Why isn't there a national monument to slavery in the US?

I don't know precisely. I can offer a plausible guess. First, if you look at the history of blacks in the USA, they've had a lot more urgent and pressing issues to deal with for the past century and a quarter than agitating for monuments to the victims of slavery. Given a choice between, say, voting rights and a monument, or equal treatment under law and a monument, or even getting enough to eat and a monument, the monument is probably going to lose out.

As for white folk, they generally either sympathize with or against whatever blacks are agitating for at the moment, but they rarely branch out into independent enthusiasms for such things as monuments in memory of black slaves. But you could try it. It might just take fire, who knows? Don't be surprised, though, if black Americans came to cynically view such a movement as a meaningless effort to assuage white guilt and divert attention from the needs of the living descendents of those slaves.

The reason that there are no monuments is because it's a national shame of such depth, covered in so many layers of denial and fear that we can no longer appropriately acknowledge it. The plan all along seemed to be to forget it ever happened, until there was no generation left who could remember it. So far that plan is going swimmingly.

Don't tell them their history! They'll get uppity!

I also think that if handled incorrectly it could provoke cynicism on the part of blacks (there go those whites assauging their guilt with something symbolic while real needs are unmet...).

Don't they say that "admitting your problem is the first step to recovery"? Wouldn't it mean a hell of a lot to a hell of a lot of people if the US government were to lavish the attention on a slavery monument that they did on the Constitution Center in Philly (but we could do without falling stage structures bonking public officials in the head -- or maybe that's just what we need).

I tend to cringe a bit when I hear the word "healing" used in a New Agey way, but this country sure could use some healing. The reburial of some of those former slaves in NY meant something.

The South is still living the Civil War, apparently. That's why I think a major monument would have to be in someplace like NYC (or ideally in DC, on the Mall).

I think it is deep-seated racism and shame and fear of the black population getting uppity that keeps this from happening. African-Americans rising out of poverty is huge, something that will take a long time. But making a monument is something that could be done relatively quickly, without really detracting from the larger exigencies, IMHO.

It's not something that's just done and over with. Slavery laid the economic/emotional/societal groundwork for the skewed power relations that exist to this day. Without going so far as to say that reparations are due (another can of worms), we (being Americans in general, not necessarily whites or blacks or browns or tans or pinks) should at least admit that free labor is what built much of this country.

The people in power here kidnapped a whole population, basically made them into children without the means to take care of themselves by not allowing them to read or own anything or vote or have any kind of lives not connected with cotton or whatever their masters' source of capital was, even forced them to reproduce (many slave women were "bred" so as to have one baby a year), then "freed" them without levelling the playing field in any way or giving them the means to catch up.

It's really not just about pink people feeling bad about what their ancestors did, but also about trying to get things right or at least better now.

It wouldn't have to be white people creating it for black people, or white people creating it for other white people with feelings of shame and guilt. It should be something made by black people for black people (but everyone should be welcome to use it as a mnemonic, lest we forget that this country is rich thanks in part to the muscles of Africans).

I'm not for a munument alone -- that might seem hollow. But I think a comprehensive museum is in order. Understanding man's capacity for cruelty is essential to avoiding it.

http://www.slavernijmonument.nl/IMAGES/DESENKADENA.jpg

This is the Middle Passage Monument that was sunk to the ocean floor off the coast of NY. The plan was to make replicas to place on the shores of Africa, US, etc. Don't know if the project is still underway. The website of the organisation is defunct.

There are statues/memorials to many civil rights leaders in the South. I think such monies/efforts are better placed in that area.

My thoughts exactly. Kenan said that whites are hesitant to want such a monument because of the fear of sparking race riots. I think it's just the opposite: some would see it as pacifying blacks, and that is what I think Maria was getting at when she suggested it may provoke cynicism. "Thanks for the granite slab...now where's my 40 acres and a mule?"

I agree with everything else Maria said--being complicit with slavery just by living in the US, etc--- but that still doesn't mean I'm personally ashamed of myself or my ancestors. If it did, then non-white immigrants whose families immigrated to this country after Emancipation should also feel this guilt and shame. The fact that it's not 'just done and over with' is part of why I think a monument isn't appropriate.

