Sobering Facts about The TransAtlantic Slave Trade: Exhibit at the International African American Museum in Charleston

The Middle Passage refers to the forced transatlantic journey endured by millions of Africans who were captured, enslaved, and transported to the Americas. The International African American Museum offers a powerful exhibit that brings this history to life. Visitors are encouraged to view data, oral histories, photos, and other artifacts that demonstrate the harsh realities of the slave trade and its lasting impact.

For those who ask "Why?" the United States (or other slave-trading nations) still need EEO, DEI, JEDI, EDI, or other similar programs, the sobering facts summarized in this "The Middle Passage" exhibit at the International African American Museum provides some data (about the duration and effects of slave trading) worth pondering:

As the great-great-grandson of survivors of the Middle Passage and the great-grandson and grandson of their descendants--who were able to survive chattel slavery and sharecropping in South Carolina before migrating to Florida in the early 1900s and establishing their own homesteads--it was particularly meaningful for me to visit the IAAM recently during the Small and Related Families Reunion in July 2025.

Experiencing this transatlantic slave trade exhibit with my family alongside a highly diverse group of other tourists, allowed us all to learn together and hopefully leave better prepared to facilitate genuine reconciliation based on truthful understanding.

©2025 by T&R Facilitation & Consulting

Contact T&R Facilitation & Consulting (386-473-1033) to discuss how Ted Small can assist your community with facilitating truthful conversation about the legacy of the slave trade, its continuing impacts on access, opportunity and a sense of belonging in America and to develop a roadmap for genuine reconciliation of divided communities.