Forgotten stories; New museum seeks to uncover the history of slavery

By Mizani Ball
Contributing Writer

From food and music, to language and the culture that was left behind, the legacy of slavery in Guadaloupe is undeniable. But, according to Jacques Martial, the island’s stories of slavery still remain hidden away.

The Memorial ACTe, a museum based in Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe, hopes to change that. The museum, also known as the Caribbean Center for Expression and Memory of the Slave Trade and Slavery, opened its doors to the public in July 2015. During his March 1 visit to New Orleans, Martial, a French actor and the museum’s president, spoke at Xavier University’s campus about the need to recognize the impact of slavery everywhere from Guadeloupe to New Orleans.

“Many people said ‘It’s the past. Forget it,’” said Martial on the notion of memorializing slavery. “We must free our mind and soul from the history. Not forgetting [it], but to free the energy we spent keeping this history in silence,” Martial added. He said his hope was that the Memorial would inform people of the dark history of slavery that has not been exposed due to a sense of embarrassment. “Victims are ashamed of being victimized,” Martial said.

The history of slavery is incomplete, Martial said, because slaves rarely recorded their own experiences. In Guadeloupe, the lack of personal slave testimonies is responsible for 90 percent of the history lost on the island. Slaves literally took their stories with them to their graves, he said. This valuable information that was lost had made it difficult for slave exhibits to develop. In many cases, Black people around the world do not have any knowledge of their family ancestry.

Martial’s lecture linked the history of slavery in areas under French control: from the Caribbean to Louisiana. The impact of slavery was one that had implications for nations around the world. “I personally visited the Memorial ACTe and felt that there was need to make connections, to exchange knowledge with Xavier on a global status,” said Torian Lee, the director for the Center for Intercultural and International Programs at Xavier.

The architecture and the location of the Memorial ACTe building also holds historical significance. The museum rests on the Darboussier site, which was known for being the largest sugar refinery on waterfront, located in Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe. The museum’s exterior features glistening silver webbed roots masking a giant black box, a dedication to the lives lost at the hands of slavery. The 80 million-euro (USD $88 million) building is one that the UNESCO Slave Project designates as a point for global understanding and reconciliation.

“I feel culture is an investment. It is not just spending money. It’s investing in the future of people for good health: mind, body and soul,” Martial said.

Martial, a French actor, demonstrated how culture kept the stories of the enslaved alive. To close out the event, Martial performed a monologue from Aime Césaire’s “A Note on the Return to the Native Land” that spoke to the resilience of enslaved Africans.

“I have been watching Jacques since I was a teenager, it has always been my dream to see and meet him in person,” said Beatrice Germaine, the cultural project manager with the French consulate in New Orleans.

This article originally published in the March 7, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.