It was my goal when I started this Black History Month series to focus on positive, uplifting stories of and about Black Americans. Stories about the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade are justifiably mired in sadness as the enslavement of Africans throughout the Americas was a traumatic experience and a horrific part of American and world history. A post on this period may seem inappropriate given the depressive subject matter, but this post is actually the opposite: this is a story of reclamation, empowerment, and triumphs. To this end it is my privilege to write about the great work of the organization Diving With A Purpose, who over a decade and a half has refocused attention on this suppressed history.
Diving With A Purpose began in 2003 as a partnership between Kenneth Stewart, of the National Association of Black Scuba Divers, and Brenda Lanzendorf, a maritime archaeologist. They met by happenstance through a project related to the discovery and documentation of the Guerrero, a slave ship wrecked off the Florida coast. Upon learning that up to 1000 slave ships had shipwrecked but only five had been discovered (and two documented) Stewart and Lanzendorf set out to create an organization dedicated to seeking out, documenting, preserving, and interpreting Trans-Atlantic Slave Ship Wrecks.
Since the inception of this project over 300 individuals have been trained in various scuba diving and maritime archaeological methods. While they have not managed to locate all of the potential 1000 ship wrecks they have fully documented at least one, located off the coast of South Africa just outside of Cape Town. Their efforts continue, and they have brought much needed attention to not only ship wrecked slave ships but the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and the historical, cultural, and economic effects it had on the Americas and world. This largely ignored portion of history is receiving the much needed attention that has long been overdue.
Diving With A Purpose continues through volunteer participation and the support of various institutions, including the Smithsonian Institution and George Washington University. Participants in this program receive all of the training necessary to locate, document, collect artifacts, and preserve maritime archaeological sites, and many report extreme satisfaction in this work. As Ayana Flewellen stated, “To be a person of African descendants working on the materiality of the Transatlantic Slave Trade – be it on land or at sea – is a healing process. It allows me to connect with my ancestors and bring their lives to the surface to be reckoned with, praised and honored.”
To learn more on how you can support or work with Diving With A Purpose please visit their website: https://divingwithapurpose.org/
Works Cited
Diving With A Purpose. (2019). About. Retrieved from Diving With A Purpose: https://divingwithapurpose.org/about-us/
Roberts, T. (2019, August 22). Diving into the unfolding history of wrecked slave ships. Retrieved from National Geographic: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2019/08/diving-unfolding-history-wrecked-slave-ships/
Taylor, M. E. (2020, April 8). Meet the black scuba divers searching for slave shipwrecks unfairly overlooked. Retrieved from Face 2 Face Africa: https://face2faceafrica.com/article/meet-the-black-scuba-divers-searching-for-slave-shipwrecks-unfairly-overlooked
5 comments:
I wonder what all these ships tell us about the history of the middle passage. I know that many Africans chose death over captivity and I wonder how many of these ship weeks were caused by slave rebellions or if these "dives with a propose" could provide evidence of such.
-Gavin G
Great Read! This article just showed some positivity within the history of my people. Though slavery was a traumatic and horrible time. I learned something new today by reading this article. I learned that archaeologist have shined light on the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade and even discover five out of the one thousand ships that were wrecked.
-Jasmine Hill
Tyler Roe said...
I enjoy reading articles like this. It helps shine a light on events like this. It provides proof that events like this actually happened. It can also provide insight into the conditions individuals suffered under during this process.
It is both fascinating and scary how many of those trade ships were wrecked and only a couple have been uncovered. However, the recoveries of the ships found gives a lens into what it was like to be on one of those trade ships and the conditions the slaves lived through. Along with that with so many ships undiscovered it leaves a vast margin of expansion and looks into the history of the slave trade. Renn Bullard
This article introduced me to another interdisciplinary field, maritime archeology. I am appreciative that this blog post informed me on ship wrecks during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. I wonder how Stewart and Lanzendorf found out that up to 1,000 ships had been wrecked, since only two have been documented. - Tala Caples
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