Lest We Forget: The Middle Passage -- Nashville TN
Assisted by: 
Skinnydog
N 36° 09.912 W 086° 47.057
16S E 519401 N 4002293
A monument on the Tennessee State Capitol grounds has been placed to commemorate the Africans who died on the slave ships that traversed the Middle Passage to America from the 17th through 19th centuries
Waymark Code: WMWJ5F
Location: Tennessee, United States
Date Posted: 09/10/2017
Views: 14
Created From:
Lest We Forget: The Middle Passage - posted by
Skinnydog
This sign of history stands on the southeastern corner of the grounds of the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville, near the Sam Davis CSA memorial.
This modern memorial commemorates the estimated 30-50 million Africans who died in deplorable conditions in the slave ships that traveled the Middle Passage. The memorial reads as follows:
"Lest We Forget: The Middle Passage C. 1444-1860
Let this scarlet oak represent the strength and resilience of the people of African decent, and commemorate the Africans who died on the Middle Passage, the leg of the Atlantic Triangle in which upwards of 100 million Africans were transported as human cargo from the continent of Africa to the Americas. Estimates of one third to one half of those captured to be enslaved in the Americas died on the slave ships. The deathes were due to the inhumane way the Africans were treated, chained together skin-to-skin, no room to move, in the bowels of slave ships, where pestilence ran rampant, and due to ongoing resistance. African-Americans living and working as productive citizens in the U.S. represent/honor Africans who survived the deadly voyage. Those stolen from their homelands only to lose their lives in what is known as the Maafa deserve to be remembered, so that no atrocity like it occurs again in human history.
Governor Don Sundquist July 1999 TN Legislative Black Caucus"
Group that erected the marker: TN Legislative Black Caucus
URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link]
Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary:
600 Dr. MLK Jr. Blvd
Nashville, TN
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