During my three city invitational exhibition tour in France this past Spring, I visited the Memorial to the Abolitionment of Slavery in Nantes. Nantes was one of my exhibiting cities and France's largest slave port. Along the riverside lies this memorial museum. Unique in France, the memorial pays homage to all those who have fought and are still fighting against slavery in all its forms throughout the world. I walked along the riverside where 2,000 plaques commemorate the voyages of slave ships from Nantes as well as the major trading posts in Africa and America and followed the commemorative trail lined with quotations in all 47 languages of those countries associated with the slave trade. The trail continues underground into an area designed to mimic the holds of the ships. It is a moving and worthwhile experience.

Slave ships were given Christian names for a safe journey, while transporting enslaved Africans in horrendous conditions below. One of the ship's names caught my attention, Three Mary's. I was immediately inspired to paint these three women; each of them will give birth to many African subcultures. Written on each painting in French are the three cash crops they were sold into slavery for in America; rice, cotton and indigo. On the top left corner of each painting is what they were purchased with; a mere copper bangle. Written on the pieces is the name of the slave port city, Nantes, where nearly 500,000 Africans came through.

The summer of last year I was asked to paint a piece for the South Carolina Aquarium's R.I.C.E. Initiative, I entitled it American Gullah. It would become the signature piece and inspiration of the American Gullah Collection. The Aquarium is located in Gadsden Wharf in Charleston, SC; where over 100,000 Africans came through. It is also located near the site where the new International African American Museum will be built. I realize why painting the 'American Gullah Collection' was so important. You see, I was inspired to create and exhibit the American Gullah Collection from Charleston,SC (largest slave port city in America) to Nantes, France (Largest Slave port city in France). In historical African American grave sites, you will often see items relating to the sea; such as sea shells and more, on the graves of the enslaved Africans. They believed the sea is what brought them to this world (America) in this life and the sea is what will take them back home in the afterlife and there they will finally be free. Divine inspiration. I am going from one Slave port city to the next picking up precious cargo; the hopes, dreams and stories of my ancestors. I am taking their spirits back home to freedom through my art, while discovering how I, we became 'American Gullah'.


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http://memorial.nantes.fr/en/
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IFdbF39SXQ

#AmericanGullah

 I then began to question myself aloud, "How can I love a man whom I have never met?" The answer, "It's because he has done so much for me." Congressman Lewis was also given my 'Amazing Grace' 2016 commemorative ornament. The ornament depicts a woman carrying, what seems to be a child wrapped in a blanket, on December 31, 1862; a very special evening for the enslaved Africans. It was the night before the Emancipation Proclamation took effect, freeing all the slaves in the ​Confederate states. The Amazing Grace ornament represents freedom for all; One Nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I asked him to deliver another to the White House and the Congressman agreed. It is being presented special delivery to the White House for the Christmas tree by one of the most courageous persons the Civil Rights Movement ever produced," John Lewis.  A man who has dedicated his life to protecting human rights, securing civil liberties, and building what he calls "The Beloved Community” in America.  Congressman Lewis is someone whose dedication to the highest ethical standards and moral principles has won him the admiration of many ​of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the United States Congress; "The conscience of the U.S. Congress,” as he is called. Roll Call magazine has said, "John Lewis is a genuine American hero and moral leader who commands widespread respect in the chamber.” I could not have asked of a better person to deliver 'Amazing Grace' to the White House.

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Last week Wednesday, I started painting this door. It's entitled ,'The Prays House Door'.
​In South Carolina you will find small places of worship built on plantations during slavery, Praise Houses or as I say, Prays Houses, still serve an important spiritual role in the Gullah community today. ​Written on the door is the Lord's Prayer in Gullah. ​As I was creating this painting I found a small padlock that would hang on the latch of the door with the key.​ Once I unlocked the lock and placed it on the latch, I nor others could lock it back again. ​This morning I realized why. You see, I had opened the door to the prayers of our ancestors. Prayers so powerful that even the chains of slavery or this world could not contain. Prayers for the protection of not only their generation, but generations to come.

