Monuments and Memorials of the Slave Trade and its Abolition
The meanings of memorials
Lubaina Himid gave a talk at the STAMP launch on the meanings of memorials and their significance for later generations: "Memorials"
History of memorials round the world
Probably the first purpose built memorial to be raised anywhere in the world was an arch which commemorated the abolition of slavery in the British Empire, the Anti Slavery Arch. It was erected by Henry Wyatt in 1834 at the entrance to his home near Stroud in Gloucestershire. It survives and was given a facelift in 2000. Despite the resonances of slavery and its importance historically to the Americas, Africa and Europe there are still remarkably few memorials as we approach the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade on both sides of the Atlantic (1807 in Britain and 1808 in the United States).
If anything the record of the government of the United States is even worse than the European powers. Of course, memorials exist, not least the impressive 14 foot, bronze-relief statue sculpted by Ed Hamilton in 1992. This uniquely three-sided piece built on the site of the New Haven Jailhouse memorialises the 1839 rebellion on the Amistad.
Also, in the early nineties, with the discovery of the remains of an African burial ground in New York City, Barbara Chase-Riboud was commissioned to construct a monument in their memory. This Africa Rising was installed on Lower Broadway in 1998 "as a compelling milestone in monumental public sculpture at the fin-de-siecle" (Selz). This 20 foot magnificent bronze statue with silver patina is topped out with a flowing African female figure.
Chase-Riboud spurred on by the success of this memorial lobbied Congress for a permanent federal memorial specifically to commemorate the victims of the middle passage. However, hers and others’ efforts have led to little success. The Homeward Bound Foundation did manage in 1999 to have constructed a monument to the dead of the Transatlantic slave trade which was deposited on the ocean bed 427km off New York facing Africa. Subsequent attempts to have related land-based monuments erected by the group have not met with success.
In the Caribbean there has been relatively more activity. Especially prevalent are memorials to slave rebel leaders and maroons rather than to victims of the slave trade. In the British Caribbean, the most noteworthy monument is the Emancipation Statue in Barbados. Erected in 1985 and sculpted by Karl Broodhagen, it depicts a male slave figure breaking his chains. Many on the island relate the sculpture to the slave rebel Bussa who led 400 rebels against the Crown in 1816.
More recently in Jamaica, a memorial to Nanny leader of the rebels in the First Maroon War was raised in National Heroes Park, Kingston, Jamaica. An interesting feature of the memorial to the Asante-descended warrior is that it reproduces the sound of the Abeng, an instrument used by the fighters. Maroons also feature in many memorials in Dutch Suriname and Curacao and French Martinique showing the ubiquity of the figure of the slave casting off his chains. The national Tula Monument in Curacao commemorates the slave rebellion of 1795. Sculpted by Nel Simon and erected in 1998, it shows three leaders of the rebellion using a hammer and an anvil to set themselves free.
Much of the memorial activity in Africa is centred on the slave forts of the West Coast in Senegal and Ghana. Of particular interest are plans for an ambitious slavery interpretation centre/memorial at Goree Island on Senegal which is being planned with the help of the UNESCO Slave Routes Project which has given impetus to many memorial activities throughout the Atlantic triangle. Smaller scale memorials include many works of art and statuary collected at the old slaving post of Albreda in The Gambia.
Benin has been in the forefront of monumental activity with especial activity at Ouidah: in addition the government was presented with a Reconciliation Sculpture by the City of Liverpool in 2005. Around 4 metres high the sculpture included iconography from and information about the slave trade. Rochester, Virginia will also receive a copy of the sculpture as atonement for Liverpool’s history of enslaving Africans and transporting them to the Americas.
Ironically, Liverpool itself has no monument to slavery on its own quayside. Britain’s record has been lamentable since Wyatt’s early arch and most recently in 2001 meetings between the government of Tony Blair and black activists led by Lee Jaspers to establish a national monument broke up in acrimony.
Local initiatives have been more successful including a dynamic new quayside memorial in Lancaster unveiled in October 2005.
Sculpted by Kevin Dalton Johnson and raised by the Slave Trade Arts Memorial Project (STAMP), the memorial, in the shape of a ship with acrylic blocks inlaid with materials explaining the story of the trade and its iconography has showed the possibilities of small-scale memorialisation without governmental support.
Elsewhere in Europe, a memorial is planned in Nantes in time for the 2007 commemorations whilst there is virtually no monumental activity around slavery in Portugal or Spain. By far the most successful national response to their part in the international slave trade has come in the Netherlands. Their national monument, opened by Queen Beatrice in 2002 and placed centrally in Amsterdam’s Oostpark is a large multi-figure composition by the Surinamese sculptor Erwin De Vries, the Nationaal Slavernij Monument.
The figures arranged in the shape of a large vessel depict the story of the trade: firstly slaves are under the yoke before breaking through an arch to create a large exultant female figure shaped like the prow of a ship. This memorial intended by the organising committee to “give to people a public place and symbol where the horrors of, and struggle against slavery can be commemorated” is an example to those governments on both sides of the Atlantic that have failed to raise national monuments to their shameful pasts.
Other Memorials
Sambo's Grave Rev. James Watson, near Lancaster, UK
Samuel Ally's Grave Old Kirk Braddan Church, Isle of Man, UK
Martin's Bank Liverpool, UK
Pero's Bridge Bristol, UK
Emancipation Day Parade Washington DC
William Wilberforce Monument Hull
Mount Vernon Slave Memorial Virginia
Buxton Memorial Fountain Victoria Tower Gardens, London
Sojourner Truth Mars Rover NASA
Lovejoy Monument Alton, Illinois
Zonm Lib Monument, Mahe, Seychelles
