Inheriting the Trade

One of the most influential scholars in the field of African history recently died. Philip Curtin helped found the African Languages and Literature Department at the University of Wisconsin; the first such department in the United States according to the American Historical Association (AHA). He passed away June 4 at the age of 87.

His book The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Census was a landmark. Prior to its publication in 1969, estimates of the number of African people stolen from their homeland ranged from a few million to 200 million. Curtin began by studying two widely used previous estimates and traced the numbers back to their origins. Then, by scrutinizing ship documents and port data, he applied quantitative methods to arrive at his own estimate of nine to ten million people, with a twenty percent margin of error. Though his work raised additional questions it provided the impetus for others who followed him to locate more and more records and refine historical accounts and estimates.

Curtin also questioned the predominately Eurocentric view of history and pioneered a new body of scholarship on Africa and other aspects of world history. I don’t believe it is overstating the case to say it was the influence of Curtin’s efforts that have resulted in people now being able to understand so much more about the history of the slave trade, the Atlantic world, the impact of the British empire, and Africa itself.

I am indebted to Philip Curtin for increasing interest in the field of African studies, and changing the way it is taught in schools, so that today much more scholarship is available than ever before. Though I did not use Curtin’s work directly in my own research for Inheriting the Trade (I relied primarily on more recent scholarship) many of the sources I did utilize site Philip Curtin’s work.

Significantly more information is now available than in 1969. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database now shows that Curtin was more accurate than many who came before him. Estimates now are that roughly twelve and a half million people left Africa in the holds of slave ships. Approximately 85% of them survived the journey through the Middle Passage to the West Indies or North and South America.

By having a more accurate account of history we are able to understand more clearly the “hows and whys” of our present conditions. Those who appreciate the importance history owe a debt of gratitude to Philip Curtin.

Does anyone out there know Chris Matthews, host of Hardball on MSNBC? I’d like to send him a copy of my book, Inheriting the Trade. My impression is that, like my own, his education lacked some aspects of our nation’s history that have been kept hidden from students.

Most of you know that last week the United States Senate unanimously passed S. Con. Res. 26 apologizing for the enslavement and racial segregation of African-Americans.

I wrote about this–so won’t repeat myself–on June 15. Read my post here. Also read my cousin James DeWolf Perry’s excellent post here about why apologies are both important and troublesome.

My focus today is on the mixed reaction the apology has received. Chris Matthews certainly had a strong reaction. Watch as he interviews Reps. Steve Cohen and Jim Clyburn here. Though Matthews seems to support repairing the lingering damage from the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow he blames it all on the South. Here’s what he said to Rep. Cohen (who sponsored H.Res. 194, the House apology bill that passed in July 2008):

Why should the whole country apologize for what a good half or more of the country got killed opposing, sir?

You’re from Tennessee… why should anybody apologize for your sins?

Like many people, Mr. Matthews views the North as home to the valiant abolitionists who fought and died in the Civil War forcing the rebels to end the horrible institution of slavery. What’s missing from this view is the fact that the vast majority of slave trading was done by northerners, with northern financing, on northern ships, out of ports in New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and other northern states. What’s also missing is the fact that African people and their descendants were enslaved in the North for over 200 years. The final laws ending slavery in various northern states weren’t enacted until the 1840’s, less than two decades before the Civil War.

The residual effects of the legacy of slavery in the North are also not widely taught in schools. Segregation and discrimination after the Civil War were not limited to the South. Far from it. As described in detail by James Loewen in his book Sundown Towns, cities, counties, and even some entire states prohibited people of African descent from residing within their boundaries. Read When Affirmative Action Was White, by Ira Katznelson, for a clear explanation of how government policies contributed directly to racial inequity throughout the United States.

Chris Matthews, and many others like him, are in a powerful position to impact the public dialogue. Whatever we all can do to support them in understanding and explaining the full history of our nation, including the shameful parts, will be another step on the long journey to living up to the ideals upon which this great nation was founded.

So is an apology for slavery and its aftermath by the U.S. Congress appropriate and necessary on behalf of all of the United States? Without hesitation I say “Yes. Absolutely. It is a good first step.”

I encourage you to listen to this interview from yesterday (June 24) on NPR’s Tell Me More with Daniel Smith, a former Civil Rights worker and son of a man born into slavery in 1862, and my cousin Katrina Browne, creator of the film of our family journey, Traces of the Trade.

Daniel Smith says:

The apology represents men and women of good faith trying to come to grips with the problem of slavery in our country and the historical impact its had on the nation; not just on blacks–on this country. To me it represents a first step by the government to recognize the wrongs that were done to the citizens of this country.”

Katrina Browne says:

As white folks we don’t have to feel like its a personal apology, as if we did it, but I do feel that acknowledging, having white people really see and take to heart that which was suffered and the consequences of it that are still with us today opens a channel of basic human decency and the connection and dialogue that can lead us to figure out where we go next.”

Where we go next… that’s the real issue.

Some movies must be seen by everyone who is serious about understanding the world as it presently functions. I.O.U.S.A. is one of those films.

I can’t prove this but I have a hunch that in the late 1980’s something shifted with the release of The Thin Blue Line and Roger & Me. I believe these two films changed the way documentaries were made and that documentary films became more influential in the public discourse as a result of these groundbreaking movies by Errol Morris and Michael Moore.