​I remember my grandparents used to say, 'These are praying times.' They not only prayed for us, they understood and believed that faith without works is dead. They did their part. They ran a good race. They passed the baton and they continue to pray for our generation to run and fight the good fight of faith.

​I sometimes wonder where would we be if it had not been for the Lord on our side.....

"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever." -Hebrews 13:8

Established in 1862, Historic Mitchelville is known as the, 'Birthplace of African American Freedom.' ​ The land the people of Mitchelville, South Carolina, had once toiled under the chains of slavery was now their own. The people of Mitchelville were creating a completely new, self-governed culture that would be the guidepost for generations to follow.

I remember reading an article written in the Island Packet that asked what Harriet Tubman did on Hilton Head Island. It stated that Harriet Tubman slept there. The famous Underground Railroad freedom fighter, Harriet Tubman, was sent to Hilton Head to see this bustling town, so she could share the story of Mitchelville’s self-governed success with future freedmen towns. Harriet not only slept there. She witnessed the birth of a new nation. She experienced, right before her eyes, the manifestation of an act of God.  She saw a living testament of her life's purpose. Harriet basked in the fulfillment of God's Word of receiving the desires of her heart; her answered prayers for others to taste the sweet fruit of Freedom. She  partook in the events that were leading to the very moment of true 'Freedom for All.'  It was the Era of Reconstruction. Mitchelville stood for Heaven on earth. The 'Dawn of Freedom'.

I began to read this quote by Harriet Tubman,

 “If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If there's shouting after you, keep going. Don't ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.”

I would further add, “If you see the deconstruction of 'Reconstruction' keep going. Freedom is yours. Own it. "

Hilton Head Island, South Carolina had the pleasure of welcoming the 'Mother of Freedom', Harriet Tubman. I believe for her, Mitchelville was a place that provided rest for the weary and spurred hope for brighter days to come. 

​See more.... 2016 Nationational Underground Railroad Conference

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In December of 2015 I blogged about the painting 'Amazing Grace'. This piece was created in Beaufort, South Carolina in the courtyard of the Beaufort Arsenal Museum and Visitor's Center. The brick and tabby museum once represented a headquarters of secession activity in Beaufort before the Civil War. The Revolutionary-era arsenal was seized by Union soldiers in 1861, nine years after it had been rebuilt. 'Amazing Grace'  tells a story about  New Year's Eve of the Emancipation Proclamation,'Watch Night'' in Beaufort, South Carolina. December 31, 1862, was a very special evening for the enslaved Africans. It was the night before the Emancipation Proclamation took effect, freeing all the slaves in the Confederate states.  I then realized she was carrying her child, wrapped in a quilt, to the Praise House; small places of worship built on plantations during slavery.

I painted Amazing Grace on an old steel drum top, a circle. The Circle is a fairly universal symbol among world religions, though the context may change. It is seen to represent the sun, the moon, the door through which we all were born, and the human eye. Since it has no beginning or end, it easily represents God's love; birth, the Alpha and Omega; eternity, that which has neither beginning nor end. On the quilt I was inspired to paint many patterns; patterns and symbols associated with the Underground Railroad Secret Quilt Code. Also painted on the quilt, is a piece of the Confederate Flag, representing her soon to be past and the blood, sweat and tears shed; which she and others endured during slavery and oppression. Spilling over the edge of the old steel drum top is the United States Flag; representing freedom for all. One Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The quilt futher represents her hopes, dreams and prayers, not only for her child and herself, but for generations to come. In the distance is the symbol of the palmetto; signifying good, and the cresent moon; signifying things are moving forward and that there is the hope of more to come. The three birds are representative of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. The look in the woman's eyes is one of hopefulness yet sorrow, joy and pain. Most of all, her eyes reflect her desires to be free and for the freedom of all of her future generations.

