History from Below 2019

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Cartagena de Indias

Fabian Asdrubal, Gabriel Williams, and Alvaro Regalado

This memorial depicts a pedestal which is supporting a wide pan of sugarcane and gold coins. At the bottom of the pedestal is a set of handcuffs that are wrapped around the pedestal. This memorial relates back to the overall project as it is a figurative representation of slavery in Colombia.
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Luanda

Victoria Ayodele, John Hilton, and Dynasty Vickers

The chains around the border of our memorial are to memorialize and represent the enslaved African Americans that were chained together and brought onto the boat, to places like Luanda. If you examine the image closer, one would see that we designed our memorial similarly to the Holocaust Museum in Berlin. Their memorial site really inspired the group to create something similar in terms of our aesthetic aspect.
African Statue of Liberty

Jason Bracey, Fredrick Cole, Cierra Fenn, and Lauren Bentley

Tybee Island is situated at the mouth of the Savannah River, which leads to the city of Savannah. As ships arrived in North America with enslaved men, women, and children they were inspected at Tybee Island for signs of illness, and disease in order to hinder the spread of infectious diseases from overseas. As shipments increased a demand for a quarantine hospital arose. In 1766 lawmakers in Savannah authorized a budget of seventy pounds to seek a location to serve as a receiving juncture for incoming ships. The seventy pound budget was used to purchase 104 acres on the west end of the Island from plantation owner Josiah Tattnall, and construction began. Once complete, the hospital was named “Lazaretto” descending from the Italian word for “pest house.” Tybee Island officially recorded only two ships that disembarked enslaved Africans, totaling three hundred and fifty eight, of the four hundred and sixty two who embarked in African locations. However, Tybee received thousands more for quarantine before it was demolished in 1785.

As ships arrived in North America with enslaved men, women, and children they were inspected at Tybee Island for signs of illness, and disease in order to hinder the spread of infectious diseases from overseas. As shipments increased a demand for a quarantine hospital arose. After building was complete, the hospital was named “Lazaretto” descending from the Italian word for “pest house.” Tybee Island officially recorded only two ships that disembarked enslaved Africans, totaling three hundred and fifty eight, of the four hundred and sixty two who embarked in African locations. However, Tybee received thousands more enslaved for quarantine before the Lazaretto was demolished in 1785 and a new hospital was built on nearby Cockspur island.
Circular Process of Labor

Grace Fournier, Jason Vazquez, Camille McAlister, and Hayden Fritzky

Our memorial was inspired by the idea of the Trans Atlantic slave trade being glossed over in history. Understanding that people of all ages and genders were incorporated in this slave trade brought the idea of every statue within the memorial being a different gender or age. The memorial’s specific location, White Point Garden in South Carolina, was chosen due to South Carolina harboring a major port in which enslaved Africans were funneled in to America. The floor of the memorial would be a map representing the enslaved African diaspora. The palm trees surrounding the memorial’s location are to be incorporated in the memorial itself; they are in a triangle formation which can be used to represent the triangle trade within the Trans Atlantic slave trade . The memorial represents enslaved Africans in a circle chained together at the wrists. From a distance, it may look like a group holding hands. However, upon further inspection, you can see each individual chained to one another. The idea is not to deceive people, but for them to come to the realization of the enslaved people’s struggle for themselves. Circular Process of Labor
Cormier Beach: The Lasting Effects of the Haitian Revolution

