BMORENEWS.com

Ann L. Chinn, executive director of the Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project, and Professor Dale Green look over a display chronicling the role of Morgan State University in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

Thursday, August 23, 2012
Historic Fells Point, Broadway Pier
Baltimore, Maryland
Ceremonies Take Place at
Dawn, 6:00 am
and
Dusk, 7:15 pm

(BALTIMORE - August 18, 2012) - Baltimore’s Fells Point Harbor has been chosen as the first seaport for a long-delayed commemoration of Africans who perished in the Middle Passage from Africa to the New World. Ceremonies are planned for Thursday, August 23rd - which is the date the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) set aside as The International Day of Remembrance of the Slave Trade and of Its Abolition. After years of planning, the Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project (MPCPMP) selected Baltimore because many African Americans can trace their ancestry to this location as one of the earliest and largest centers in the Chesapeake region directly involved in the human trade of Africans. Scholars note that Fells Point is the location where Africans disembarked to be auctioned as chattel.

This sponsoring organization intends to begin a process of healing and reconciliation by honoring African ancestors in ceremonies that will take place over the next decade at approximately 175 seaports in North, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Europe. An estimated two to six million African died in the ocean migration over the course of more than 350 years. The Project also emphasizes that enslaved labor was crucial to the development of Baltimore, and provided for the economic and political development of the entire United States, the Americas, and Europe.

Much of the work entails bringing together educators, artists, students, activists and religious groups from many communities to take part. On the Broadway Pier at Fells Point, two ceremonies are planned: one at dawn (6:00am), the other at dusk (7:15pm) on August 23. These events will provide an opportunity for individuals and families to offer tribute to their ancestors by offering libation, drumming, prayer and calling the names of the deceased silently or out loud according to the preference of participants.
 
Estimated to take eight to ten years to complete, the group’s effort will encourage localities to conduct remembrance ceremonies and place physical markers at each port site. When commemorations have been completed in major seaports, ceremonies will take place on the east and west coasts of Africa. Ann Chinn, the Project’s executive director said, “All cultures bury and honor their dead. For those of us in the African Diaspora, we have the entire Atlantic Ocean as a burial ground. In effect, we are finally remembering our ancestors’ sacrifice and acknowledging the truth that as survivors we stand on their shoulders. I feel that we are keeping a promise to honor our ancestors and appreciate their contributions, beginning with those who died in the Middle Passage.”

The MPCPMP was incorporated in Florida as a tax-exempt non-profit organization. During its first year, efforts have been concentrated upon building partnerships, locating supporters, building a board, and pinpointing the geographic regions where discussions could be established with local groups. The Chesapeake region, because of its continual relevance to US history, particularly in Maryland and Virginia, is the group’s initial focus.
An important initiative was the creation of a weblog to discuss the Middle Passage and its relevance to contemporary society: www.middlepassageproject.org/blog. There have been more than 60 postings on site since its inception, and there are about four to five thousand returning readers per month logging on from around the world.
Further information is available at www.middlepassageproject.org/blog
Or by emailing middlepassagemarkers.com

Remembering Ancestors
"If the Atlantic were to dry up, it would reveal a scattered
pathway of human bones,
African bones marking the various routes
of the Middle Passage."
John Henrik Clarke
Middle Passage Ceremonies
and Port Markers Project, Inc.

Remembering Ancestors
"If the Atlantic were to dry up, it would reveal a scattered pathway of human bones, African bones marking the various routes
of the Middle Passage ."
- John Henrik Clarke

* Wear white and bring water for a personal libation if you wish.

Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project, Inc.
A Non-Profit Tax-Exempt Organization
Our Mission is to Honor Ancestors in the African Diaspora by:

• Commemorating the 2 to 6 million Africans who perished in the Middle Passage of the transatlantic slave trade
• Researching and identifying all ports of entry for Africans during the 350 years of the transatlantic slave trade
• Sponsoring remembrance ceremonies at each of more than 175 Middle Passage ports in 50 nations of North,
Central and South America, the Caribbean and Europe
• Planning final ceremonies on the east and west coasts of Africa by 2020
• Supporting installation of port markers to identify actual areas where, with the permission of the descendant
community, a permanent record can be established to honor those who died and those who survived the Middle
Passage
• Educating the community at large to the vital role that Africans and their descendants played in the development
of both local areas and nations
• Partnering with historical and cultural societies, academic institutions, churches, visitor and tourist bureaus, and
community organizations to promote African Diaspora history and culture, especially as it relates to the Middle
Passage.
 