I don't feel personally responsible/shameful about US history, but I do realise that, as a paleface, I have it easier in some respects than people of other hues do. Right out of the gates.

why was the american south the poorest if so much was gained in slavery?

how come brazil, which imported several many times as many slaves as america, remained a relatively backward country until the large scale european immigration that began after the era of slavery was over?

what about the slave societies of north africa and the middle east, which absorbed even more millions of slaves than the western hemisphere, lagged conspicuously behind the technological level of the west, both during and after the end of slavery -- until oil, not slavery raised their standards of living in the modern era.

i think it's also questionable whether the enormous costs of the civil war exceeded so called profits from slavery.

and what makes you so sure that any profits played any role beyond the current consumption of slave owners...

again, fund your own missions.

Okay, sure! I'm all for that! Wasn't slavery grand!

In the U.S. south slaves were largely employed in agriculture (was this also the case in Brazil and Africa?), whereas the U.S. north was the first region to go heavily into manufacturing. While slavery was a flashpoint of the U.S. Civil War, regional economic differences and resentment of tariffs also played a role in the southern states' decision to withdraw from the Union.

You're just saying this because you're a Yankee spy!

So, Cory, are you opposed to all tax-funded monuments?

Anyway, the reason I bring it up is that the group goes to visit a slavery museum.

Carlson writes "the slavery museum was at Cape Coast Castle, a massive former British customs house, which for more than a hundred years was used as a holding pen for slaves bound for the Americas. Single file and in silence, we walked down stone steps into the slave dungeon. Inside, it was as dark as a cave but hotter, with a single barred window fifteen feet up the wall. Akbar explained that the shallow channel carved into the floor had been the slaves' only latrine. He asked us to observe a moment of silence in their memory. We stood in a circle holding hands with our heads down. Someone began to sing a Negro spiritual, a cappella. Then the sobbing starting."

Carlson describes the scene with some detached curiosity: "I felt like a voyeur. I closed my eyes while crying men shouted out the names of deceased ancestors. Someone passed out candles and the group sang 'We Shall Overcome.' Sharpton, Cornel West, Sampson, and Akbar closed the ceremony with prayers. West thanked God for Sharpton, who he described as a leader 'in the tradition of John Coltrane, Curtis Mayfield and Gladys Knight.' I was sweating profusely."

During the trip, Al Sampson had told Carlson several times that white people were the root of all evil - they weren't exactly chums.

But: "Finally we emerged from the dungeon and stood around squinting in the sunlight. Al Sampson walked over to where I was standing. His face was puffy from crying. He put his hands on my shoulders. For a moment I was certain he was going to bite me. INstead, he looked into my eyes and smiled. 'I love you, man,' he said. From that moment until we parted at the baggage claim at JFK, Sampson treated me like an old friend."

Most whites probably wouldn't sob at a slavery museum. Many blacks probably would.

Having a *location* in which to grieve/release the past might help people step into the future.

To my mind, a slavery museum in the US is very analogous to a Holocaust museum in Germany.

i want the government to fix roads, not construct tax funded monuments for emotional orgies.

j.lu , yes, that's more of the picture.

I'm not seeing your point here. Most non-Jews probably wouldn't sob at a Holocaust musuem. Many Jews would.

I wouldn't even feel responsible if my own father had owned slaves. Cause, you know, I'm not him. I would feel shame and guilt for reaping the benefits of slavery...but responsibility? No.

Someone mentioned the Constitution Center upthread, but I didn't see anyone mention that the living quarters for George Washington's slaves were discovered. I really thought they should fully excavate the slave quarters and make it part of the Independence National Historical Park. The reality, of course, is that it's Independence National Mythological Park. They've incorporated something about slavery, I think, into the Constitution Center, but a lot more could have been, and I think the slave quarters have literally been covered on, for now.

Oops, I didn't say that you should feel responsible.

Sculptor Ed Hamilton with the statue he made of York.

Congress Backs New Museum on Black History and Culture
By RENWICK McLEAN

Published: November 23, 2003

WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 — Nearly 90 years after a similar idea was first advanced by a group of black Civil War veterans, Congress has passed legislation to build a national museum here dedicated to the history and culture of African-Americans.

The museum, to be part of the Smithsonian Institution, will tell the story of black Americans since their arrival in the colonies on slave ships almost 400 years ago. Among its exhibits will be those on the Civil War and Reconstruction, the Harlem Renaissance and the civil rights movement.
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The museum, to be called the National Museum of African-American History and Culture, is expected to take several years and more than $400 million to build, said one of the bill's supporters, Senator Rick Santorum, Republican of Pennsylvania.

A site has yet to be chosen, but supporters are pushing for it to be on the Mall, in particular at a location where black Civil War veterans gathered in 1915 to urge construction of a monument to black patriots.

