On October 31, our class traveled to Liverpool to view
the International Slavery Museum. At first I was skeptical about this museum
because I thought that I had seen all of this material before. We learned a lot
about slavery in high school and I even learned about slavery in some of the
classes I took at Millikin this past year. I was curious to see how this was
going to be different from what I had already learned. After visiting the
museum, my eyes have been opened. It was not at all like I had imagined. I
actually loved the museum, and that's saying a lot because I don't really like
museum to begin with. There was so much to see at this museum, and somehow I
saw all of it.
We were told that the third floor was where the actual
slave museum was, and everything else was not necessarily strictly about
slavery but other things as well. On the first floor, it was all about child
immigrants. We were able to read about some of the children's stories and how
they were taken to, mostly, Australia and Canada so they could try to have a
better life. It was so sad to see how young these kids were. The youngest I saw
was about four years old all the way up to around fifteen years old. Their
families sent them to homes in Australia and Canada where they were taught
various things such as typical school work, and if you were a girl you were
taught domestic work and if you were a boy you were taught outside labor. This
floor tied in to the basement floors theme, which was also child immigration. However,
the basement had a section which was a semi-replica of the streets you would walk
down to get to the ships entrance. When you entered, everything was immediately
darker. Lanterns were the only light source. You walked down this cobblestone
road to where you found a bar on the ship. There were figures representing the
people in the bars and they also had what bed would have looked like there as
well. When you kept on walking, you entered another part of the ship where it
looked like where the storage would go. This was the last part of the venture.
It was so interesting to see what it would be like entering a ship that you
would be on for potentially months.
The second floor was all about ships. It talked about
different parts of ships and what they did. It talked about Liverpool's harbor
and how lots and lots of ships use this harbor constantly. We got to see
different painting of ships that dated back to the 1600's all the way to the
Titanic. The Titanic exhibit was closed, which was a big bummer. But it was
cool to see these ships, because without ships there would not be any trading
of slaves. Personally, the coolest part of the ship section was seeing all of
the advertisements that were made for the ships. It was interesting to see what
tactics people used to get others to get of the ships for cruises and travel.
This isn't really something you see every day.
The third floor was where the actual slavery museum was.
As I walked up, I saw that there was tribal painting along the wall leading to
a part of the museum. I followed this to find a video of different tribes
dancing and celebrating. It showed how they celebrate and was really cool. Next
I came across this interactive video on this computer of sorts. I put on the
headphones that were connected and the narrator told me about an Ibago camp. I
was about to learn about the different huts and who lives where. The man has
the center hut where he lives by himself. This is the biggest hut directly
across from the entrance into the camp. He is the center being in the camp. He
will usually have multiple wives who each have their own smaller hut where they
will raise their children. There will usually be three other huts sectioned off
with a rock wall. Each wife will have a small farm with chickens and pigs to
tend to as well. It was great to learn about this tribe of people, and to see
how they lived their lives compared to mine. It was so completely different,
and I loved it. As I followed the wall it led me into a room with drawers and
different television screens showing different material. Some talked about
different countries and what they were known for. One talked about of coffee
was made and how the beans were grown. It was very interesting. While I was
looking around I decided to look in the different drawers. In one I came across
the Equiano's original book. I was skeptical at first, I thought it was a
really good replica, you can never be too sure these days. But low and behold
it was the actual original. It was so cool to see the book that we are
currently reading in its original form. I spent some time just looking at it.
It was very tattered, but was in great condition. As I moved on, I came across
an enclosed video. I wasn't quite sure what it was, so I took a look. I was not
prepared for what I was about to see. The video was what you would see if you
rode with the slaves on the slave ship. I saw hundreds and hundreds of people
chained together, vomiting, groaning, and the video went on and on. I was on
repeat so you could watch the gruesome footage and really take it all in. I was
horrified. I kept thinking,, ' How could people treat others like this. It is
horrendous.' As I made my final sweep, I discovered another couple rooms all on
the Congo. I learned a little bit about the Congo in the African American Drama
class when we were discussing the play Ruined.
All I can remember from this section was the lecture. The lecture talked about
how if a family couldn't get what they needed to get by a certain time, then
their version of law enforcement would cut a body part off of one of the
children. That's how they would teach them to make sure they had everything
they needed for next time. This made me sick. That's all I'm going to say about
this section. Just terrible.
This museum was a lot more fun than I thought it would
be. I actually enjoyed learning more about the culture and of the slavery era.
It really got me to think about how lucky I am. About how lucky I am to not
live in that era, and to not live in the Congo. It made me realize that we take
need to be grateful for the time we live in now. Yes, there is still racism,
but there is no more slavery. And that is something to be grateful for.
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