THINKING ABOUT THE MIDDLE PASSAGE... Tamsin Barzane

Well, the Middle Passage Experience has been up for a little more than a week now, and this exploration of the African side of the transAtlantic slave trade is making me think. Its visitors are substantial in number, but they can't compare to the treasure hunt that just ended. Those who come often return, but many put themselves on pause, promising they'll do it "later."

Why? It's just too painful! Depersonalizing the slave trade was a convenience for textbook writers, but it also makes life a little easier for all of us by shoving history further into the closet. Who wants to think about the pain their ancestors went through, whether it be the Middle Passage, the Holocaust, the Armenian Massacre, or those who suffered various indignities because of poverty or wrong affiliations throughout the world? It certainly can't be classified as entertainment.

That's what I thought myself a few years ago, when I visited DC's Holocaust Museum. Not entertainment--and why do we human beings put ourselves through associated experiences in real life--and even pay to do so! The Holocaust Museum was so popular that we waited outside for well over an hour to get in, just in order to weep. Well, not just to weep. To feel a deep empathy, a sense of humanity, a tie to the small girl from the Polish ghetto, the skinny bridegroom from Berlin, the sophisticated matron from Budapest. Their photos, their stories--whether humble or dramatic--made history more than history. I was glad we went, despite my initial reluctance. I thought because I knew the history of the Holocaust, had read the books, seen the newsreels, visited sites in Germany and Hungary and Holland, there was no need to visit a museum composed mostly of text and photos. But there was. The building itself--a masterpiece of architecture matching function--gives you the feeling of crowding, of being herded, shuffling in the dark. Your senses, not just your intellect or emotions, get involved. It becomes visceral.

It inspired the Experience, and I hope some of the residual feelings it provided me will also stay with visitors. That, in its small virtual way, it will give a face (albeit partially fictionalized, as far as the African individuals are concerned--but fictionalized along accurate lines) to those who left Africa's shores. That it will give back some of their personalities, circumstances, even the landscapes of the past. Because these were people who came FROM someplace before they reached the United States and other diaspora points. They had families, they were bad-tempered, they were kind, they stole from the market, they created fabulous artworks, they were good cooks and bad laundresses--every possible combination one can think of. They were not faceless masses, but met their fate as we, with our many individual resources and weaknesses, might--or as many Iranians are doing right now.

Their lives didn't begin in the New World. And as such, they faced nearly insurmountable challenges of language, intolerance, strange foods and wicked expectations. Yet they managed, some even triumphing (see Olaudah Equiano upcoming talk below).

I sometimes think about little aspects of their lives. The woman who sadly realized her child could never have a naming ceremony because no one else around her spoke her language. The man who realized in horror his son could not be circumcised like all in his line had been--because there was no one with that expertise. The skilled herbalist who risked being called "witch." The expert warrior who would never again be allowed to touch a weapon. The drummer living under a law where drums were forbidden. The man who knew how to prevent smallpox by rubbing cowpox pus into an incision, because his cattle rearing people had done it for centuries, ridiculed by the ignorant around him. The pretty girl whose torso scarifications marked her as desirable receiving nothing but ridicule and mockery. The woman who wanted to teach her son to honor his ancestors, but could not--since the boy's father was also his owner and would never acknowledge paternity.

We know little about them because we skate away from the pain. Few popularly available sources except for Roots and Sankofa and Amistad have tried to give them a voice, though scholars find out more information day by day--Emory University, in conjunction with Harvard and several other institutions, has created an amazing database of all known ships, their ports, their slaves' origins and names if recorded. See it at: http://http//www.slavevoyages.org/tast/index.faces. As our knowledge of history is ever more tied to public entertainment (as our schools slip into quicksand), we need more novels, more films, more programs that examine the real and fascinating stories of those who wrested a life out of misery.

When building the Experience, I discussed the idea of shackles with Oliha. I didn't want to put them in--he felt I had to. I compromised, and stored them in an optional box on their own, rather than in each character's identity kit. I have never seen any visitors wear them, though Eladrienne Laval did, in character as the Kongo woman Nzinga, and blogged about it to great effect here: http://http//elinsl.blogspot.com/2009/06/remembering-middle-passage.html06/remembering-middle-passage.html

She shot this great photo of herself facing the Porte de Non Retour monument, which I take the liberty of reproducing here. It gave me chills that equaled my reactions to the most critical of photojournalist images. I talked over her article with Osuntomi Melendez, who said, "She echoed my own trepidation. I want to come and do it, but I find it unnerving to contemplate."