The House passed the bill on Wednesday by a vote of 409 to 9, and the Senate on Thursday by unanimous consent. It now goes to President Bush, who, the White House said on Friday, is expected to sign it.

"African-American history is an integral part of our country," said Representative John Lewis, Democrat of Georgia, who introduced bills proposing the museum every year since 1988. "Yet the vital contributions of African-Americans go virtually unrecognized. Until we understand the full African-American story, we cannot understand ourselves as a nation."

Opponents of the bill, like Representative F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., Republican of Wisconsin, cited the cost. "At a time of budget deficits," said Mr. Sensenbrenner's spokesman, Raj Bharwani, "it's important to exercise fiscal restraint."

The government is to pay 50 percent of the cost, with the rest coming from private donations. The bill that passed this week authorizes $17 million to get the project going.

The museum's advocates said passage of the bill was the culmination of a long struggle by black Americans to find a place for their story in the center of Washington's cultural landscape.

But the struggle is not entirely over. Some sites being considered for the museum are not on the Mall, which a number of supporters describe as the only fitting location. Putting the museum elsewhere, they say, could send a message that the story of black Americans is ancillary to the central narrative of American history. The bill directs the Smithsonian's board to propose a location within 12 months.

The museum's advocates say it will have a lasting effect on the nation. "This will be a catalyst for racial reconciliation and healing," said Senator Sam Brownback, Republican of Kansas.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7858010.stm?lss

Jacksons star in Nigeria resort row

Andrew Walker
BBC News, Nigeria

One of pop superstar Michael Jackson's brothers, Marlon, is involved in a controversial plan to develop a $3.4bn (£2.4bn) slavery memorial and luxury resort in Badagry, Nigeria.

The historic slave port is to be transformed through the bizarre combination of a slave history theme park and a museum dedicated to double Grammy-winning pop-soul group the Jackson Five.

The idea is that the band will help attract African-American tourists keen to trace their roots back to Nigeria.

The men behind the plan say it will honour the history of the transatlantic slave trade and provide employment opportunities for Nigerians.

But the plan has been condemned by Nigerian commentators.

Slave tourism

The African-American history trail is worth billions of dollars, the developers say.

Ghana and Senegal have successfully turned slave ports into tourist attractions.

The developers say the Badagry Historical Resort will be marketed to African-American tourists as a mixture of luxury tourist attractions and historical education.

Visitors will be able to see the route their ancestors walked, shackled together as they were whipped toward the "point of no return".

They can then retire to their five-star hotel to drink cocktails by the pool.

Visitors will be able to pay their respects at the site of a mass grave for those who died before boarding ships across the Atlantic Ocean.

And then travel a few yards in a buggy to play a round of golf.

They can visit a replica slave ship to see the conditions Africans suffered, before visiting the world's only museum dedicated to the career of the Jackson Five.

Academics believe up to two million people died during the transatlantic slave trade between the 16th and 19th Centuries.

The Jacksons' upbeat tunes like ABC and Blame it on the Boogie enlivened US and UK discos throughout the 1970s.

On display at the museum will be animatronic vignettes of the band, memorabilia and "holographic displays" of the group that launched the career of Michael Jackson.

'The right place'

"The Badagry Historical Resort development project will certainly enhance the quality of life for millions of people across Nigeria," promotional material for the resort says.

But critics have dismissed the project as a cynical money-making scheme, inappropriate for the subject of such seriousness as the transatlantic slave trade.

The idea to bring together slavery and the Jackson Five came during a visit to Nigeria by US businessmen and former Jacksons singer Marlon Jackson.

"The Jackson Family had been looking for a place to site their memorabilia collection for some time," says Gary Loster, a former mayor of Saginaw, Michigan, and chief executive of The Motherland Group.

"We visited the site of the slave port in Badagry and Marlon turned to me and said: 'Let's put it here, this is right'.

"It's such an emotional place, and I think we all felt that it was the right place to have the Jackson family memorial."

Money

But respected writer and historian Toyin Falola has condemned the project.

"It is not appropriate from a cultural or historical point of view. Those who are looking for money care about money and no other thing," he said.

The professor of history at the University of Texas and author of many books on the Nigerian diaspora and African-American history said the development was exploiting painful history.

"Money-making and historical memory are allies in the extension of capitalism. You cry with one eye and wipe it off with cold beer, leaving the other eye open for gambling," he said.

Writer, columnist and PR consultant C Don Adinuba said if the resort was being built by a company run by a white person, there would be uproar.

