Captive Passage The Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Making of the Americas

Visitors to Captive Passage can trace the geography and timeline of the slave trade while hearing and reading direct narratives at three freestanding audio stations from enslaved Africans, traders, and many others. Upon entering the exhibition, each visitor receives a Captive Passage study guide created with support from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy.

ORIENTATION
As visitors enter the exhibit, they are introduced to the history and beginning of the Triangle Trade through a six-minute video, text panels and artifacts. This section of the exhibition gives a brief over view of how Europeans enslaved and exported Africans to produce goods in the Americas to ship to Europe.

DEPARTURE
As visitors enter the “Departure” section of the exhibition, they are transported to the West African coast before Europeans arrived there in the 1400s. Artifacts such as copper manillas, Katanga crosses, beads and guineas show the types of currency traded between Africans and Europeans. Decorative items such as a Kuba hat exemplify the rich and diverse cultures that existed before the slave trade began.

As the transatlantic slave trade grew, African traders tapped deep into the African continent, capturing and enslaving people from many societies. Farmers, artisans, leaders, husbands, wives, and children were thrown together in the forced migration. The captives were marched from their homes to the coast, a journey that often covered hundreds of miles. Many thousands died on the way. Those who survived were crowded into slave “forts”—heavily guarded prison fortresses from which they were loaded onto waiting ships.

MIDDLE PASSAGE
The brutality of the Middle Passage was the one experience shared by all enslaved Africans, and for those who survived, it forged lasting bonds of kinship. For others it served as the impetus for resistance. Hundreds of enslaved Africans were crowded into each ship to endure weeks or months of horrific conditions and dehumanizing treatment. There were many shipboard revolts by the captives. While usually unsuccessful, the revolts were a constant threat to the financial success of the voyage. Thousands of enslaved Africans died en route either from disease, mistreatment, or suicide.

This section of Captive Passage allows the visitor to experience the hold of a slave ship. Entering the dark area, visitors begin to hear the sounds of shackles clinking, the voices and moans of enslaved Africans, and the creaking of the ship on the open sea. Between the braces of the ship, images of enslaved Africans, created by artist Rob Evans, fade in and out. Visitors have the option of entering the slave-ship hold or bypassing it to head directly onto the deck of the vessel if they feel the subject matter to be too sensitive.

Walking onto a mock slave ship deck, visitors see a 1799 pilot’s chart from the Library at The Mariners’ Museum documenting the Middle Passage. Images such as the painting by author and artist Tom Feelings evoke the horror of a slaver’s hold while leg shackles make the travail of the Middle Passage all too real. Visitors get a first-hand look at a one-of-a-kind scale ship model of the slave schooner Dos Amigos, constructed by award-winning ship model builder Joseph McCleary.

ARRIVAL
After leaving Africa, the enslaved were dispersed throughout the Americas to destinations including the Caribbean islands, Brazil, British North America, Europe, and other European colonies such as Madeira and the Canary Islands. Visitors are immersed into the “Arrival” section by a large mural representing a port of entry in the Americas. Rio de Janeiro, Belize, Port Antonio, Port au Prince, Charlestown (Charleston), and Havana are some of the many active ports up and down the east coast of the Americas where millions of slaves were unloaded over four centuries. Engravings show the disembarkation of slaves and active slave markets where Africans were sold to their new masters. Other engravings and artifacts reveal slave life on plantations and in mines.

This portion of the exhibit also tells the story of enslaved Africans’ pursuit of freedom. A rare, colored lithograph shows a view of Montego Bay with Reading Wharf in flames and rebels destroying a main road. A color-printed handbill offers a $2,500 reward for a runaway slave. Portraits of brave captives who led revolts or aided in slave escapes are also included. Lithographs, photographs, and paintings of slave ships being captured by the Royal Navy illustrate the long struggle against the illegal slave trade.

LEGACY
There is no question that the labor of enslaved Africans was crucial to the rapid development of the Americas—laying the foundation for its fantastic wealth and prominence in the world economy. But the forced migration of millions of Africans—four times the number of Europeans who came before 1820—left a permanent cultural imprint on the Americas as well. Perhaps most importantly, enslaved Africans’ struggle for freedom remains a powerful legacy for today’s Americans and for generations to come.

Artifacts such as a candlestand and bureau with a mirror made by North Carolina cabinetmaker Thomas Day show visitors how this free black man owned and operated one of the largest furniture-making businesses in the state during the early 1800s. An engraving of the U.S. Capital depicts one of the many contributions made by African- American slave labor. A portrait by former slave Joshua Johnson, poems by the young African slave Phyllis Wheatley, and an almanac created by scientific pioneer Benjamin Banneker, the free son of a former slave, are some of the many African-American contributions highlighted in the “Legacy” portion of Captive Passage.

While the story of slavery in America has often been told, it is important to note that this exhibition, told from a maritime perspective, not only provides the audience with many little-known insights into the origins and evolution of Atlantic slavery, it enables the viewers to examine the many and significant legacies that resulted from that infamous trade,” said Hotton. “Most of all, the legacy of slavery can help us better understand who we really are as Americans, how we came to be a unique multiracial society and that from our shared history, how we might learn to go forward and grow into the kind of nation for which all of our ancestors struggled.

The national tour of Captive Passage is made possible by the National Endowment for the Humanities, with research funding provided by the Rockefeller Foundation and The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

For more information on the exhibition, visit the Captive Passage website.

Contents

• 9 corner units each consisting of 5 graphic panels; 7 units with a table artifact case
• 1 media control room with back-projected orientation video- (equipment and video disk provided)
• 3 audio kiosks- (equipment provided)
• Below deck environment consisting of approximately 20 wall sections connected with beams; the ceiling covered with scrim panels and sequenced graphic/ audio experience (lighting and audio equipment provided)

Ship deck consisting of:
• approximately 31 planked floor panels (most 4’ x 8’)
• 2 masts and yardarms
• 2 gunwales and rigging
• 2 below deck grates with audio
• 10 freestanding artifact cases
• 2 cases of reproduction artifacts
• 1 interactive sailor’s chest

Space Requirements - 5,600 Square Feet (can be adapted to accommodate galleries with smaller square footage and can also be configured to accommodate adjoining galleries or areas)

Fees - $75,000 plus shipping

Exhibition period - 6 months to include shipping, installation and de-installation.

Supplemental materials - 250 copies of companion book, trunk of reproduction items, and artwork for press, development, and educational materials consisting of adult and children’s gallery guides

Security - Moderate. Venues must submit facilities report and meet standard museum requirements for security, humidity, temperature, and light controls. The exhibit and artifacts must be handled by trained personnel.

Shipping - 3 trucks, shipping cost to be determined

Crates - 16-17 crates of artifacts; 2 18-wheeler trailer loads of exhibition furniture

Scheduling - call 757-591-7751 or email kgove@mariner.org.