JUST inside the gates of the Unitarian Church in Charleston sits a slab of salvaged bricks. Affixed to the front is a metal bird looking backwards—a West African symbol, a plaque explains, which means “learning from the past in order to move forward”. An inscription dedicates the monument to “the enslaved workers who made these bricks and helped build our church.” The church is off most tourists’ trails, so many miss the memorial. But an overdue museum aims to spread its frank message more widely.
Like much of the South, for a long time the city glossed or downplayed the abomination that made it rich and left it beautiful. Visitors to its grand townhouses, or to the sumptuous plantation mansions nearby, might be shown suspiciously well-appointed “servants’ quarters”. The conflict known as the “war between the states” was not, repeat not, fought over slavery. There is more honesty these days; the trade in human beings is documented in a small exhibition in an old slave mart. But such acknowledgments are not commensurate with the role the institution once played in...Continue reading
Source: United States http://ift.tt/2hV7pCD
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