT LAWN OF THE NATION"

14TH STREET AND CONSTITUTION AVENUE, N.W.

The exact location for the United States Slavery Museum should be on the Mall across from The Museum of American History - the space between 14th and 15th Streets N.W. (running north and south) and between Constitution Avenue and Madison Street, N.W. (running east and west).  Once known as "Black Broadway", the 14th Street corridor served the Shaw neighborhood in Washington, D.C. as a vital retail and entertainment area.  It also was a major stopping point, along with 7th Street N.W., for blacks coming to the Washington area from the south during the great migration period of the 1920's and 1940's. It is fitting that a link should exist between the national monumental core and the historical black community core of Washington, D.C. at one of the primary junctions between the two, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W..

THE MALL IN WASHINGTON, D.C. , existing thematically as the nation's "front lawn" contains buildings on the periphery which promote dialogue concerning contributions to the American society by its citizens.  Each national aspect emphasized (History, Art, Science/Technology) has a prominent yet specific position within the building alignment and formation. There is a beginning and an end. The Museum of American History has been placed at what could be considered the beginning of the national monumental/institutional building core. It is precisely because of this exact placement that an institutional structure dedicated to the thesis of the non-immigrant black in America, i.e., Slavery and Apartheid, be placed along side or in conduction with the history building. 

THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, while serving as the United States seat of democracy was simultaneously and ironically a site for the shipping, off-loading and selling of slaves.

THE EAST COAST CORRIDOR of the United States East served as the site for the federal seat of government (New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington D.C.) and the authority regarding national issues.  Slavery as an issue was kept alive on the east coast particulary as many cities along its corridor served as sites for the off-loading and interstate shipping of slaves (Boston, Massachusetts; New York City, New York; Baltimore, Maryland; Washington, D.C. and Sullivan's Island near Charleston, South Carolina).

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA , established as a response against monarchial tyranny directed against English colonies in America became the site for black African slave labor beginning in the early 17th century and not ending until the United States Civil War (1861-1865) ended its national legality.

THE WORLD, from approximately 1508 through the early part of the 19th century, was the setting of the slave trade. The Western world and all its colonies and possessions existed as the source for the perpetration of the African slave trade. This forcible act of uprooting and displacing of millions of black Africans caused an irreparable rift between these unknown ancestors and their descendants of today. Ancestral knowledge is important, especially to most Americans who can trace their past to immigrants, those who came to America of free will. Conversely, there was no free-will for the blacks who were brought as slaves from Africa. 

Slavery and debt

Published Feb 13, 2005 10:24 PM

JP Morgan Chase, the second-biggest bank in the U.S., put it ever so delicately: "[The bank] had predecessors that had customers that appear to have used enslaved individuals."

That is how a Jan. 20 statement began that was written so as not to offend--well, not to offend those tied to the slave owners, anyway. JP Morgan Chase offered its "apologies" for its links to slavery, admitting that its predecessor banks had "accepted approximately 13,000 enslaved individuals as collateral on loans and took ownership of approximately 1,250 of them when the plantation owners defaulted on the loans."

It is the tip of an iceberg. The role of the banks in financing slavery, particularly New York banks that were also tied in with the cotton trade, remains mostly a hidden history in this country. Even JP Morgan Chase's statement hides this history, attributing all of its transgressions to a Louisiana-based bank that it merged with in the 1930s. This month--Black History Month--would be a very good time to expose the full history of JP Morgan Chase and the other Wall Street institutions in the enslavement of African peoples before slavery was abolished by the Civil War.

A movement has grown up in this country among the descendants of the enslaved Africans to demand reparations from those who became rich through slavery. One case brought to court named JP Morgan Chase as one of 18 companies involved in slavery. The list also included Lloyds of London, FleetBoston, RJ Reynolds Tobacco, Brown & Williamson, CSX Corporation and Lehman Brothers.

The wealth of these giant banks, financial institutions and corporate monopolies is immense. Yet it was gained from the stolen labor of enslaved peoples. Any fair-minded person would agree that they owe reparations, big time.

There's really no reason that the reparations owed should be limited to those who live in this country. The countries of Africa were devastated by the European slavers, who delivered their human cargoes mostly to the Americas. The devastation was so deep that recovery has been impossible to this day.

In "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa," Walter Rodney gives the details: "No one has been able to come up with a figure representing total losses to the African population sustained through the extraction of slave labor from all areas to all destinations over the many centuries that slave trade existed. However, on every other continent from the 15th century onwards, the population showed constant and someti
mes spectacular natural increase; while it is striking that the same did not apply to Africa."

Rodney explains further: "All of the countries named as 'underdeveloped' in the world are exploited by others; and the underdevelopment with which the world is now preoccupied is a product of capitalist, imperialist and colonialist exploitation.

African and Asian societies were developing independently until they were taken over directly or indirectly by the capitalist powers. When that happened, exploitation increased and the export of surplus ensued, depriving the societies of the benefit of their natural resources and labor. That is an integral part of underdevelopment in the contemporary sense."

So what happened when the world's seven imperialist powers--the U.S., Britain, Japan, France, Germany, Italy and Canada--met as the Group of Seven in early February? They made a showy announcement of an "African debt relief plan." The news reports said that they would be "forgiving the debt of some of the world's poorest countries." The fine print of what they are actually doing was quite different.

Turns out to be another publicity stunt, when what is really needed now is not just full cancellation of all "debt," but also payment of reparations. Only such a payment can begin to end the poverty and devastation that is the legacy of slavery and imperialism.

