CHARLESTON, S.C. --- Nobel Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison has dedicated a bench in South Carolina that will commemorate the millions of people taken from Africa and enslaved in the United States.
The Bench by the Road, which was placed Saturday at Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island, was inspired by Ms. Morrison's own words.
She said in a 1989 interview about her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Beloved , that there was no suitable memorial -- such as a small bench by the road -- that people can visit to remember the millions taken from their homeland.
"This is so exciting and extremely moving," she told a crowd gathered for the dedication ceremony, the Post and Courier newspaper reported. "I'm delighted to be the first to sit on one of the first places 'to be by the side of the road.' "
An estimated 40 percent of Africans who were brought to North America came through Sullivan's Island.
Michael Allen of the National Park Service told the crowd that four "Pest Houses" were built on the island in the 18th century to quarantine slaves so they would not transfer diseases from Africa.
The Toni Morrison Society, which held its fifth biennial conference in Charleston this past week, hopes the Bench By the Road Project will create outdoor museums to mark important locations in black history both in the United States and abroad.
The society plans to mark 10 such sites over the next five years.
Ms. Morrison, 77, was the first black to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
The Sixth Morrison Society Biennial will be held in 2010 in Paris.
Comments
Are we blacks complainig of slavery? We can now after 150 years but reality is rather straight forward. If not for this institution I would be on the plains of Africa chasing some animal with a spear. If I have a choice, I embrace the past socity that brought my ancesters to the greatist country that has ever existed and has allowed me to enjoy its freedoms. With all its faults America is still better than any alternative.
Amazed, I second that.
I can support your post but who is complaining? I love my country, fought for the right for all to agree or disagree with her. What some people forget is that to question does not equal hate.
Amen to that Amazed. Why are we still looking to the past when there is still slavery all over the world. Black slaves in America were sold by Africans, they had these people as slaves first, and just as all the other countries did, they enslaved the weak, in debt, the poor. Slavery is older than African in america, the bible talks about slaves, remember Egypt. We have slaves everywhere - let's focus on helping those that ARE victims, instead of continuing to victimize ourselves. For those that don't like what happened in the past, find your ancestors region, go back to Africa & try to make it there, make sure your not a weak one, because there IS still slavery & worse. Try going to restaurants, stores & the mall on your your air-conditioned feet or camels. Let’s stop focusing on being righted by what dead people did that was being done by everyone to everyone. Put those energies & monies to do something for today's real victims. Imagine this world without slaves; children today are forced in to sex, housework, and labor - TODAY! How? SHUT UP!!! We need to open our eyes, cry for today's pain & then do something.
The purpose of the bench is to remind everyone of the history. It is not judging those that were a part of the history, but is intended to be something "that will commemorate the millions of people taken from Africa and enslaved in the United States." If we do not remember the past we are likely to repeat it. Yes there are many benefits to being in the US, and we are all lucky to be here no matter where our ancestors hailed from. My first relative in America was an indentured servant, and we have struggled to make our life better in the USA. My family was still "better" (by standards of the day) than the African slaves. However, today we are equals. No human is better than another. We all have equal opportunity and rights, how we choose to live and the choices we make is what differeniates us. God loves us all the same, just ask for his help and be amazed by the power of his love.
amen to the 5 very cool posts.
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