An even better use is the proposed Museum of the Confederacy branch museum proposed for Ft. Monroe.

J South


 





 


 

-----Original Message-----
From: Melinda Skinner <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Sat, 28 Feb 2009 2:15 pm
Subject: Re: Gabriel's gallows [slavery museum location]









A related column appeared in today's Richmond Times-Dispatch:?

http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/columnists_news/article/MIKE28_20090227-223126/218089/?
?

On Feb 28, 2009, at 1:51 PM, S. Corneliussen wrote:?
?

> In this thread two days ago, Brent Tarter offered an article from > the Richmond Times-Dispatch that speculated that if the envisioned > slavery museum is being abandoned in Fredericksburg, maybe it should > be built in Richmond instead. Another candidate location is Fort > Monroe, as is argued in the July 7, 2008, op-ed that appears below.?

>?

> At Citizens for a Fort Monroe National Park (CFMNP.org), we advocate > a revenue-generating, self-sustaining, innovatively structured > national park something like San Francisco's Presidio. It seems to > us that Robert F. Engs, a historian at Penn, is right that Fort > Monroe is not just _a_ place where slavery began to die, but is > _the_ place where it began to die. But Fort Monroe was also part of > the beginning of American slavery, nearly a quarter of a millennium > before the self-emancipators James Townsend, Frank Baker and > Sheppard Mallory took the risk of escaping enslavement and sought > sanctuary there following Fort Sumter. So last July 7 in the Norfolk > Virginian-Pilot, CFMNP's Scott Butler published this op-ed arguing > for a Fort Monroe location for the slavery museum.?

>?

> (Note: Anyone within the WHRO PBS Channel 15 broadcast area might > want to plan to watch the Fort Monroe discussion that will take > place at 8:30 next Friday, March 6. Cathy Lewis, the host -- and > also the host of a noontime talk show on the NPR channel 89.5 FM -- > has begun her own speculating about what Scott proposed.)?

>?

> Fort could house national slavery museum?

> By SCOTT BUTLER?

>?

> FIVE YEARS AFTER a ceremonial groundbreaking, construction on the > U.S. National Slavery Museum in Fredericksburg has yet to begin. > Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder, the museum's founder, blames the > slowdown in fundraising on his other commitments and the national > economy.?

>?

> Meanwhile, plans are proceeding for the Smithsonian's National > Museum of African American History and Culture, scheduled to open in > 2015. But as columnist Roger Cohen says, "What this $500 million > institution will be remains to be invented."?

>?

> There is a common and eminently sensible solution to these dilemmas. > Fort Monroe in Hampton, which the U.S. Army will vacate in three > years, has museum-adaptable buildings that are themselves associated > with the history of slavery, and that stand on a spit of land, Old > Point Comfort, with an even longer connection to that history.?

>?

> In 1619, a British privateer landed at Old Point Comfort and traded > its human cargo of 20 Africans for food, setting in motion the > creation of the American slave system. Two hundred years later, that > thriving system provided much of the work force for the construction > of Fort Monroe's moated stone fortress, intended to protect American > freedom.?

>?

> Then in 1861, shortly after Virginia's secession, three enslaved men > escaped in a small boat from Norfolk and asked for asylum at Union-> held Fort Monroe. The Union commander granted their request on the > dubious moral grounds that they were "contraband of war." But his > decision led to thousands of escaped slaves pouring into the fort > and nearby, Confederate burned Hampton, where they created for > themselves an enclave of freedom.?

>?

> Their actions, in turn, inspired the passage of the Confiscation > Acts, the first legal steps on the path to the Emancipation Act and > the Thirteenth Amendment.?

>?

> The history of Fort Monroe and Old Point Comfort encapsulates the > history of American slavery from its very beginning to the beginning > of its end. And there is more. The smaller details of this centuries-> long story could provide hooks for an exploration of many aspects of > U.S. slavery and its aftermath. For example:?

>?

> * African origins: The Africans who arrived in 1619 came from the > Portuguese colony of Angola, where the population was Christian and > often literate.?

>?

> * The economics of slavery: Hampton records show the names of slave > owners and the 600 slaves they hired out to work on Fort Monroe from > 1819-1822.?

>?

> * The Underground Railroad: In 1854, Charles Gilbert liberated > himself and made his way from Richmond to Old Point Comfort, one of > the sites on the Underground Railroad. He hid out beneath the Hygeia > Hotel for a month, eating refuse from the dining room, until he was > able to board a ship going to Philadelphia.?

>?

> * African-American volunteers in the Union Army: The U.S. Colored > 2nd Regiment Cavalry was organized at Fort Monroe in 1863 and took > part in the siege of Petersburg and Richmond.?

>?

> * Cultural achievements and aspirations of slaves: It was at Fort > Monroe that some of the first Spirituals, that sublime art form > recently designated a national treasure by Congress, were collected > for posterity - among them "Let My People Go." It was there, too, > that Mary S. Peake, a freeborn black woman, taught "contraband" > inhabitants of Hampton to read, just as she had taught slaves in her > home before the destruction of the city.?

>?

> * The post-war story: In 1865, Fort Monroe became the headquarters > of the Freedmen's Bureau, and in 1868, Hampton Institute -- now > Hampton University -- was founded with the aid of Northern > missionaries who had helped to educate the contrabands during the > war. The contraband community in Hampton flourished economically and > culturally until the advent of "Jim Crow" laws in the late 19th > century.?

>?

> Given this wealth of history, what better place could there be for a > national slavery museum than Fort Monroe? And what better place for > a truly national museum under the auspices of the federal government??

>?

> Gov. Tim Kaine should encourage Wilder and the Smithsonian to focus > on Fort Monroe and Old Point Comfort as a Smithsonian Affiliate > site. He could share with them what a dozen Civil War historians > said at a symposium organized by his Fort Monroe Authority. They > called the fort "a spiritual Ellis Island" for African Americans and > "sacred ground" in the continuing story of American freedom.?

>?

> Scott Butler, of Newport News, is a board member of Citizens for a > Fort Monroe National Park.?

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