The International African American Museum in Charleston opens, but not without criticism | WFAE 90.7

When the International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina, opens to the public on June 27, it will have been a 20-year journey and not always an easy one. There were concerns about what the museum should look like, the focus of its exhibitions and even its location on Gadsden’s Wharf — where tens of thousands of captured Africans entered this country and were forced into slavery.

While many praise the final product, others say issues raised during the planning stages were not resolved.

“If you build a museum that has something to do with race and there’s no controversy surrounding it, then somehow you haven’t done anything right,” said Dr. Bernard Powers, director of the College of Charleston’s Center for the Study of Slavery. He has been a member of the museum’s board from its inception and says there’s always going to be some dissatisfaction with some aspect.  

Some of that dissatisfaction came in the early stages, according to Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina. Clyburn chaired the museum’s founding steering committee and said dissension arose early over whether the museum should focus mainly on slavery.

Donald Baker

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Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

“I insisted that this museum would not be a slave museum, that it had to be an African American museum to talk about not just the struggles of African Americans, but also the victories of African Americans. And so there was significant discussion about that in the community and on the board. In fact, a board member left the board over the decision for it not to be a slave museum.”

Those involved in the planning say there were also lively discussions about the need for the museum to do a deep dive into the roots of racism and white supremacy. Dr. Millicent Brown is a historian, museum consultant and member of the local group, Citizens Want Excellence at IAAM.

“Where did white supremacy take hold and allow enslavement to continue? You know, give us credit for the rice, the okra and all the good stuff and the good food. But those are not transformative issues. To what extent did the churches, the politics, the medical communities and the educational communities, to what extent did they continue this falsehood about Black inferiority?”

And then there’s Gadsden’s Wharf’s role in all of this. Although most people recognize the importance of the wharf to the African American experience and its connection to the transatlantic slave trade, there were those such as Brown who question whether the wharf, which is today surrounded by luxury apartments and little space for parking was the best site for the museum.

“I remember at some of the public meetings where people spoke up and said, shouldn’t our museum be put in a community where it can economically benefit the development of the Black community?” Brown said. “Isn’t that how you repay us for our unpaid labor? And so, to position it in a place where, as some people say, you’re trying to Disneyland it, you’re trying to make it a spot that is conducive for tourism.”

But before gentrification came to the Gadsden’s Wharf area, a thriving Black community lived there, which makes it an appropriate site, according to Emory Campbell, a St. Helena Island native and executive director emeritus of the Penn Center on Gullah culture.

“Right after slavery, the coastline was pretty much occupied by us. Nobody really wanted to settle on the coast because of mosquitoes, heat and humidity. It was unwanted land and that’s where we Africans pretty much had to live,” Campbell said.

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Rep. Clyburn and Rev. Nelson Rivers, a former local and national NAACP executive describe those earlier communities.

“Where the museum is, used to be called Ragsborough,” Rivers said. “When I grew up in Charleston, simply called the Borough, almost all Black folk were down there. I had family in the Borough when I was growing up. We didn’t know how bad the Borough was at the time because it was quote-unquote, affordable public housing.”

In the 1960s, Clyburn taught at C. A. Brown High School in a predominantly Black Charleston neighborhood.

“One of my favorite students lived one block from where this museum is built,” Clyburn said.

The site for the museum was originally proposed across the street from Gadsden’s Wharf by former Charleston Mayor Joe Riley. Clyburn says once the significance of the wharf was realized, Riley paved the way for purchasing that land. But Brown says Riley had motives beyond preserving African American history.

“When the idea was proposed, you will recall the NAACP had a boycott in South Carolina [because the Confederate battle flag was flown on the grounds of the state capitol]. I was present when the former mayor and the former governor met publicly to say, we are going to have to try to find some ways to bring in Black tourist dollars. And then the next thing you heard was, let’s build a museum. I love museums. I love history. But first and foremost, this was about how do we get some Black dollars to come and spend some money in a state that was still flying the Confederate flag?”

Riley declined WFAE’s repeated interview requests. As for the elongated IAAM building, it sits atop 18, 13-foot-high pillars, overlooking Gadsden’s Wharf. It was designed by New York-based Pei Cobb & Freed, a firm owned by white and Chinese American partners. Museum officials say some Black architects were on the design team, but the absence of a lead African American architectural firm is a sore spot for some, including Brown.

“I find it to be not Afrocentric in any way,” Brown said. “It looks like something that would be in Norway or Iceland as opposed to it in any way representative of the continent of Africa. And yes, there was some concern that we had talented African American architects who put in to be the chosen architect and were turned down.”