"This plan is morally reprehensible, it's like dancing on the graves of dead people and telling them you're honouring them."

The developers say they will treat the slave memorial with sensitivity.

They hope it will become a "historical destination" similar to the Holocaust museum in Berlin.

The luxury hotels near the site will provide jobs and development to the local economy, they say.

'Aggressive'

The developers, who include the creator of the hit TV series Power Rangers, have ambitious plans for the resort.

The Motherland Group says the resort alone will pull in 1.4m visitors in the first year, rising to 4.4m in five years.

But that would represent an incredible increase.

Mr Loster says they will have to work with the government to change some of the bureaucratic restrictions on tourists if their project is to attract the numbers it needs.

Currently fewer than 300,000 tourists a year visit Nigeria, they say.

It is impossible to get a visa without a letter of invitation.

Flights to Nigeria are expensive, and there is little tourist infrastructure to cater for European or American consumers when they get there.

And then there is the country's reputation as a chaotic and violent place.

Mr Loster admits their projected figures are "aggressive".

"We know the problems facing us, we have visited Nigeria several times," he said.

Obviously this isn't going to happen but wft @ slave history theme park

I like the conjoining of these two sentences:

"Academics believe up to two million people died during the transatlantic slave trade between the 16th and 19th Centuries.

The Jacksons' upbeat tunes like ABC and Blame it on the Boogie enlivened US and UK discos throughout the 1970s."

Not as good as
Visitors will be able to see the route their ancestors walked, shackled together as they were whipped toward the "point of no return".

They can then retire to their five-star hotel to drink cocktails by the pool.

Visitors will be able to pay their respects at the site of a mass grave for those who died before boarding ships across the Atlantic Ocean.

And then travel a few yards in a buggy to play a round of golf.

I like the conjoining of these two sentences:

"Academics believe up to two million people died during the transatlantic slave trade between the 16th and 19th Centuries.

The Jacksons' upbeat tunes like ABC and Blame it on the Boogie enlivened US and UK discos throughout the 1970s."

― akm, Monday, 16 February 2009 23:54 (Yesterday)

I was about to post the exact same thing.

It highlights both the ridiculousness of the story and the often awkward nature of print journalistic style.

i'm pretty sure that journalist had a great time writing that piece

yeah that's some crazy ham-fisted writing.

and I would be willing to bet luxury $$$ that this development isn't going to happen.

There was a Slave reenactment theme park in Florida that closed decades back and is rarely discussed today.

There's some super 8 type footage of it that appeared on one of those weird/roadside attractions shows.

Beyond cringe worthy, no doubt.

And while I lived in Jacksonville, I did get taken here, only to have my skin crawl

"Each slave quarters is the same distance from the main house, here the plantaion house. In Africa it would be the chief's house"

this is a statue in Texas commemorating Juneteenth, when the Emancipation Proclamation was read here.

http://l.yimg.com/g/images/spaceball.gif it bears the likeness of the self-important state congressman who initiated the legislation to fund it.

I meant to have the image in that post. Oh well. No real point except even the attempt to do something along the lines of honor turned into politics as usual.

The NY Times ran a special section on the origins and legacy of American slavery, and the righties are going batshit.

You’re coming around https://t.co/FduQ4e3B4y

— Doug Henwood (@DougHenwood) August 19, 2019

Erick Erickson is a prat.

Synonyms for prat:

airhead, birdbrain, blockhead, bonehead, bubblehead, chowderhead, chucklehead, clodpoll (or clodpole), clot [British], cluck, clunk, cretin, cuddy (or cuddie) [British dialect], deadhead, dim bulb [slang], dimwit, dip, dodo, dolt, donkey, doofus [slang], dope, dork [slang], dullard, dum-dum, dumbbell, dumbhead, dummkopf, dummy, dunce, dunderhead, fathead, gander, golem, goof, goon, half-wit, hammerhead, hardhead, idiot, ignoramus, imbecile, jackass, know-nothing, knucklehead, lamebrain, loggerhead [chiefly dialect], loon, lump, lunkhead, meathead, mome [archaic], moron, mug [chiefly British], mutt, natural, nimrod [slang], nincompoop, ninny, ninnyhammer, nit [chiefly British], nitwit, noddy, noodle, numskull (or numbskull), oaf, pinhead, ratbag [chiefly Australian], saphead, schlub (also shlub) [slang], schnook [slang], simpleton, stock, stupe, stupid, thickhead, turkey, woodenhead, yahoo, yo-yo

I like noodles

And mutts

And black-capped chickadees!