The Dusable Museum of African-American History and Trinity
United Church of Christ have joined forces to celebrate Black History month in
America by providing a forum that will “inform, educate and … remember the transatlantic
slave trade." The partnership is funded by the Illinois Amistad Commission and
partially by a CityArts Grant from the city Department of cultural affairs.
The jury is still out as to exactly how many people were
forcibly transported from Africa. However, various writers typically state that
between 11 and 13 million slaves were shipped out with 90% landing in either the
Caribbean or Americas.
Already off to a good start, hundreds turned out on Sunday (2/2/14)
to Trinity Church, 400 W. 95th St., Focusing on Ghana in the first series of “Maafa
: Journey of Remembrance” , the history of how the slave trade began was
examined. On Wednesday, there will a
documentary on Kwame Nkrumah, the Ghanaian leader who led the nation to independence
in 1957 at the DuSable museum.
Introduced by Dr Marimbi Ani in her book Let the Circle Be Unbroken: The implications
of African Spirituality, the term Maafa is a Swahili word that means “disaster,
terrible occurrence or great tragedy.” Some
academics would rather use the term “African Holocaust” to describe the history
and continuing impact of the transatlantic slave trade on African people. Others
such as Dr. Youngblood, a Baptist Church Pastor in America, New York prefer
Maafa.
“One of the ways I further describe it to people is what
Hitler did in Nazi Germany, he called it ethnic cleansing, but the victims
called it the Holocaust,” Dr Youngblood explains. “In that our Jewish brothers
and sisters have coined their word, Holocaust, that is theirs. And so we are
blessed to coin our word that talks about our experience, and that word is
Maafa.”
Ali Mazuri who is of a
different opinion argues that even though the word Holocaust is associated with
Jewish genocide it originates from Ancient Greek, therefore cannot be used as a
trademark by anyone. Nevertheless, it could be argued that using African terminology
may help not only to give the transatlantic slave trade an authentic voice but
also a distinctive cultural identity.
On Febuary 9, 16 and 23 the subject matter will focus on Haiti,
New Orleans and Chicago respectively. Alternatively, on the 12, 19 and 26,
DuSable will provide insights into the Haitian Revolution; the land, people and
culture of New Orleans; and “A History of Blacks in Chicago” which will be in
the form of a panel discussion.
According to the Chicago Sun Times, a DuSable spokesman Raymond
Ward has said that “Visitors will travel
from the shores of Ghana to the slave plantations of the Caribbean, on to the
slave ports of New Orleans and conclude with the Great Migration north to
Chicago.” He believes that by embarking on this journey “participants will gain
spiritual, cultural and historical perspectives.”