For the Record: Maryland – Destination For Enslaved Africans For Many Centuries
The Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project, Inc.:
Telling the Story

When Baltimore commemorates African ancestors, scholarly research shows the extent of the triangular human trade in the Chesapeake region.

Historians have extensively researched ships’ cargo manifests and other maritime records to verify the extent to which Africans were transported to Maryland. The work of Professors David Eltis and David Richardson reveal the number of vessels and other business details, including port of origin, involved in the transport of humans from Africa to the Americas and Europe.

The following data from available records enumerate vessels destined for Maryland and their points of origin over the course of hundreds of years. These captives provided the economic base for a prosperous society that would become the United States of America.

Recorded Ships Importing Africans into Maryland (17th and 18th Centuries) *

Ship / Year / African Region of Embarkation
Blessing 1662 Senegambia
Thomas and Susannah 1689 Bight of Biafra & Gulf of Guinea
Thomas and Mary 1692
Hope 1695 Bight of Biafra & Gulf of Guinea
Loyal Society 1695
Society 1696, 1699
African Gally 1699
Fairfax 1699
Samuel and Margaret 1699
John Hopewell 1700
Betty Gally 1701
Endeavor 1702
Hunter Gally 1702 Bight of Biafra & Gulf of Guinea
Providence 1702, 1709 Senegambia
Dolphin 1704 Bight of Biafra & Gulf of Guinea
Adventure 1705, 1707
Dorset 1705
Olive Tree 1705, 1706 Senegambia
Providence 1706, 1725 Sierra Leone
Young Margaret 1707 Senegambia
Delight Gally 1708
Mary 1708 Gold Coast
Prosperous 1708 Senegambia
Margaret 1718 Sierra Leone
Elizabeth 1719 Bight of Benin
Elizabeth 1720 Gold Coast
Generous Jenny 1720 Gold Coast
Charles 1724, 1725
Mediterranean Gally 1725
Molly 1725, 1726
Leopard 1727
Dove 1728 Senegambia
Duke of London 1728, 1729, 1730
Claphon 1729, 1730, 1732 W. Central Africa & St. Helena
Arabella 1731, 1732, 1733 Senegambia
Herbert 1731 Senegambia
William and Betty 1732 Senegambia
Berkley 1734 W. Central Africa & St. Helena
Goldfinch 1734
Phoenix 1734 Senegambia
George 1736, 1740 Bight of Biafra & Gulf of Guinea
Europa 1737 W. Central Africa & St. Helena
Johnson 1737 W. Central Africa & St. Helena
Diana 1738, 1740 Bight of Biafra & Gulf of Guinea
Prince William 1738, 1739 W. Central Africa & St. Helena
Sea Nymph 1739 W. Central Africa & St. Helena
Europa 1740
Falcon 1740
Prince of Orange 1741, 1742 Bight of Biafra & Gulf of Guinea
Black Prince 1742 Sierra Leone
Defence 1742 W. Central Africa & St. Helena
London Frigate 1742 Sierra Leone
Planter 1742
Gambia Merchant 1743 Senegambia
Kouli Kan 1751, 1753 W. Central Africa & St. Helena
Elijah 1752 Gold Coast
Fox 1756 Sierra Leone
Friendship 1756
Nancy 1758, 1766
Prospect 1758 Sierra Leone
True Blue 1759 Gold Coast
Upton 1759, 1761 Senegambia
Venus 1759 Senegambia
Diamond 1760 Bight of Biafra & Gulf of Guinea
Edward 1760
Jenny 1760 W. Central Africa & St. Helena
Africa 1761
Alexander 1761 Bight of Biafra & Gulf of Guinea
Hawke 1761 Senegambia
Carolina 1762 W. Central Africa & St. Helena
Charming Molly 1762 Senegambia
Favourite Polly 1762 Gold Coast
Marques of Rockingham 1762 Gold Coast
Hannah 1763 W. Central Africa & St. Helena
Two Sisters 1763 Senegambia
Unity 1763 Senegambia
Friendship 1764 Senegambia
Britannia 1766
Lord Ligonier 1767 Senegambia
Matty 1768 Windward Coast
Lancaster 1770 Senegambia
Providence 1770 Senegambia
Mary & Samuel 1771 Senegambia
Success Packet 1771, 1772 Senegambia
Peggy 1773 Senegambia
Data obtained from Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, Emory University
Further Information available at www.middlepassageproject.org/blog
Or by email at middlepassagemarkers@gmail.com.

Tags: Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project (MPCPMP): Group Picks Baltimore as the First of Many Ports Commemorating the Transatlantic Middle Passage