Clyburn said one of those Black firms was headed by Charlotte’s former Mayor Harvey Gantt.

“The committee informed me that they originally picked Harvey’s group. And almost overnight they interacted with each other, saying wait a minute. We did not pick this group because it had the best design. We were picking it really because Harvey was from Charleston. And they met again and came back with a group they came back with. The day the design committee made that recommendation is the day that I resigned from the steering committee. And for that reason.”

Another concern that has surfaced is how Gadsden’s Wharf is being promoted. In some museum press releases and interviews, Gadsden’s Wharf is described as the place where more than 45% of all captured Africans debarked upon entering the U.S.

“That is not true,” Brown said. “Charleston was, in fact, a port of entry, and there are multiple wharves. Why lie about Gadsden’s Wharf when you could say that it is representative of the many wharves that were used? It’s like you’re trying to force an issue so that people clamor to this one spot.”

Several other historians concur that several wharves were used in Charleston during the transatlantic slave trade, including IAAM board member Dr. Dr. Bernard Powers.

“I’m sorry that someone told you that. That figure of about 50% of all Africans brought to North America relates specifically to Charleston and not just Gadsden’s Wharf.”

Powers says Gadsden’s Wharf was used initially mainly for its owner’s shipping business purposes and that documents show ships carrying captured Africans did not begin docking at Gadsden’s Wharf until about 1806. Charleston passed an ordinance around that time in the last years of the legal slave trade that ships carrying seized Africans could only dock at Gadsden’s Wharf, which may be the source of the confusion.

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International African American Museum

The museum is receiving praise from many people regarding its exhibitions and how they focus on the history of African Americans from an international, national, and local point of view. But some locals have complained that more input from Low Country residents was needed and the inclusion of more local heritage in exhibitions. There is a gallery dedicated solely to the Gullah Geechee culture and other aspects of Low Country life in galleries, from rice production and plantation life to education and religious mores, past and present.

“The International African American Museum is a national museum, but we recognize the home team,” said Dr. Tonya Matthews, president and CEO of IAAM. “It’s really important that we lean into that. We’re in Charleston, we’re in the Lowcountry for a reason. A lot of the histories, the stories are here. And we’ve been working for over two decades to engage the community. Everything from getting opinions and thoughts to actually asking for some of the stories to steward the stories in the museum.”

Campbell says he’s discussed important aspects of the Gullah culture, such as basket weaving, with museum officials, and hopes workshops on the Gullah language, food, how self-sufficient they were, and the functionality of their art will be more emphasized.

“Baskets were not just a showpiece. It was a functional kind of thing. Something that you could hold food, all items. And so we made things to function. That would be a very good function of the museum to teach why these items were so important in life and the life of our family.”

Museum officials say they are listening to the concerns and Rivers says many of the complaints were addressed.

“There is an effort to tell the story of the local Black community,” Rivers said. “What was going to be the museum and what it is now has come a long way. And part of that is the evolution of knowledge. The museum has a chance to tell the story and tell the past story that’s never been told or never been told from the people who experienced it. One of the problems we’ve had in South Carolina and America, everybody wants to tell our story, but they won’t let us tell it. And the museum has the chance to do that. It’s almost a miracle that black folk are still here. One of the museum’s objectives should be to tell the story of that miracle.”

Museum officials say as IAAM evolves, they will tell more in-depth stories of the African American journey, through new exhibitions, possibly opening a Gullah restaurant next door, virtual events and some programs on and offsite. Through its Center for Family History, Malika Pryor-Martin, IAAM’s chief learning and engagement officer, points out that visitors will be able to trace their lineage with help from professional historians who will have access to more than 400 million digital genealogical records. They will also be able to record their findings to add to the museum’s archives after utilizing the storytelling recording booth.

“We don’t have the expectation that we’re going to tell the whole story of the African American experience,” Pryor-Martin said. ”But what we are striving to do is to tell the holistic story. We are on the land where it happened and that positions us to very strongly and honestly take a very strong stance with authenticity and honesty and love and speak to our local community and engage that international and diaspora community.”

IAAM officials also encourage visitors to use their cell phones to download free audio tour apps, posted throughout the museum for additional local, national and international information, not included in the galleries, on the multi-faceted aspects of the African American journey. Matthews says in addition to IAAM being a place that tells untold stories, they want it to be a welcoming place.

“Museums as a whole have not always been welcoming to all communities, right? They haven’t always told the story. And I think that’s what’s really, really important to us. And I am dedicated to making sure that when they come and they’re curious, that they feel seen, that they feel that the stories are being conveyed accurately, respectfully, with joy, with truth.”