Barbados recently announced that it is set to build a transatlantic slavery museum with a vast collection of British slave records outside the UK.
According to the Independent, only a few days following the independence of Barbados from the British monarchy, the island’s prime minister Mia Mottley saidmade the announcement.
The building is being designed by the Ghanaian-British architect Sir David Adjaye. It is set to include a research institute designated to retell the story of slavery and its impact on the world.
In an announcement for the plans for the museum, Mottley said, “This week, Barbados set out on a new part of the journey. The most important gift we can give of our people and our children at this time is that sense of confidence and understanding of who we are.”
Mottley described the project to be a “labor of love” and mentioned that it is scheduled to be finished by 2025 with only partial funding outside of the Barbados government.
The museum will feature public displays of original manuscripts, photos, and ledgers along with other items in a large climate-controlled open storage section. The building will also showcase major events spaces and feature research partnerships between the Caribbean’s University of the West Indies (UWI) with United States’s Harvard University and the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art.
Ingrid Thompson, the chief archivist at the Barbados Archives Department, said, “As we engage with these records and unearth the many stories in the current format and future state, it is believed that on the heels of republicanism, a new national consciousness will emerge among our people which can only be done to the benefit of all.”
The museum is going to be located at the Newton Slave Burial Ground in Christ Church, on the outskirts of capital Bridgetown, which is the largest and earliest slave burial site in Barbados. Sir David is expected to create a memorial commemorating these victims.
The department will hold slavery records dating back to 1635, which will soon be digitized for the sake of preservation.
According to the official site of the Caribbean nation, slavery was abolished on the island in 1834. However, the enslaved Africans in Barbados were forced into a four-year apprenticeship where they were required to work 45-hours per week with no pay to live in huts provided by their former enslavers. Barbadians weren’t free until 1838.