Bank of America Becomes Fourth Bank to Admit Ties to Slavery

released on 08/25/05

Saadiq Mance
Emerging Minds News

Atlanta, GA (emergingminds.org) - In a report released Wednesday, the Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) became the fourth bank in the United States to disclose links to slavery. The admission comes as a result of a 2002 Chicago law that any company doing business with the city must reveal past slavery ties.

However, according to the Chicago Sun Times, Bank of America claims that its predecessor banks never held slaves and they could not find a case where they made any profits from slaves.

As a result, Bank of America pledged only $5 million over a three-year period for institutions and programs involved in preserving African-American history. In addition, Bank of America said that the $5 million offer will build on existing commitments, inferring that no new initiatives will be started.

Kenneth D. Lewis, the Chairman and CEO of Bank of America, makes an annual salary of $7.21 million. Additionally, as of June 30 2005 Bank of America reported assets of $1.25 trillion and a quarterly net income of $4.30 billion.

With Bank of America's extraordinary income statement and balance sheet that would never have been possible without the forced servitude of Africans, Bank of America’s $5 million dollar pledge has been received by the Black community as insulting and pathetic.

The Chicago Sun Times reports that Alderwoman Dorothy Tillman of Chicago, who introduced the Chicago legislation for companies to disclose ties to slavery, said that the report was "disingenuous" and that she had evidence that Bank of America predecessor Providence Bank engaged in the slave trade, including the manufacture of leg irons. Tillman also said that the bank lied about past ties to slavery in an affidavit submitted in connection with its role as senior manager of a $500 million city refinancing deal.

Bank of America’s admission of guilt to ties with slavery comes in the wake of Wachovia Corporations admission of guilt for building its company from money made from the forced servitude of Africans that were brutally brainwashed after they were kidnapped from their native lands. Wachovia reported assets of $511.8 billion as of June 30 2005 and in 2004 made $25 billion in community loans and investments to revitalize neighborhoods, and donated more than $82 million to charities.

As a result of Wachovia’s admission of guilt for slavery the company told the press that it plans to distribute only $10 million over a five year period through a string of new and enhanced partnerships with at least two of the "good ol’ boys" of civil rights pacifiers, the United Negro College Fund and the NAACP.

Wachovia and now Bank of America’s “greasing” of the hands of the “safe” Black organizations without any accountability are just the latest in a string of corporations who have dictated to the Black community how they will distribute money pledged in the name of repairing past wrongs due to slavery in the United States of America. Within the last 2 years, there have been more than half a billion dollars promised by private corporations without any accountability.

Other similar admissions and / or monetary pledges have been made by J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, American General, Nationwide Life Insurance, and Lehman Brothers. None of which have been taken to task by America’s Black Community.

Wachovia apologizes for slavery ties
Bank satisfies Chicago ordinance requiring companies with city contracts to disclose slavery ties.June 2, 2005: 1:08 PM EDT
By Katie Benner, CNN/Money staff writer

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Wachovia Corporation has apologized for its ties to slavery after disclosing that two of its historical predecessors owned slaves and accepted them as payment.

Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia (down $0.27 to $51.08, Research) issued a 111-page report to comply with a Chicago ordinance that requires companies that do business with the city to disclose whether they profited from slavery, which ended in the United States in 1865.

"On behalf of Wachovia Corporation, I apologize to all Americans, and especially to African-Americans and people of African descent," said Ken Thompson, Wachovia chairman and chief executive officer, in the statement released late Wednesday. "We are deeply saddened by these findings."

Historians at the History Factory, a research firm specializing in corporate archival work, found that the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company and the Bank of Charleston -- institutions that ultimately became part of Wachovia through acquisitions -- owned slaves, Wachovia said in the statement.

Records revealed that the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company owned at least 162 slaves, Wachovia said, and that the Bank of Charleston accepted at least 529 slaves as collateral on mortgaged properties or loans. The Bank of Charleston also acquired an undetermined number of people when customers defaulted on their loans.

"We know that we cannot change the past, and we can't make up for the wrongs of slavery," said Thompson. "But we can learn from our past, and begin a stronger dialogue about slavery and the experience of African-Americans in our country."

"We want to promote a better understanding of the African-American experience, including the unique struggles, triumphs and contributions of African-Americans, and their important role in America's past and present," he added.

The announcement comes as a handful of cities nationwide propose initiatives requiring banks and other large companies to investigate and disclose ties to slavery.

Lawsuits have also been filed over the past few years by descendents of slaves, who seek billions of dollars in reparations from companies for their ties to slavery. These companies include R.J. Reynolds (up $0.29 to $82.90, Research) and Aetna (down $0.12 to $78.73, Research).

Fellow banking giant J.P. Morgan (down $0.39 to $35.37, Research) released a similar disclosure in January, also in order to comply with Chicago's slavery ordinance, bank spokesman Tom Kelly told CNN/Money.

After revealing that a predecessor institution in Louisiana used slaves as collateral, JP Morgan apologized for its ties to slavery, and established a $5 million college scholarship program for African-American students from Louisiana. The Chicago ordinance, which went into effect January 2003, was designed, "to promote full and accurate disclosure to the public about any slavery policies sold by any companies, or profits from slavery by other industries (or their predecessors) who are doing business with the city."

There is no penalty for companies that disclose they had ties to slavery, but as with any disclosure, companies that make false statements can have their contract with the city voided. Along with Chicago, Richmond, Va., Philadelphia and Los Angeles also require companies that do business within city limits to disclose financial ties with slavery. City council members in Berkeley, Calif., proposed an ordinance this week that would nullify city contracts with companies that do not acknowledge past practices that aided slavery.

Wachovia has made the full research report available on its Web site, and said it plans to partner with community organizations to further awareness of African-American history.

 http://usnationalslaverymuseum.org/home.asp