Published: August 2, 1999
United States To Receive First On-Land Middle Passage Monument
On Friday, July 16, 1999, Homeward Bound Foundation president Wayne James announced that the United States will receive the first of the six on-land Middle passage Monuments scheduled to be erected between the years 2000 and 2005 in the six regions of the world where the transatlantic slave trade occurred, namely Africa, the Caribbean, Central America, Europe, North America and South America. Plans are to unveil the U.S. monument on July 3, 2000, exactly one year after the original Middle Passage Monument was lowered onto the door of the Atlantic Ocean, 427 kilometers off New York's harbor, facing Africa.
"The purpose of the ocean monument is to serve as a gravestone on the world's largest graveyard, the Atlantic Ocean's infamous Middle Passage, where estimated millions of African people died en route to the transatlantic slave trade between the 15th and 19th centuries, their bones forming a trail from Africa to the Americas. The purpose of the on-land monuments is to encourage the global, collective healing from the slave trade and its aftermath of racism," said Wayne James.
Five other on-land monuments will be placed annually following the North American Middle Passage Monument: South America in 2001, the Carribbean in 2002, Europe in 2003, Central America in 2004, and Africa in 2005.
The following 10 criteria were considered in choosing the United States over Canada and Mexico for the North America monument:
1) The historic significance of the proposed site-country in the slave trade between the 15th and 19th centuries.
2) The presence of African- and/or African Diaspora-related activities and facilities in the proposed site-country (ex. museums, university degree programs, libraries, festivals).
3) The African and/or African Diaspora population in the proposed site-country.
4) The political stability of the proposed site-country.
5) The governmental interest in the Middle Passage Monument.
6) The proposed site-community's interest in the Middle Pasage Monument (ex. signed petitions, letters of support from community organizations and individuals, academic papers).
7) The presence of civil rights laws and/or policies protecting the interests of all minority groups, regardless of race, nationality, color, gender, sexual orientation, and religion).
8) The tourism-related infrastructure of the proposed site-country.
9) The overall appropriateness of the proposed site-country.
10) The overall appropriateness of the specific site.
"There were significant arguments in favor of each country," said Wayne
James. " The 12 -member panel, after much consideration, concluded that
the United States was in the best position to embrace the Monument Project,
setting the standard for the other recipient regions to follow . The order
in which the various regions were designated to receive their respective
monuments was determined by drawing lots, the first region drawn receiving
the first monument and the last receiving the last," James said.
At the suggestion of the HBF, the Congressional Black Caucus, led by Congresswomen Donna Christian-Christiansen and Cynthia McKinney, is in the process of securing federal land in the following cities as potentional sites for the Middle Passage Monument: Washington, DC; Savannah, GA; New York, NY; Charleston, SC; and Alexandria, VA. The HBF is also considering state/municipal sites in Newport, RI; Boston, MA; New York; NY; Newark, NJ; Philadelphia, PA; Baltimore, MD; Washington, DC; Alexandria, VA; Charleston, SC; Savannah, GA; and New Orleans, LA.
Designed by a multi-racial team of seven metal artists on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the on-land monuments will feature a cubism-inspired, 50-foot arch made of brushed aluminum. The three-part arch symbolizes the need for the past, present, and future to converge in order for cultural identity and pride to be realized. A 100-foot, granite walkway, each foot representing an estimated million African people who perished during the transatlantic slave trade, will be inscribed with the history of Africa and the Diaspora, ancient and modern, hieroglyphics, symbols, significant dates, events, names, and places. "Our goal is to create a monument which all serve as a symbolic pilgrimage, physically, culturally, and spiritually , back to Africa," James said. "The on-land monument will encourage discourse, education, understanding, and healing from the atrocities of the slave trade," James concluded.
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