Brande George, Arika Carter, and Alisa Ashford

As a group, we decided to focus on the history of slavery in the Caribbean, where most Africans were taken during the trans Atlantic trade. Slavery in the Caribbean was among the most brutal, with lifespans as short as two years and enslaved Africans forced to labor up to 18 hours a day against the tropical climate. The Haitian Revolution was a radical insurrection of enslaved Africans that was successful in overthrowing French colonial rule. It is the spirit of this victory that we wanted to memorialize. In our memorial, we have taken a cannon from Citadelle Laferrière, which was built by the Haitians after the revolution to keep the new nation safe from French incursions, and fitted it atop a platform on Cormier Beach. The fortress was originally outfitted with over 300 cannons of varying sizes and designs from multiple nations. This choice of cannon correlates to the history of those enslaved, in the same way that Africans were taken from many places and eventually lost their individual cultural identities to form a larger African diaspora. We have chosen this particular beach as it is the location of where the French fled Haiti after the loss of the revolution. Beside the cannon memorial will be a plaque with a quote from Jacques Coeur, "À vaillant coeur rien d’impossible," which translates to, "For a valiant heart nothing is impossible." We have chosen this quote to represent the resilient nature of the Haitians and the great adversity they have overcome, and as an inspiration to those living today
Four Corners Exhibit

Tyler Grant, Cabel Belflower, Hannah McGhee, and Sonnet Moore

We chose the location of the “lynching tree” in downtown Columbus as our memorial location. Will Miles and Jesse Slayton were two African Americans who were lynched in Columbus, Georgia in 1896. Will Miles was lynched because of a previous rape of a white woman. Shortly after, Will Miles was lynched. We was brutally shot in the face with a shotgun. Then after he was shot, the mob of angry white southerners heard there was another individual who conducted a heinous act on a white woman and his name was Jesse SLayton. The mob rushed the Columbus jail without any resistance, grabbed Slayton and lynched him on the tree next to Will Miles on present day 11th st. The symbolism of that violence is present in our memorial.
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Memorial in St. Croix

Hope Johnson, Rachel Townley, and Glenville Challenger

The memorial is a full size slave ship that is accessible by a ramp in the front where statues of enslaved peoples can be seen exiting the ship The conditions in the memorial are meant to reflect those on a real slave ship therefore, visitors will be unprotected from the sun on deck and experience close quarters in a dark environment below the deck On deck is where most of the women and children will be found, some together and some alone Underneath the deck visitors will find a majority of men and older boys who are pushed into a very small area with various items including buckets for urine or feces and shackles From speakers located near white enslavers’ statues throughout the ship, visitors will be able to hear cruel language that will give them a feel for how captured people were treated The memorial will be located in St Croix The Caribbean is where over 50 of enslaved Africans were taken St Croix was one of the major ports in this area, meaning it is the perfect location for this memorial as the history is greatly unrepresented in the correct light This memorial will remind the public of their unfortunate history of slave labor and lack of human rights in a way that most memorials fail to address
Valongo Wharf Transatlantic Slave Trade Memorial

Dontanarious Kelly, Kayleen Linge, and Thomas Nguyen

Valongo Wharf is located in central Rio De Janeiro and encompasses the entirety of Jornal de Commercial Square.

Historical significance: The lowest level of the wharf contains pavings in the pé de moleque style which is attributed to the original Valongo Wharf. The later layer is aspects of the empress wharf that came later. From data from Unesco. Org and the slave voyage database, roughly 1/5th of the 5 million slaves that arrived in Brazil came in through Valongo wharf. Valongo Wharf was at first related to various other historical structures, such as warehouses, quarantine facilities, the lazaretto, and the New African cemetery. How ever, the wharf is all that remains. This makes the wharf one of the few remains of a greater narrative of the slave trades disembarkment points in Rio De Janeiro. All that is at the Valongo wharf today is a column to remind those who pass of the late empress wharf. With t he empress wharf failing to express the deep historical significance that the Valongo wharf holds it is the perfect place for a memorial
Detrimental Tears

Cooper Kennedy, Jacob Kimball, Monica Roberts, and Orlandrea Anderson

For our museum we chose to design it as a walkthrough of a ship used during the Transatlantic trade. Through research we were able to understand how slaves on the ship were treated. We were able to understand that slaves were confined to small spaces while linked together with others during voyages. With this we were able to gather ideas on the layout of our museum. First we chose to put a set of metal chains in the museum to give a sense of how slaves had to be transported. As you walk through you will see what it was like for a slave to be living on the ship. In part of the museum we will have small boxes where someone can sit down and get a feel of how slaves were confined to space while aboard the ship. While sitting there will be a pair of headphones to put on so you will be able to hear the sound of the ocean and other voices.
Museum: Wade in the Water

Joanelys Lamberty, Angel Bullard, and Michael Pullom

The museum Wade in the Water was titled after a freedom song used in the 1800s by slaves to teach through song a passage for safe travel to the North. The location of this museum is located in Boone Hall Plantation in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina.

