There are many sites in the National Park system that preserve and tell the stories of slavery, freedom, civil rights, and American culture.
I have chosen a park to represent each of those stories. These parks will create the framework for the educational curriculum being developed to tell the story of slavery in what is today the United States. This framework will be inserted into a transatlantic context so that teachers and students can follow the trade from its early development to the final form of chattel slavery instituted in the American South.
Fort Sumter National Monument -
Where The American Civil War Began
Decades of growing strife between North and South erupted in civil war on April 12, 1861, when Confederate artillery opened fire on this Federal fort in Charleston Harbor.
Natchez National Historical Park -
The City on the Bluff
From the antebellum estate of John McMurran, to the downtown home of African-American barber and diarist William Johnson, to the French Fort Rosalie, this diverse Mississippi River town has been a place of opportunity for hundreds of years.
Cane River Creole National Historical Park -
"Living" History
The vibrant African American communities in the Natchitoches region today trace two hundred years of cultural history to this fertile land surrounding the Cane River.
Jazz National Historical Park -
New Orleans Jazz!
A story rich with innovation, experimentation, controversy and emotion, the park provides an ideal setting to share the cultural history of the people and places that helped shape the development and progression of jazz in New Orleans.
Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve - Kingsley Plantation
During the 18th and 19th centuries, many people came to Florida. Some, like Zephaniah Kingsley, sought to make their fortunes by obtaining land and establishing plantations. Others were forced to work on those plantations, their labor providing wealth to the people who owned them.
The Shackles of Memory Association created posters to highlight the connections to slavery or the slave trade between France, Africa, and the New World. View seven of the fourteen posters produced for special display in February 2008. The posters and the association slave trade talk were a part of the Kingsley Heritage Celebration, and also included a musical presentation by the University of North Florida Brass Ensemble.