I blogged about the overwhelming emotions that filled my eyes as the Confederate Flag was removed after the murder of nine innocent African Americans at Mother Emanuel church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015.  Although not nearly as emotionally moving as it may have been for the woman in the painting 'Amazing Grace' on New Year's Eve in 1862, after being enslaved most of her life and witnessing and experiencing the suffering, torture and killing of so many, I understood and experienced just a glimpse of her emotions.

 New Year's Eve of 2016 was the first time in my generation that the Confederate flag; which represented slavery and oppression to her, was not flying over  the Capitol of South Carolina. It was put up 54 years ago to protest the Civil Rights Movement and was never removed until 2015.

  'Speak to Us Now' is painted on an old piece of tin that I found in Beaufort, South Carolina. As you view this piece and walk around the painting, the eyes and face of the little girl, positioned in the middle of the painting, follows you. It is as if she is waiting for someone to speak to her.   Conch shells are known to have an array of spiritual qualities such as regeneration or rebirth. They were one of the items placed on the enslaved african graves. This practice has been traced back to at least the BaKongo belief that the sea shell encloses the soul's immortal presence. One anthropologist in the early 1890s remarked that "nearly every grave has bordering or thrown upon it a few bleached sea-shells of a dozen different kinds."  There is a gullah saying that explains how the sea brought the Africans to this world and how it would take them back to Africa in the afterlife. The enslaved Africans passionately held on to the hope of being free in this life or in the afterlife. 

I then came upon an article in the Island Packet about Pat Conroy.  Pat Conroy was a New York Times bestselling American author who wrote several acclaimed novels and memoirs. Two of his novels, The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini, were made into Oscar-nominated films. I have always enjoyed The Water Is Wide  a 1972 memoir  by Pat Conroy based on his work as a teacher on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina, which is called Yamacraw Island in the book. The book is sometimes identified as nonfiction and other times identified as a novel. Yamacraw is a poor island lacking bridges and having little infrastructure. The book details Conroy's efforts to communicate with the islanders, who are nearly all directly descended from slaves and who have had little contact with the mainland or its people. He struggles to find ways to reach his students, ages 10 to 13, some of whom are illiterate or innumerate, and all of whom know little of the world beyond Yamacraw. Conroy (called "Conrack" by most of the students) does battle with the principal, Mrs. Brown, over his unconventional teaching methods and with the administrators of the school district, whom he accuses of ignoring the problems at the Yamacraw school. 

​Conroy asked to be buried in a Gullah cemetery, the St. Helena Memorial Garden on Ernest Road, near the Penn Center on St. Helena Island. It is owned by the nearby Brick Baptist Church, its antebellum red bricks a pillar in African American history.

I believe in the afterlife he is now able to do what he so freely desired to  back in 1970; to teach and be a protector of  the children of Penn School. Conroy now rests beside Agnes Sherman, a quiet civil rights giant who in 1968, along with Frieda Mitchell, was the first black elected to the Beaufort County Board of Education after Reconstruction.

Nearby rests Leroy E. Browne Sr., South Carolina’s first black elected official after Reconstruction. He joined the Beaufort County Council in 1960, five years before the Voting Rights Act.

The Island Packet article also stated his wife Cassandra as saying her husband visited graveyards and went to the graves of writers, including Thomas Wolfe, F. Scott Fitzgerald and James Dickey. She does not know how he selected his own burial site, but knows he thought it through and that she’s grateful the church allowed it. “I’m not sure how Pat found that and decided that’s where he wanted to end up,” Jones said. “It’s a beautiful spot. It’s a good place if people want to go out and make the pilgrimage. I think it is going to be good for that.” 
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The little girls in my painting 'Speak to Us Now' are praying and believing they should experience true freedom while they are yet still alive. So they are listening for a word from God. They are diligently seeking for someone to teach them how to experience heaven on earth. Pat Conroy, I believe as we listen to the whispers and the sound of the ocean in the lowcountry conch shells, your voice is one that will truly be  heard.