I can testify personally to the fact that, even though I believe they’ve become more influential, getting a documentary film produced hasn’t gotten any easier. It took my cousin Katrina Browne a decade to raise necessary funds and complete the film of our family journey, Traces of the Trade.

I’ve seen some incredible docs over the years. Those that come immediately to mind as some of the best over the past few decades include Hoop Dreams, Crumb, When We Were Kings, My Brother’s Keeper, The War Room, and Streetwise, which was shot on the streets of Seattle (Northwest plug there…).

At the Sundance Film Festival in January 2008–where Traces had its world premiere–there was no shortage of amazing documentaries. I heartily recommend Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, Nerakhoon (The Betrayal), The Order of Myths, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, and Slingshot Hiphop.

But of all the documentary films that I’ve seen in the past few years the most timely, provocative, and important is I.O.U.S.A. (which also premiered at Sundance 2008).

I.O.U.S.A. deserves to have the attention paid to it that An Inconvenient Truth had a couple years ago. If you want to understand why we are in the financial crisis we are in, and what is required to repair the damage, this unflinching, non-political (by this I mean it doesn’t take partisan sides–this is VERY political in the sense of dealing with the structure/operations of government and the impact on people and society) is REQUIRED VIEWING (you can watch the 30-minute version of the film here).

This isn’t about a filmmaker crying “doomsday” (though if radical changes aren’t made in the way our government and “we the people” operate we will be in far worse shape than we are today). It’s a film that shows us where we are, how we got here, and proposes solutions to prevent our grandchildren from having a far different standard of living than most of us would like to leave them.

The Thin Blue Line and Roger & Me changed the way documentaries are made. I.O.U.S.A. will change the way you see the world.

Anne Frank and Medgar Evers

June 12, 2009.

46 years ago today Medgar Evers was murdered in his driveway in Jackson, Mississippi by a white supremacist. He was the NAACP Field Secretary in Mississippi. Medgar’s efforts were instrumental in the desegregation of the University of Mississippi. He investigated the disappearance of Emmett Till, who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955.

80 years ago today Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt, Germany. Less than 16 years later she died of Typhus in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at the end of World War II. She and her family spent two years in hiding in Amsterdam during which time she kept a diary. The family was betrayed in August 1944. All but Anne’s father Otto soon perished in the camps.

Medgar was targeted because he was black. Anne was targeted because she was Jewish.

Violence. Hatred. Racism. Intolerance. Fear.

Two days ago another white supremacist went to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. Security guard Stephen Johns intended to help an elderly gentleman by opening the door for him. Moments later Johns was dead. Based on what I’ve read regarding the assailant’s views about black people I have no doubt that Stephen was shot because he was black. I also have no doubt that Stephen Johns’ death saved other lives.

Janet Langhart Cohen’s play Anne and Emmett was to premiere Wednesday night at the Holocaust Museum. The cast and crew were there rehearsing. Her husband, William Cohen, was there waiting for Janet to arrive. Anne and Emmett dramatizes the imagined after-death meeting between Anne Frank and Emmett Till in a place called Memory. As they discuss the discrimination both experienced due to their ethnicity they conclude that hatred is based in fear.

I sit stunned as I write these words. Why does this insanity continue? When will it end? Violence. Hatred. Racism. Intolerance. Fear. Again and again.

I feel profound sadness for, and send my thoughts and prayers to, the family and friends of Stephen Johns.

Anne Frank and Medgar Evers are linked by more than birth and death on June 12. They were both people of hope. Their legacies, and those of Emmett Till and Stephen Johns, can serve as beacons of inspiration for anyone who believes in justice, equality, and peace.

The question I ask myself today, and the question I hope readers of these words will ask themselves, is “What is my personal commitment to justice? What will I do for equality and peace?”

I took this photo while visiting Trinidad, Cuba in 2001 during our family journey that became my book, Inheriting the Trade, and my cousin Katrina Browne’s film Traces of the Trade, which P.O.V. aired on PBS last summer. I always pay close attention to news about Cuba.

My wife Lindi forwarded me the following e-mail she received from Orbitz today…

At Orbitz we believe passionately in the power of travel to transform lives. And we believe that people should have the freedom to travel wherever they choose.

Americans today have the right to travel to any country in the world except Cuba. Three weeks ago, we launched www.OpenCuba.org, a campaign that gives people a way to petition U.S. leaders to end the 50-year Cuba travel ban and give all Americans the freedom to travel to Cuba.

With Congress considering the bipartisan Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act, the opportunity to end the 50-year ban hangs in the balance.

We recognize that some of you may have different perspectives on this subject; however, our position on this is premised on two core beliefs:

• People should have the freedom to travel where they choose

• Travel — and the resulting exchange of ideas between people from different countries — can be a powerful force for positive change

Thank you for considering our request to join us on this issue.

I fully support opening up relations, communications, travel, and all other forms of cooperation between the United States and Cuba. It is absurd that we are such warm partners with China and several other repressive governments yet continue to impose failed Cold War policies against our neighbor off the coast of Florida.

I’m not going to sign the Orbitz petition. It just feels a little too odd to me to sign a petition to support freedom of travel to Cuba led by a travel company.

That said, I am exceedingly encouraged that a major company like Orbitz would take such a step. That would never have happened even five years ago. They would have been too fearful of both political backlash and the response from customers.

I totally loved Stephen Colbert’s hilarious take on opening up Cuba. It seems to me that the winds of change are indeed blowing.

What do you think about opening up Cuba for travel by Americans? I’m interested in what others think, including those who disagree with my position.