400 Years After First Slave Ship, Virginians Still Struggle with Race

Free Egunfemi, founder of Untold RVA, at the African Burial Ground in Richmond, Virginia. Photo by Rupa Shenoy/The World

Image 2. William Martin of the Valentine gallery in Richmond holds a new acquisition: a portrait of the enslaved man Gabriel, who attempted to hold the Virginia governor hostage to bargain for slaves' freedom. Photo: Rupa Shenoy/The World [click to expand]

"[Enslaved Africans] would come on ships right on the edge of the water," Egunfemi says. "Then [slave traders] would march them in the middle of the night because the wealthy Richmonders did not want to see people that have just come from a three-month journey from Africa. Barefoot. The smell was unbearable."
Link

By: Carolina Lopez

Summary:
Free Egunfemi, founder of Untold RVA and independent historian, shares Richmond's untold stories.  Gabriel, in the drawing, was a "hero" who tried to hold the governor of Virginia hostage in 1800 to bargain for freedom for slaves. Gabriel's rebellion failed after someone reported the plot. Gabriel and his conspirators were discovered and hung. Since 1600, the first enslaved Africans arrived in the English colonies. Because white Virginians used African slavery to expand the tobacco industry, they became the most powerful colony in the New World. Slaves like Gabriel fought back as white Virginians created a system of laws to oppress them in which other colonies and states used as a model. Karen Sherry, a museum curator, was putting together a special exhibit that would detail the history of enslaved Africans. She started the job in 2017, just weeks after a violent "Unite the Right" protest in Charlottesville occurred. Heather Heyer, an anti-hate protester, was killed by a white supremacist during the rally. This shows how till this day racism is still an issue towards society.

Opinion: My opinion on this article is that there will always be racism amongst the people. It won't go away until everyone stops caring about race and start seeing people for who they truly are. Hatred and the use of violence is taking over instead, which isn't right. Peace has to be contributed and the people need to start listening and understand what's right from wrong.

 Connection: I can connect this idea to the Dred Scott Case because Dred Scott was also a slave who who fought for his and his wife's freedom. Also, like Gabriel his word were shut down and uncared for like Scott's. 

Questions:
- Do you believe racism is still an issue in society?
- If so, why do you think till this day it is still happening?
- What do you think the people can do to get rid of it?






Comments

  1. Martin JorgensenFebruary 3, 2019 at 9:52 AM

    Hi. Unfortunately, I agree with you that there probably will always be some people who chose to make race or skin colour the basis for how they view other people. When I went to read the article you based your post on, it occurred to me that even though it deals with racism and the treatment of African American slaves in the past, the main message if the article is how we today remember the past. The artist, Egunfemi, seems to be raising that question and that is the reason she is re-doing these old and disappearing drawings. That then raises the question what can we do - or what should we do - the keep the past alive and help educate future generations about the mistakes of the past. Would you agree that this is an important part of the article, and if so do you have any ideas about what would be something that we could do locally?

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