|
“Henrietta
Marie” Tour Sponsored by General Motors
The
six-year national museum tour of “A Slave Ship Speaks:
The Wreck of the Henrietta
Marie” has been made possible in part by a
sponsorship from the General Motors Corporation. Created
by Key West’s Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society
with assistance from a panel of nationally-recognized
authorities on African-American history, “A Slave Ship
Speaks” was the first major museum exhibition in the
U.S. devoted to the transatlantic slave trade.
The
3,000-square-foot interactive exhibition was built
around artifacts from the shipwrecked Henrietta
Marie—believed to be the world’s largest source
of tangible objects from the early years of the maritime
slave trade—which was discovered in the waters off Key
West. Using those objects as a focal point, the
exhibition examines the slave trade, its societal
context, and its lingering after-effects. GM’s
sponsorship of the tour is in keeping with the
corporation’s commitment to preserve, celebrate, and
share the American experience.
“This
fascinating exhibition provides a remarkable opportunity
for people of all backgrounds to examine first-hand a
part of history whose impact continues to have
extraordinary ramifications,” says William C. Brooks,
a GM vice president in charge of corporate relations.
“The Henrietta
Marie tells a story which must be told, and we at
General Motors are committed to making this a
reality.”
The
funding received from GM provides a variety of valuable
benefits. As the Henrietta
Marie exhibition travels from city to city, GM’s
national advertising and public relations firms launch
advertising campaigns, host press events, and print
exhibition posters designed to increase awareness of the
tour. In addition, GM’s support allows for a designer
to enhance the exhibition and maximize the installation
within each museum’s exhibit space. Support staff from
the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society travel to each
venue to assist with the installation and ensure an
optimal presentation for the exhibition.
Following
its world premiere at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in
Key West, FL, “A Slave Ship Speaks” has traveled to
venues including the Watts Labor Community Action
Committee Center in Los Angeles; Miami’s Historical
Association of Southern Florida; the Museum of Florida
History in Tallahassee; the Fort Worth Museum of Science
and History; the Pink Palace Museum in Memphis; Spirit
Square in Charlotte, NC; Chicago’s DuSable Museum; and
Detroit’s American Museum of African American History.
Founded
in 1982, the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society is an
independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to
exhibition, education, archaeology, preservation, and
research into New World maritime activity. Its Key West
museum holds the richest single collection of
17th-century maritime and shipwreck antiquities in the
Western Hemisphere.
|
