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CENTER FOR TEACHING
FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
Gevirtz Graduate School of Education
University of California, Santa Barbara

INTERESTED IN TEACHING ABOUT THE HENRIETTA MARIE EXHIBIT - A Slave Ship Speaks: The Wreck of the Henrietta Marie?

What is it?

A Slave Ship Speaks: The Wreck of the Henrietta Marie
April 14 – May 28, 2002
Karpeles Manuscript Library
21 W. Anapamu Street
Santa Barbara, CA

Three hundred years ago, the slave ship Henrietta Marie sank off the coast of Key West, Fla. A major traveling exhibition featuring its artifacts will open April 14 at the Karpeles Manuscript Library. The exhibition is part of an unprecedented tour that will last well into the year 2002. More than 500,000 people have already visited the exhibition in cities including Memphis, Tenn.; Norfolk, Va.; Rockford, Ill.; Fort Worth, Texas; Charlotte, N.C.; Detroit; Chicago and Los Angeles. With its Santa Barbara stop, the tour is visiting a mid-sized city that is not an urban center for the first time.

Organized by the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society (MFMHS) in Key West, the exhibition has been brought to Santa Barbara by the Building Bridges Coalition.

The display is comprised of artifacts and objects recovered from the Henrietta
Marie, an English merchant slave ship, the only ship of its kind to be found in American waters.

Why is this important?

The Henrietta Marie was not a special ship when it was built. It did not go on any world-famous voyages or discover any new lands. It was a common merchant ship just like lots of other merchant ships from the1600s but it is special to us now because it is
the only ship of its kind, a slave trading vessel, that historians have been able to find and identify in American waters. It is also special because the Henrietta Marie is our only link to slave trading ships, the people who sailed them, the cargo they carried, and
the horrible conditions Africans were forced to endure in slave ships while crossing the Atlantic Ocean. (Education Unit of the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, 2000, p.1, http://www.wvculture.org/museum/Marie/henrietta.pdf )

The Henrietta Marie symbolizes in many ways the beginning of America's long-awaited coming to terms with a national trauma, an invitation for our collective healing to proceed. Her sparse remains and history-laden artifacts confront us squarely with the tangible evidence of a past which can be neither changed nor denied. But from such a
confrontation comes knowledge, and with knowledge comes the power to shape our present and future so as not to repeat the errors and misdeeds of our past. Though her mission was born of greed and driven by the dark forces of corruption, ignorance and fear, the Henrietta Marie has reemerged in our time as a beacon of hope. Hers is a story that must be told. (Dr. Dinizulu Gene Tinnie for the Historical Museum of Southern Florida, 2000, http://www.historical-museum.org/exhibits/hm/sss.htm )

The Henrietta Marie exhibit provides multiple opportunities for academic study and social action, both around issues of slavery and as a "case study" that can lead to other areas for study and engaging with the complex issues it represents.

Click on "What Do I Need to Know to Do This?" for ideas and resources for preparing the mind for, engaging with, and taking action on and/or from the complex issues represented by the Henrietta Marie exhibit - A Slave Ship Speaks: The Wreck of the Henrietta Marie.

Historical Context and Content for the Henrietta Marie exhibit
A Slave Ship Speaks: The Wreck of the Henrietta Marie

The Henrietta Marie

    The Henrietta Marie was not a large ship. It was constructed of wood, was 60 feet long, weighed 120 tons and had a center mast 50 feet tall. The Henrietta Marie was an English-owned ship that originally belonged to the French. The French used the ship has a war ship. It was captured by the English and sold to English merchants. The new owners refitted the ship and renamed it the Henrietta Marie.
    The Henrietta Marie made two voyages as a slave ship. Since the ship had many cargo areas, it could carry many different kinds of materials to sell and trade. It could carry about 200 Africans in the cargo area.
    The Henrietta Marie began its second voyage as a slave ship in September, 1699. It arrived in Africa in December, 1699, and in Jamaica in May, 1700. Soon after, while returning to England, the Henrietta Marie sank off the coast of Florida, where it remained until it was discovered some 300 years later.
    The Henrietta Marie was initially discovered almost by accident. The divers who first found it were looking for a Spanish merchant ship called the Atocha. Unfortunately, because the ship was made of wood, much of it had deteriorated, including the board that had the name of the ship. The divers soon found out that this was not the Atorcha and they moved on. Ten years later, in 1983, a young man named David Moore, a diver and marine archaeologist who worked for Mel Fisher, a man interested in recovering underwater treasure from sunken ships, decided to return to the mystery ship. His team of divers discovered that this had been a British slave ship, but still had no name for it, until one day, one of the divers discovered the ship’s bell. After removing some of the marine growth that covered the bell, Moore and the other divers found the name “Henrietta Marie” and the date “1699” on the bell.
    The bell was the key to unlocking the mysteries of the Henrietta Marie. With the name and the year, researchers could search through old records to discover the ship’s history.
    In 1992, Oswald Sykes, a member of the National Association of Black Scuba Divers, became the head of the organization’s Henriette Marie Project Committee. The members of this association raised the money to create a memorial project. In 1993, the divers placed a memorial plaque in the water at the ship’s site. The plaque is inscribed with the following words:

IN MEMORY AND
RECOGNITION OF THE COURAGE,
PAIN AND SUFFERING OF
ENSLAVED AFRICAN PEOPLE.

SPEAK HER NAME AND GENTLY TOUCH
THE SOULS OF OUR ANCESTORS.

