“A Slave Ship Speaks: The Wreck of the Henrietta Marie”Governor Underwood sponsors “A Slave Ship
Speaks: The Wreck of the Henrietta Marie”
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 (c)MFMHS - All Rights Reserved. Photo by D. Kibler |
“This remarkable exhibition will give the citizens of West Virginia an unprecedented opportunity to learn more about a dark chapter in the history of our nation,” said Underwood. “The display at the West Virginia State Museum sends a powerful message that the people of our state are committed to learning about this tragic era and healing the wounds that are the result of it.” |
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In addition, a Charleston-based group, All-Aid International Inc., has raised funds to bring the exhibition to West Virginia. The non-profit organization is committed to promoting racial harmony and dialogue through education and cultural awareness. The Henrietta Marie Project Network, a group of local volunteers, has been organized to assist in the effort to bring the exhibition to West Virginia. Charleston resident Charles Minimah, chairman and chief executive officer of All-Aid, and a native of Nigeria, added, “Slavery is not solely a black issue. It has affected the lives of every American. The Henrietta Marie exhibition will offer each visitor an intimate perspective on an important time in history.” |
 (c)MFMHS - All Rights Reserved. Photo by D. Kibler |
The highly interactive display is comprised of artifacts and objects recovered from the Henrietta Marie, an English merchant slave ship. Highlights from the superb collection of cultural artifacts recovered from the wreck are shown in an innovative exhibit format appealing to visitors of all ages. Visitors will explore the early history of the transatlantic slave trade and the shared impact of the trade on the material life and culture of the peoples of Europe, West Africa and the New World. The displays recreate the route of the slave trade, transporting visitors from a London port (circa 1698) to West Africa and finally to a sugar plantation in the West Indies. The interactive elements of the exhibition allow visitors to examine the artifacts for which human lives were traded; hear the captain and crew tell their stories; pay a visit to a slave trader’s office; investigate a scale model of a slave ship; visit a West African chieftain’s home; enter a re-created cargo hold like the one in which enslaved Africans were packed for the transoceanic voyage; discover a Caribbean sugar plantation; try on replica shackles; and explore the ship’s archaeological recovery.
Renay Conlin, commissioner of the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, said, “The entire Henrietta Marie project has been rewarding for everyone who has been involved over the two years we've worked to bring this exhibition to West Virginia—from the governor to our staff at the Cultural Center to the community members who were so supportive from the very beginning. Working together, we have all learned and grown from our participation and I look forward to sharing that message with everyone who comes to see the exhibition while it’s here.”
“This fascinating exhibition provides a remarkable opportunity for people of all backgrounds to examine firsthand a part of history that continues to have extraordinary ramifications,” said Roderick D. Gillum, General Motors Vice President, Corporate Affairs. “The Henrietta Marie tells a story which must be told, and we at General Motors are committed to making this experience available to every American.”
General Motors’ sponsorship of “A Slave Ship Speaks: The Wreck of the Henrietta Marie” underwrites the cost of bringing the exhibition to museums and cultural institutions across the country and covers the expenses to preserve and maintain the exhibition’s priceless artifacts. The sponsorship is in keeping with General Motors’ commitment to preserving, celebrating and sharing the American experience.
The Henrietta Marie is the only identified and excavated merchant slave ship to have sunk in the course of trade in the New World. The extraordinary nature of this discovery has provided a unique opportunity for original research into the experiences and operations surrounding the transatlantic slave trade. Historians, archaeologists and curators have collaborated with designers to produce an engaging exhibition that does not dilute the troubling historical evidence, but which prompts the visitor to analyze the realities of what occurred. In this exhibition, these rare artifacts achieve a new life, offering a profound appeal to audiences of all backgrounds.
Interactive modules give insight into related themes from history, science and the arts. The exhibition presents a comprehensive picture of the life and times of the ship, and refers in detail to the cultures whose history she touched. A Slave Ship Speaks: The Wreck of the Henrietta Marie offers the opportunity to see some of the very few tangible objects that were at the center of this too-often-ignored period of American history.
| The Henrietta Marie was typical of the numerous small English merchant ships and West Indian traders active in the transatlantic trade under the reign of William III (1694-1702). These ships traditionally set out on the “triangular route” from the ports of London, Bristol or Liverpool, loaded with cargoes of brass and pewter metal wares, woolens, firearms, glass beads, iron currency bars, cowry shells and alcoholic spirits. |  (c)MFMHS - All Rights Reserved. Photo by D. Kibler |
Upon the ships' arrival along the West African coast between Gambia and the Bight of Biafra, their wares were plied in an elaborate system of barter for enslaved Africans, elephant ivory, gold, pepper and spices. The ships then set sail on the second leg of the voyage, known as the "Middle Passage," from Africa to colonial Jamaica, Barbados, South Carolina or Virginia where the enslaved Africans were traded for cargoes of sugar, tobacco, hardwoods, cotton, indigo and ginger bound for domestic English and European markets.
On her way back to England in the summer of 1700, after unloading her cargo of enslaved Africans and ivory, the three-masted Henrietta Marie sank 35 miles west of Key West. Artifacts were first discovered in 1972 by the MFMHS; however, there were no clues to reveal the shipwreck's identity. In 1983, divers unearthed a bell. As encrustation was chipped away from its surface, the words Henrietta Marie, 1699 appeared. The discovery of the bell enabled researchers to uncover the ship's country of origin and its purpose: the English vessel was a slave ship.
A Charleston-based group, All-Aid International Inc., has raised funds to bring the exhibition to West Virginia. Local sponsors to date include:
The exhibition is sponsored nationally by the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society. Major funding has been provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities; Florida Department of State, Bureau of Historical Museums; and the James L. and John S. Knight Foundation. General Motors is the National Tour Sponsor.
The West Virginia State Museum is located in the Cultural Center, State Capitol Complex. Take exit 99 (Greenbrier Street) from Interstates 64/77. The Cultural Center is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and weekends from 1 to 5 p.m.
For more information about the exhibition, call the the Division of Culture and History at (304) 558-0220, ext. 120. For information about sponsorship opportunities, call All-Aid International Inc. at (304) 343-6202.
The West Virginia Division of Culture and History, an agency of the West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts, brings together the state’s past, present and future through programs and services in the areas of archives and history, the arts, historic preservation and museums.
All-Aid International Inc. is committed to promoting racial harmony and dialogue through education and cultural awareness.
General Motors web site has some information about the Henrietta
Marie exhibition.
http://www.gm.com/about/community/h_marie/index_js.html