Routes of Enslaved Peoples

 Congratulations to RISD Professor Spencer Evans for his installation at the harbor in Bristol, Rhode Island, entitled Our Ancestors Come with Us. This work was dedicated on August 24 and is the culmination of the Bristol Port Project Marker Project and is now part of Routes of Enslaved Peoples, a global UNESCO network of projects.

It is a good reminder for those of us who are proud of New England's role in the abolition of slavery that New England also played a key part in establishing the cruel institution on this continent.

There is surely more to notice, but what caught my attention was the fact
that each of the elders has a forward foot planted firmly on a stone, while
the youngster is pushing off from a similar stone, propelled to a wide-open future.
Their backs are to the sea as they all face inland.

I created the map below because of my Google Map habit, which leads me to create simple maps when I find articles or web sites that should have a map but do not. On this map, the sites identified as part of the project by UNESCO are shown with blue markers; the red markers are for similar sites not identified on the Routes of Enslaved Peoples web site.

The first of these non-listed sites is very close to my former home in Annapolis, Maryland. I was aware of the significance of the site, as someone who watched Roots when it was first televised, long before I realized I would be living near the landing point of Alex Haley's ancestor, Kunta Kinte. It is embarassing that I was not aware of the memorial there -- very close to where I once had a summer job. I will make a point of visiting next time I am in Maryland.

An artistic commemoration of the horrendous Middle Passage in a very different form was Madonna's 2019 Batuka music video -- a collaboration with the women of Cidade Velha on the island of Santiago, Cabo Verde. This is one of the sites from which Portuguese colonizers transported people in bondage to Brazil. I have had the privilege of visiting during my 2006 and 2024 travel courses to the country. We will always be sure to include this sacred ground in any program in which we bring students to Cape Verde. As of this writing, Cidade Velha is not part of the Routes of Enslaved Peoples project, but it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.