Cymindra Deschanel, a Saminaka resident, told me she found the Experience intensely moving. She went through it as Omo, the young Yoruba woman from Nigeria, but would like to go back again and experience the other characters, "just for deeper insight." Some visitors go to every packet, collecting not only the clothing, but the stories. A number of strangers have IMed me and their appreciation, despite the picking of the scab, means a lot. One commented that she had a rl ancestor who was on the first boat to Jamestown; his name, like Nzinga's, spoke to Central African ancestry.

I am going to gather the slide show into a Hippobook for Saminaka's bookstore. And I am going to think about the next experience, which I think may attract more avatars, for it lacks the tragic turn of the Middle Passage--the story of those who returned to Africa in the 19th century, to Liberia, to Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Benin Republic.

The Middle Passage Experience can be viewed through June 30. Do read the notecards in both the beginning and the ending boxes, even if you cannot walk the path of these giants, who had to make sense of the senseless world they were shoved into. We can all profit from their survival, as all of us here in the United States do, as do those in the many lands where their subsequent influence has reached.

My experience of the Experience recalled my reaction to a book title I read a few years ago--something along the lines of "How the Irish Conquered the World." I laughed aloud, for I'm mostly a Celt, and had heard plenty of tales of squelching, squashing and victimhood, in both the old days of the U.S. and the British Isles before that. But then I thought about it--the potato famine's dispersion of the Irish spread their culture (and genes!) around the world.

It applies to the Middle Passage, as well. The worst of incidents, the most heartless and inhuman behavior, the most devastating pain--all these can produce wonders and enormous impact.

Africa is conquering the world, too, though we may not yet realize just how completely its culture has spread and continues to affect and shape us. And as it does, it is those Middle Passage survivors who gaze at us from the world of the ancestors and smile. May we do as well as they in meeting what life metes out, and may they protect us from the worst of possible horrors.

THE MIDDLE PASSAGE EXPERIENCE

To many Americans, the Middle Passage is too painful to think about in any detail. Our public schools make the "Africa" part of the equation look like a monolithic place, for the teachers themselves are often not taught about the continent's ethnic and cultural variety, or even the basics of the trade itself.

When Indea Vaher decided to host an exhibit in conjunction with REMEMBRANCE, a worldwide simultaneous libation pouring to honor those lost on the Middle Passage, I got excited. She has a site based on Nachitoches, Louisiana's Metoyer Plantation, now a kind of artist's colony, in SL and RL. Metoyer was built for Marie Coin-Coin (Kwan-Kwan) in the 18th century by her French lover, and the Akan woman and her offspring owned it till well into the 1800s.

In the early 20th century, one of the staff, an elderly African American woman named Clementine Hunter painted scenes of the plantation, and sewed applique quilts depicting it--they are now prized museum works. Indea has a permanent display on indigo cultivation, Creole life and more, and erected Ibo Landing there--a South Carolina debarkation point where Igbo slaves from Nigeria walked into the ocean rather than become enslaved on U.S. soil.

Indea graciously allowed me to create a link to my idea for the African end of the trade, and our own Oliha Yiwama intoned the invocation at Saminaka and the libation at Safe Haven Landing on June 13, just as others did it in Atlanta, San Francisco, Cape Coast in Ghana and elsewhere. Exhibits on both our sims run through June 30.

So what's on Saminaka? I wanted people to come away with a better sense of the specifics--not only of the trade, but the PEOPLE. So I delved into my notes and created stories for ten characters, five male, five female, from different affected areas and eras. Their stories may be fictional, but they're based on fact--as are some of their names. Participants assume their identity through a bio and clothes, then, once they've seen the display, look for a second box with their name on it. Forced to shed their African lives, they are given a new name, Western clothes, and a destination in the U.S. (and can tp to Safe Haven Landing). A reminiscences card follows up on the details of their lives--all the plantations and most of the people mentioned were real. Above, see PHaTTSam Fizz as Boubakar, a Malinke soldier, member of a blacksmith family, and ritual specialist before his capture in Senegal.

