Documentation Favours Black Reparations

the Site Dedicated to Naming Slave Voyages, Enslaved People, & Enslavers

Photograph: Slave Voyages Consortium

As mentioned by Henry Gates, Jr. in the introductory video for the ‘SlaveVoyages.Org’ website, the benefits of a site like this that focuses on uncovering the history of slave voyages involving the Americas include the ability to, “analyze data, sample estimates of the slave trade, view videos, maps, & animation … [and correct] existing data” (ECDS, 2019), but there are many advantages that weren’t verbalized.

As I study at Saint Louis University, I recognize and move toward one of my goals set for after becoming an attorney, reparations for the Black American community descended from enslaved people. I believe the best way to bring about this form of justice for my community is in the American judicial system, and data like these make that a clearer reality. With the ability to prove whose ancestors were enslaved—faces and names to the concept of these peoples’ existences—and whose were enslavers, the case for reparations is all the more legitimized with provable connections to wealth and family bloodlines. In step with the thoughts of Professor Emeritus of Emory University, there are genealogical assessment prospects as well (ECDS, 2019) as this also serves as a means of connecting Black Americans with their ancestors in a way that is most commonly very difficult due to not only hundreds of years of enslavement, but incessant white-washing and the rebuke of its broaching in so-called, “proper”, conversation.

In that same vein, this could change the scope of proper conversation, gearing it to a more eclectic set of parameters that encompasses all cultural definitions. I believe this can be achieved by simply teaching children the actual history of this country and its inhabitants. Like the 1619 Project, I believe this grand undertaking of the Slave Voyages Consortium is a very educational and essential part of the healing process of this country that can only be taken-on with, first, acknowledgement. In particular, I believe projects like the 3D-animated slave ship tours of Marie-Séraphique & L'Aurore by Nafees Khan of Clemson University & colleagues could be used when learning about this country’s history of enslavement of Black people, making it more interactive and attention-grabbing for students who might find the subject otherwise uninteresting and taboo; thus, enticing engagement and maybe even genuine empathy that textbooks often fail to illicit from such demographics.

This type of inclusive and meticulous archiving of those involved with slave voyages throughout the Americas, both intra-American and trans-Atlantic, can really open-up a new area of psychological study, delving into the development of certain individuals—whether their lineage be that of enslavers or the enslaved in America—and how enslavement shaped not only their individual lives (so far removed from the era), but their peoples. How did slavery shape the two main races it affected in this country? Are there lasting effects more than just nurture over nature that we have inherited due to our gruesome past? It's already been theorized that there are lasting traumas (generationally) for the Black community in America that stem from the enslavement we did not personally suffer. Is it safe to assume that we are not the only ones affected by the roles our ancestors played in history? Intergenerational trauma is described as, “an individual continu[ing] to experience the effects of the trauma experienced by their family members in previous generations (R. M. Phipps & Degges-White, 2014)” (Lee & Colleagues, 2023). Returning to the conversation of reparations, are there not lasting benefits to descendants of enslavers juxtaposing the detriments/disadvantages faced by descendants of the enslaved?

Sources

Gates, H. L. (2019, February 7). Explore the Origins and Forced Relocations of Enslaved Africans across the Atlantic World. Slave Voyages Consortium. https://www.slavevoyages.org/

Lee, A. T., Chin, P., & Nambiar, A. (2023, January 22). Addressing Intergenerational Trauma in Black Families: Trauma‐Informed Socioculturally Attuned Family Therapy - Lee - 2023 - Journal of Marital and Family Therapy - Wiley Online Library