Exhibit marks abolition of slavery
My, how far we've come.
You can read about the abolition of international slave trade in history books and see programs about it on the History Channel, but there's nothing like seeing the actual documents that set it into motion laid out at the Karpeles Manuscript Museum on Sping Street.
"What we have here is a collection of 30 pieces … and it's broken up into three parts," said Stephen White, executive director of the museum.
In the exhibit celebrating the 200th anniversary of the end of the slave trade, the first several documents are treaties between several countries to end the dehumanizing practice. Many were drawn up by Great Britain and signed by the leaders of Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands and others during the first half of the 1800s.
The second part of the series has agreements between countries about enforcing the laws against trading slaves, because even after many nations signed the original treaties, they continued the practice. It also has documents on how to spot ships that were carrying African natives to other countries against their will.
"England was really the driver in this," White said. "They were having to constantly come up with treaties to try and prevent continued slave trade."
The final batch of documents deals with abolition of buying and selling slaves specifically in the United States as well as important legal, literary and social pieces of history that contributed to the fight for the equal rights of blacks.
"If we only had the treaty to end slavery, we would only have half an exhibit," White said.
The special documents exhibit includes rare papers from the time period: documentation about the colonization of Liberia, the Mormon position on slavery signed by Brigham Young, the Supreme Court's majority opinion on the Dred Scott case, part of Harriet Beecher Stowe's original manuscript of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," the original "Roots" manuscript, and part of a handwritten speech by Martin Luther King Jr. The collection also has wrist and ankle shackles that were used on slave ships.
The exhibit was coordinated to coincide with College of Charleston's Carolina Lowcountry and Atlantic World Program's international symposium, "Ending the International Slave Trade: A Bicentenary Inquiry," March 26-29.
"We put it together for the conference, but we want it to be a Charleston community event," White said.
The importance of the collection has a personal significance to him. His ancestors have been here for many generations, and he grew up in Charleston during desegregation and civil rights struggles.
"I'm a historian and I think understanding history is a vital part of how we live today. We've made a lot of progress, but we still have a ways to go, and the best way to do that is to know what went on."
