“Until the lion learns how to write, every story will glorify the hunter” – African Proverb

“’We believe the one who has the power.  He is the one who gets to write the story.  So when you study history, you must always ask yourself, Whose story am I missing?  Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth?  Once you have figured that out, you must find that story too.  From there, you begin to get a clearer, yet still imperfect, picture.’” – Yaa Gyasi. Homegoing

I’m currently reading Written in the Waters by Tara Roberts. It’s a memoir that recounts her story as she learns about and joins Diving With a Purpose. DWP researches ships that carried enslaved people stolen from  Africa, ships that were lost a sea, often with enslaved people aboard when the ship sank. A large part of their mission is to recognize those who were enslaved in Africa and transported to via the Middle Passage to the Americas. I’m learning a lot. There is no complete historical record. That said, estimates are that as many as 12.5 million people were kidnapped and removed from Africa. There are records of over 9,600 vessels making approximately 36,000 trips. Somewhere around 14% didn’t survive the trip, meaning somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 million dying in transit.  In recognition of Juneteenth I’ll be posting the name of one vessel each day including the number of people who boarded the ship and the number that survived the transit.

First, a bit of surprise. My research was a lot easier than expected. A big part of the MAGA world is to erase parts of our country’s history that are “uncomfortable” for some white people, facts that show the reality of slavery and the impacts race and racism have had, and continue to have, on our country. Hence my surprise when I did a search and found that I could visit a National Endowment for the Humanities website and download data containing all the known ship crossings.

For this first day I’m going to present two ships: ‘Peace’ and ‘Prudence’. Yes, those are real names. It’s somehow sick to name a ship that carried enslaved people as cargo ‘Peace’

A note: it is possible that more than one ship had the listed name.

The Ugliness is the Hope.

Resist. Persist. Oppose. Propose. Be the opposition with a proposition.

Be the Pebble