Slavery on Our Minds

Art gallery in re-purposed warehouse

We loved Charleston. It is an exceptional city of great vitality that embraces its history. There is much there about the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and a great deal about the times since and in between. The people are warm, the food is great, the architecture is beautiful. We stayed at a KOA out of town and hired a licensed guide to take us around. It’s one of those places to which we want to return. There is also a great deal there on the topic of slavery and it was this historical issue that grabbed most of our attention.

Historic ironwork by enslaved craftsmen

Slavery is not an easy topic to write about. It’s not good dinner conversation. It’s not even easy to think about. Imagine standing in the space where people were bought and sold only 150 years ago. Imagine being in the space were innocent people were incarcerated and flogged and permanently separated from loved ones. Imagine being in a building where innocent people were murdered and the law of the land allowed it, even condoned it.  

This is where we were this week at the historic Slave Mart Museum. The legislation banning the importation of slaves was passed by the United States in 1807, creating a major domestic market for people born into slavery. Known as Ryan’s Slave Mart from 1856-1863, this building was specifically designed and built in response to economic pressure to reduce the spectacle of slave auctions on the streets of Charleston, because these auctions clogged the streets with spectators which was bad for local business. Thus it became the largest indoor market of domestic slaves in North America. The City of Charleston acquired the property in 1988 and installed a small but powerful series of exhibits that tell this sad and painful story.

Also interesting is the recently evolving attention to facing the truth and scope of slavery, as evident in this New York Times article (click here). Be sure to watch the slide show if the topic is of interest. It traces some of the steps we took on our explorations of the last few days and their photographer took much better pictures than we did.

 

We spent an hour visiting the displays in the slave cabins

We also visited Boone Hall Plantation just outside of Charleston. Boone Hall was once one of the largest slave-holding plantations in the country, and today the privately-owned, continuously-working plantation hosts another of the best slave museums around. Because bricks were manufactured at Boone Hall, and because it was in the economic interest of the owners to build slave quarters out of brick, (discarded substandard bricks were plentiful and owners wanted to increase the value of slaves by teaching them masonry skills) the slave quarters were made from brick, and unlike the substandard wooden structures that most slaves lived in, these are still standing. The nine small houses, which held two or three or more families, now comprise nine small museums, each with a different theme on the subjects of slavery, civil rights, and the plight of black people in America.  Included was the victory for America at the election of our first president of African descent married to the great great granddaughter of a slave from a plantation just an hour away from this one. 

What we don’t always talk about is how the fruits of these unremunerated labors were a major aspect of the gross national product for the entire country. Northern factories created garments from the cotton produced in the South; slave-produced rice, corn, soybeans and pecans were also major crops in demand in the North. The displays at the Slave Mart Museum and Boone Hall helped us understand how all of America was complicit in the institution of slavery because the economic growth of the country was paramount.

 

Many of the people that were originally brought to Lowland South Carolina were from West Africa, desirable because of their experience in rice farming. As a result, they brought and shared language and culture and over the last 300 years and have managed to keep Gullah and Geechee heritages alive. Portions of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida are identified as a cultural heritage corridor recognizing the contributions and qualities of culture brought by the descendants of those first slaves. Near Charleston there are many roadside stands exhibiting elaborate and beautiful sweet-grass baskets, one of the important crafts brought over from Africa.We admired many and bought one little bell shaped basket for our holiday decoration.