(Source: West Virginia State Museum and Cultural Center, Teachers Guide: Mending an Era ~ A Slave Ship Speaks: The Wreck of the Henrietta Marie, prepared by the Education Unit of the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, 2000)

For an additional historical overview of the transatlantic slave trade, conditions aboard ships, conditions on the plantations, the end of slavery, information on why boats float and on underwater archaeology, you may link here to the West Virginia site and the Teachers Manual for that exhibit: http://www.wvculture.org/museum/Marie/henrietta.pdf .

For ideas and additional resources, click on "What Do I Need to Know to Do This?"

Teachers wanting to make reservations to bring their classes to the exhibit should either call 961-2519 and leave a message or e-mail danigrp1@pacbell.net.

Those wanting to volunteer as docents for this tour should also call this number. Training sessions in addition to those held April 10-13 will be scheduled. High School students receive Community Service hours for
volunteering as docents.

When is the Henrietta Marie Exhibit open to the public?

The Henrietta Marie exhibit is open beginning Monday, April 15. The public may visit the exhibit on Saturdays and Sundays, from 10-6, and on weekdays from 4-6 p.m. Docent-led tours will be scheduled. Other weekday hours will be reserved for school tours.

What else will be happening in our community during the time the exhibit is in Santa Barbara?

Upcoming events scheduled to begin in April to coincide with the Henrietta Marie exhibit include the following:

April 11
Freedom Seder, Congregation B'nai B'rith, 1000 San Antonio Creek Rd. 6 p.m.
Sponsored by Jewish Community Relations Council and BBCC

April 12-26
Window display, slave quilts, at Saks. These are authentic quilts made by slaves, displayed with a slave-made "mammy bench" rocking bench/cradle.

April 12-May 31
"Slavery and Slave Trade in the Americas" exhibit, UCSB Davidson Library, 1st floor (new book area and by the 8-floor elevators: ask any employee where to find the special exhibits) - displays of children's books, art material,
historical documents, etc. on slavery. NOTE: UCSB Library has many items related to slavery in its
special collections. To find out about arranging special tours of these collections, contact Sylvia Curtis at
<curtis@library.ucsb.edu> or 893-3454.

April 12-14
"The World Behind the World: Reflections, Reconciliation and Renewal" Pacific Graduate Institute
(805) 969-3626 x 103

April 14
Patrons lunch and private viewing of the exhibit

April 14-June 30
"Faces of Freedom" Photographic show sponsored by Santa Barbara Jewish Federation, 524 Chapala Street

April 16
4 p.m., UCSB Women's Center Library (contact: Sharon Hoshida, <HOSHIDA-S@sa.ucsb.edu> )

"A Civil Ambush Flipping the Panoptophilic Script; Or Drama on the Steps of the White House: Mary Todd Lincoln, Elizabeth Keckley, and Panoptic Economies of Visibility Behind the Scenes"

SUZETTE A. SPENCER, Lecture / Women's Center Library. For four years Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley served as First Lady Mrs. Mary Todd Lincoln's personal confidante, advisor, designer and "modiste." When Mary Todd Lincoln found herself in a state of insolvency following President Lincoln's death, it was to Elizabeth Keckley that she turned to aid in what would become known in history as the "old clothes" debacle. Though Elizabeth Keckley would try to advise Mrs. Lincoln as a "friend," she found herself in an untenable situation because she was also an employee in the Lincoln family, and an ex-slave employee at that. This presentation examines Elizabeth Keckley's slave narrative Behind the Scenes in order to flesh out the economies of visibility, staging, and specularity that converge in the narrative. The discussion sheds light on the ambivalent relationship between Lincoln and Keckley and the old clothes spectacle at New York in 1867. Using "maroonage" as a theoretical instrument, the presentation reads Behind the Scenes as a civil ambush.

April 18
5 p.m., Multicultural Center, UCSB, "The Transatlantic Slave Trade and the United States: Thinking About It, Teaching It"
ROBERT P. FORBES, Lecture and Discussion (Contact: Alyaa El-Abbadi <ELABBADI-A@sa.ucsb.edu> )
Now involved with the UNESCO Transatlantic Slave Trade Project, which is dedicated to raising awareness among students about the slave trade, Professor Robert P. Forbes will discuss the integral role the transatlantic slave trade played in the creation of the United States. He will also explore innovative current approaches to making the story of slavery and its destruction a more vital part of the grade school curriculum, especially beyond the South. Professor Forbes is a Lecturer in History and Associate Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University.

April 18
Human Relations Commission hosts So. County Town Hall Forum 105 E. Anapamu 7:30-8:30 p.m.

April 20
2 p.m. - InterActions performance and discussion, Karpeles Manuscript Library, 21 W. Anapamu St. Presented by the National Conference for Community and Justice, Contact: Jarrod Schwartz, 682-5209, <schwart@nccj.org>. NCCJ's InterACTions programs use professional theatrical performances as a starting point for dialogue on challenging human relations topics. At every InterACTions performance, audience members participate in a pre-show activity, watch a 40-minute play and then participate in a follow-up conversation facilitated by a human relations specialist.

May 2-4
Major National Conference: The Legacy of Slavery. Located at Corwin Pavilion, UCSB, and sponsored by the Center for Black Studies. Conference attendance is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC; please register at: http://research.ucsb.edu/cbs/lectures/legacy/legacyofslavery.html

8 p.m., Center Stage Theater, Paseo Nuevo. AYO'S JOURNEY is the new theatre piece being created in Santa Barbara by Dramatic Women in a performative style based on West African music, dance and storytelling traditions. The gripping story focuses around a young African girl who is kidnapped from her village, carried off with other captives and put aboard a slave ship, bound for a strange new land. Tickets, $15 general and $12 students and seniors, are available at the Center Stage Box office 963-0408 or online at www.centerstagetheater.org

Watch this space for additional events scheduled in conjunction with "A Slave Ship Speaks: The Wreck of the Henrietta Marie" exhibit.