I loved doing this. It may be overwhelming, so we're hoping Acuminious Watanabe will be able to conduct a discussion session at Chan Dejavu's Baobab Academy in the next week or two (she wants to! not yet scheduled). People that have stopped by the sim say the experience has moved them; some wondered if it was roleplay (not really, but they have given me some ideas for later). I am very interested in hearing what you have to say about it--send an IM or letter to the editor, please!

THIS WEEK IN SAMINAKA--JUNE 15 TO 21

THE MIDDLE PASSAGE EXPERIENCE continues through June 30. Use this interactive tool to find out more about the African beginnings of this horrific voyage by choosing one of 10 specific identities, complete with bios and clothing. As this individual, walk towards the coast--there's a slide show about the trade and many of the coastal ports. Walk through the Door of No Return, a reproduction of the real monument from Ouidah, Republic of Benin, and pass the mourning egungun masquerades as you step onto a raft modeled after the famous slave ship diagram. Flowers honor the dead, and recite sections of voyage narratives when clicked. At the ship's prow, look for a second box with your character's name, and receive your new name, destination in the Americas, and strange new clothing. A notecard with reminiscences tells you what happened in the character's later life. Make history come alive and mourn with us over the lives lost, as well as celebrate the contributions that these unwilling migrants made to the United States.

SAMINAKA'S ORANGE TREASURE HUNT continues through June xx. Have terrific fun wearing your calabash and gathering 20 different prizes, hidden in oranges near the animals on the sim. It's all African animal oriented--see our slide show that gives some clues about animals to look for (as well as pictures and info about Nigerian fauna generally), and enjoy prizes that include references to animal patterns, pictures, etc. Clothes, shoes, furniture, art, jewelry all hidden in those oranges--and anything gender related, like shoes or clothes, is boxed with something for each sex, and is transferable.

THIS WEEK IN SAMINAKA

-The Saminaka Treasure Hunt is on now till June 22. It is uniquely Saminakan! Start at our round Katamba Exhibit Hall, and touch the instruction box to get and wear a fabulous calabash--you too can gracefully traverse the sim while balancing a head load! The hunt is the offspring of our Nigerian animal exhibit--look at the slideshow, then hunt down our animals. If they have an orange nearby, click it. It will deliver a prize. Twenty oranges? (Watch them accumulate in your calabash) Return to the animal exhibit and click the empty bowl--its script will determine if you got it all, then hand over a Grand Prize.

-Saminaka and Sunrise Mansion are partnering to bring you a totally new experience, beginning this Saturday, June 13. Poignant, empathy-inducing, disturbing yet soothing at times, it is part of Remembrance for the Ancestors, an international RL event that is dedicated to the memories of those who took the Middle Passage. Saminaka features the experience as these ancestors left Africa's shore, while Sunrise Mansion shows their arrival.

On Saminaka, receive your African identity, biography and clothes only to be stripped of them as you walk through the Door of No Return, the ancestral egungun masquerades weeping on the shore. Hear the accounts of those who lived through or observed the experience, read brief facts about the slave trade and see some of the castles and sites of departure.

At Sunrise Mansion, receive your slave name, clothes and biography and learn about Ibo Wharf, where Nigeria's Ibo people preferred to walk in the water in suicide, believing reincarnation would take them home. See the gracious environment based on Metoyer Plantation, once home to Marie Coin-Coin (Kwan-Kwan), an Akan/Ashanti beloved of a Frenchman who built the plantation for her and their children. View the exhibits of those who remember the ancestors through visuals or other means. See the graves of those who perished on foreign shores

At 9 am SLT, be at Sunrise Mansion. Oliha Yiwama will pray for the ancestors and offer libations. Oliha is a RL babalawo, native doctor, drummer and chief who has spent over a decade studying Yoruba and Edo religion. Let him comfort you through this cathartic experience. If you want to get a sense of the trip from Africa to America first, come to Saminaka at about 8 or 8:15 am SLT this Saturday, so you can arrive at Sunrise on time.

Soon to be announced: Acuminious Watanabe, counselor whose Baobab Academy sessions on SL relationships are a perennial favorite, will conduct a session relating to the intergenerational trauma of the Middle Passage sometime next week. Don't miss it! Understanding the past and looking to the future can make the present a place of stability, a staging ground for growth and greatness.