The Experience: A cycle of a fight for freedom. The Transatlantic slave trade evolved in many directions as the years went on from life-spans among slaves ranging from 2 years or less. After economy changes increased, more slaves took on roles in plantations both in the home and outside in the fields. The journal through this museum is to bring to life the plantation slave experience from the eyes of the slaves themselves, from the slave auction to the escape towards freedom of the brave few.
Haitian Victory Garden

Breeanna Mahone and Shaena Wooten

The memorial will be a place of remembrance for all the enslaved Africans that lost their lives and those who were freed during the Haitian Revolution. It will serve as a sign of liberty to all Haitians.
Brierfield Plantation Museum

Kendall Malott, Kimberly May, Brian Diokpara, and Abigail Marmito

For our project, we decided to memorialize the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade in the form of a museum. Our museum is going to be a replica of the Brierfield Plantation owned by Jefferson Davis, the only president of the Confederacy. This location is important because it was once one of the most profitable cotton plantations in the south. Cotton has been an essential crop for hundred s of years; today, it is found in almost every piece of clothing. Most people in developed countries don’t realize that their consumerism comes at a cost, that people thousands of miles away are being forced to work in horrible conditions to create the brand names they so desperately desire. With our museum, we intend to juxtapose the exploitation of labor during chattel slavery to modern day sweatshop slavery in order to raise awareness about this global issue. Those who visit the museum will be forced to pick their own cotton in order to receive a t shirt to commemorate their experience.
National Memorial for the First Twenty

Jerimiah Rapp, Jonathan DeRouen, Joy Flowers, and Logan Rush

The Trans Atlantic Slave Trade was responsible for the enslavement and displacement of many Africans of different ages, genders, and cultures. The memorial presents the diversity in a line of African men, women, and children trudging down a pier in chains, the last figure looking back across the ocean to Africa’s western coast.

The Port of Hampton Roads in Chesapeake, Virginia is the location in which the first enslaved Africans arrived in North America in 1619. Only about 20 of the 60 Africans survived the voyage and departed.
Broken Chains of South Carolina

Mackenzie Sanford, Katelyn Tillis, Colby Harden, and Chris Counts

6th Chalmers Street, Charleston, SC is important because it is where the Antebellum slave trade was once located. It was the last known slave facility that bought and sold people in South Carolina. In the Slave Voyage Database shows that the Carolinas in North America with a total of 151,481 disembarked, making the Carolinas having the most disembarked from Africa. Many people only picture men when they think of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. While men did play a big part in the slave voyages, women were also very prominent during this time. The majority of ships that took sail had an abundance of women on them. Not only did most ships have many women aboard, there are many that had generously more women than there were men. One ship called the Saint Jose Diligente was entirely made up of women with 0% males.

A big of the slaves that were transported were bought by Britain and Portugal. Britain And Portugal were going head to head trying to move into the new world or anywhere in the western hemisphere. Britain was the country to be second to Portugal being of the world.. Britain transported about 3.1 Million Slaves and Portugal transported about 5.8 Million. There were many ships that carried 50% or more children in a single voyage, and the amount of adults on the ship would be less than the amount of children. There were two ships that carried completely children one of which is unnamed, and the Amélia(4674) that arrived in the Caribbean. Besides these two ships there were other voyages that had 50% or more children, meaning that there were at times more children than adults, perhaps slavers found it easier to maintain children than adults
Black House

