Retracing the roots of slavery’s U.S. origins, the International African American Museum opens in Charleston

Centuries ago at Gadsden’s Wharf in Charleston, South Carolina, more than 40% of the nation’s enslaved Africans arrived and were forced into chattel slavery. Africans who were kidnapped from their homes in a continent across the ocean, were held near the wharf before they were sold into slavery. 

Black people, and others of all ethnicities, will get the opportunity to feel and understand what enslaved Africans felt when they visit the recently opened International African American Museum (IAAM) in Charleston. IAAM is the first major Black history museum to open in several years. The new museum, consisting of galleries and gardens, has opened near the former wharf area where slaves were bought and sold, and is providing a critical perspective about the arrival of Africans to this foreign land.

IAAM reflects the depth of African American history and culture in South Carolina and beyond and offers new insight to this significant history. On the walls of the new museum, guests are offered the words of Maya Angelou: “And Still, I Rise” which is symbolic of what occurred for those who found themselves at the cruel mercy of slavery as they began their frightening life’ journey in America. Malika N. Pryor, chief learning and engagement officer of IAAM said, “When any visitor comes, and particularly when visitors of African descent visit, there’s a kind of reclamation.” 

The new building, constructed high above the ground, was designed by the late architect, Henry Cobb, who determined that the building must never touch the sacred ground on which it stands. Visitors to the memorial gardens of the African Ancestors museum will encounter outdoor spaces reflecting different aspects of the African experience designed by landscape architect Walter Hood including a reflection of water ebbing and flowing over shadowy silhouettes, which represents bodies in the hold of slave ships. Also in the garden, past a grove of palm trees, visitors will encounter five figures kneeling between two granite walls, which Hood calls “the gauntlet.” It serves as a memorial in the place where enslaved people were warehoused before being sold.

Inside the museum are nine galleries for guests to view, absorb, and appreciate the history. The American Journeys gallery, which begins in South Carolina’s early days as a new colony, moves through more than 600 years of the Black experience between two halls.

The Gullah Geechee gallery, with their deep history and connection and identity to West African reflects hundreds of years of Gullah Geechee culture that spans four states, including Georgia.

Another gallery, Carolina Gold, shows how Charleston benefited from slavery and became a stronghold of U.S. wealth. Planters set out to strategically capture Africans from rice‐cultivating cultures and utilize both their free labor and free knowledge to enrich themselves.

The Memories of the Enslaved gallery features quotes from formerly enslaved people and provides insight from their descendants about their experiences. 

A bonus for many visitors of IAAM is the Center for Family History, which offers kiosks that will provide records searches. IAAM plans to expand the database to include significant records from South Carolina’s long history as it aids descendants move past the ‘brick wall of 1870’, which represents the first time in census records when African Americans appeared with surnames.   

IAAM’s CEO, Tonya Matthews, said “We’re stewarding stories that have long been held by the community itself. We’ve got to make sure we’re telling them right. As times change, so do people. What people want to hear, what they want to talk about, the way the stories need to be told also changes and all of that came together to bring us to the moment we are in today.” 

For more information on the museum, visit: https://iaamuseum.org/building-and-garden/