To mark 400 years since Africans were first forced to North America
I will distribute 400 weekly words, offer 400 lessons, a bibliography of 400 works, and 400 commitments to confront systemic racism more directly, from 400 people.
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Before the Mayflower
As part of 400 Years I am hosting monthly book discussions about slavery and it’s legacy. We begin with Lerone Bennett Jr.’s Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America that chronicles evolving forms of racial oppression.
Many might feel overwhelmed by the book. It’s a study of how brutal white supremacy grew from indentured servitude to chattel slavery, reemerging after the Civil War as Jim Crow, the KKK, lynching, political and economic marginalization, segregation, redlining and, more recently, criminalization of poverty and dark skin. It would seem odd to discover such horror and not be overwhelmed.
I use the term “horror” intentionally, particularly in the context of American slavery. The horror arises when intense brutality mixes with a sense of surprise. The brutality is inherent in the system, but the surprise is rooted in the innocence and nativity of those privileged enough to avoid racism much of our lives.
Millions of other Americans of darker hues, however, are not so fortunate. Little seems to surprise them. This grim legacy lives on in impoverished neighborhoods, incarcerated family members, resurging white nationalism, and a history only recently confronted and far from processed. How can you process slave traders who broke the teeth of their cargo so they could force-feed them in preparation for sale? How do you process tossing the diseased to sharks that regularly followed slave ships?
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How do you process the story of Antoney, Isabella, Pedro, and 17 other Africans disembarking in Jamestown in August of 1619? When names replace numbers, do victims become real? Bennett writes, “The slave trade was not a statistic, however, astronomical. The slave trade was people living, lying, stealing, murdering, dying.”
When slavery ended methods changed, but oppression remained. Fredrick Douglass wondered, “…what new forms this old monster will assume, in what new skin this old snake will come forth next.” Did he anticipate the grotesque lynching of a pregnant Mary Turner 55 years after the Emancipation Proclamation? Reading about it in the 11th chapter of Before the Mayflower, I had to put the book down.
But my 400 Years project implores us to pick the book up again, to reject the solution of avoidance. My intention is not to overwhelm, but to generate a determination to confront what most whites are privileged enough to avoid. The weight of our history is great, but I hope we can bear it and grow strong enough to begin to deconstruct systemic racism.
- Lesson #2: It’s ok to occasionally feel overwhelmed, but stop being surprised.
- Lesson #3: Names make statistics more real.
- Lesson #4: It’s your choice to avoid or to engage with our historical racial legacy.
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Further recommended reading:
- The Slave Ship (2007), by Marcus Rediker – None other than Alice Walker said, “I was hardly prepared for the profound emotional impact of The Slave Ship: A Human History. Reading it established a transformative and never to be severed bond with my African ancestors who were cargo in slave ships over a period of four centuries."
- From Slavery to Freedom, by John Hope Franklin – Not the only book I will recommend by this master historian who only recently died.
- Baracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo,” by Zora Neale Hurston - Hurston’s skills as both an anthropologist and writer weave a fascinating true story.
- The Logbooks: Connecticut’s Slave Ships and Human Memory, Anne Farrow – a lesser known work that hit home in revealing my Yankee home state’s participation in the slave trade.
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Hugh Taft-Morales
Is the Ethical Culture Leader of the Baltimore and Philadelphia Ethical Societies. This is his independent project - as much a learning experience as a modest effort to help others become more committed to, and effective in, anti-racism work.
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Next blog topic:
Gifts from Africa's Past
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About this project:
This particular year-long commitment – which I am calling “400 Years” – is aimed mainly at people like me: people who identify as white, accept that racism gives them privileges, and want to confront systemic racism more consistently and constructively. Of course anyone can support the project, but my main hope is to encourage self-identifying whites who want to increase their efforts to confront racism and deconstruct white supremacy. I don’t intend on spending time trying to convince people who resist anti-racism activism. I want to help those who want to practice anti-racism to do it more often and more effectively.
This project will focus mainly on how racism in the United States has hurt Africans and their descendants. While non-whites from Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East are often brutal victims of racism, I have been taught most by victims who happen to be black.
So when white people wanting to be more active in anti-racism ask me, “Where do I start?”, I often say, “Start with the history. People of color have already shared their wisdom in countless writings from slave narratives to peer reviewed articles to award winning historical works.” The weight of 400 years of race-based oppression fuels my commitment. Perhaps it will help you with your own efforts to deconstruct white supremacy.
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