Jada Smith, LaChantel Allen-Sheppard, Daniel Hill, and Nick Daut

Our memorial is called “The Black House”, and it has many rooms that symbolize the hardships of enslaved Africans who endured the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Savannah was the perfect place to place a memorial due to the incredibly high amount of people that were sold on auction there. Every year on March 2nd and 3rd, Savannah observes a “Weeping Time” to mourn for the 429 that were sold in 1859, making it the largest amount of people sold in one day. First, you enter through the back door into the kitchen which shows how enslaved women predominantly worked inside. Here, they took on roles such as cooks, cleaners, servants, and also were in charge of looking after the children. From there you move to the kid’s room, which hints at shocking details about the amount of enslaved children that were torn from their families. In the basement, you’ll find holding pens and chains used for holding enslaved Africans on their voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. They were imported by the United States from major contributors like Brazil, who alone was responsible for 40% of all slave trade. You exit the basement into a warm, inviting, and colorful living room that shows how life was for Africans before the slave trade began.
Slave Ship Museum & Memorial

Sutton Smith, Dakota Grossman, Ankush Singh, and Carlos G. Vincenti Perez

Our museum functions as both a memorial and a recreation of the horrors that the enslaved encountered on their journey to America. The ship is located in Savannah, GA on River Street and takes Guests on a ride down the Savannah river while they can tour the historically accurate ship and see everything an enslaved person encountered. The bottom floor features a memorial with the names of many enslaved who died at sea. This is their story.
The Wanderer

Jaila Stathums, Kayla Arrington, Amya Glenn, and India Mobley

Our main objective of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade that we focused on was location and how each of the elements like historical background, voyages, and the people who had to endure the conditions collectively brought together our vision.

Considering Savannah, Georgia and its’ surrounding coastal islands, prominence in the historical context of the enslaved Africans, we felt the Wanderer Trans-Atlantic slave ship was the best choice for location and rich history. In order to pay tribute to enslaved Africans, we felt due to the location and historical background of The Wandered ,” memorial ship will best convey our message.
El Esclavo De Caribe

Kanise Triplett, Makenzie Bailey, Amaris Daniels, and Jasmine Harris

Focusing on the Caribbean aspect of the slave trade, Columbia was one of the most prominent locations that held enslaved people. Over 4,877,836 enslaved peoples were taken to the Caribbean.

This memorial is at the la quinta de san pedro in Santa Marta Colombia. This place is an old hacienda that that was worked on by slaves.
History of "Old Slave Mart"

Shayla Tyson, Shanella Thompson, Nedjaina Jovin, and Carolyn Jackson

After extensive amount of research we collectively agreed we wanted to showcase this history by taking the audience through a journey. A journey that would depicted the horror and pain enslaved Africans had to endure while being forced to migrate from their homes to a foreign place. After force migrating to “The New World” the enslaved people had to suffer through forced labor on plantations that would expect them to be die on in the next two years of their life. We wanted to make this memorial completely raw and uncut, adding on to a already existing place to hit you right as you walking in. We wanted you to see the horror and pain in these enslaved Africans faces. We wanted you to be in there shoes, feel every moment, empathize with these humans. Humans that were considered as cows, horses, dogs, work animals. We did this by showcasing statues every step of the way, from being captured and put on a boat that you would most likely die on during the journey to a coffee/cotton plantation where you would lose you true identity all the way down to you last name. Where you would be whipped out of the idea that it was better to be a slave rather than to be free. We wanted everyone to see how much history was lost and how this forced migration was the backbone of World History.
Transatlantic Slave Trade

Jasmine Vail-Gomez, Kendra Swayne, Trent Van Erem, and Dustin James Hudgins

We intend for our memorial to exist in two parts, as represented in the photograph in the center of the poster: a steamboat in the midst of the Chattahoochee River and, on the brick wall behind the steamboat in the photograph, a representation of this poster as a series of plaques affixed to the wall.
Wall Between the Family

Mikaela Wehking, Ashlyn Stafford, Roshin Roychan, and Alex Stewart

Our memorial will be located at the Liberty Theatre Cultural Center. The Cultural Center is located between 8th and 9th street and 7th and 8th avenue in downtown Columbus, Georgia. This location was ideal for slavers due to the close proximity with the Chattahoochee River.

Because our memorial has to do with families being torn apart, we decided that a Theatre and family environment would be a good place to put the monument with our goal being to draw the most emotion possible.