For Faye Hargrove, reading about the harshness of slavery in a book was nothing like experiencing a portrayal of the real thing.
|
Faye Hargrove, of Evans, stands next to a bell that belonged to the Henrietta Marie slave ship and is now on display at the Augusta Museum of History. Hargrove is a task force member who helped bring the Henrietta Marie exhibit to Augusta.
Photo by Quandra Collins
|
"I felt anger. I felt sad. I felt guilt," Hargrove, an Evans resident, said, recalling the first time she saw The Wreck of The Henrietta Marie exhibit in North Carolina with her family several years ago.
Inspired from what she had seen, Hargrove said she immediately began asking about how such an exhibit could come to Augusta.
Before she knew it, Hargrove's dream became a reality.
On Dec. 19, A Slave Ship Speaks: The Wreck of The Henrietta Marie made its debut at the Augusta Museum of History; it will be featured in the museum until April 10.
Bringing such an exhibit close to her home is something dear to Hargrove's heart because she said her great-great-grandfather, William Oscar Cup, was the product of a slave child, born of a slave mother and slave master on the Cup Plantation in Eatonton, Ga.
Hargrove, who owns Hargrove Leadership Services, a consulting firm that improves businesses and employees, said she hopes people will learn something from the exhibit.
"We know about the horrors of slavery," Hargrove said, adding that she and several other task force volunteers have been working on bringing the exhibit to Augusta since December 2003. "That's why I wanted to bring it here so that all people will learn something from our past and make sure it doesn't happen again."
|
Statues of slave captives are shown in the re-creation of the Middle Passage at the Augusta Museum of History. The display is one of many features of the Henrietta Marie exhibit, which will be at the museum until April 10.
Photo by Quandra Collins
|
In 1972, Mel Fishers' divers were looking for the remains of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha and stumbled upon the remains of the Henrietta Marie, which they partially excavated. The Henrietta Marie was an English merchant slave ship that sold more than 350 African slaves to the Americas in exchange for foreign goods. They were then used as laborers on sugar plantations.
During the ship's second return to England from the Americas, it sank more than 30 miles west of Key West, Fla., in the summer of 1700. T
The ship's bell, which bore the name and date "Henrietta Marie 1699," was later excavated in 1983, unlocking the ship's historical secret.
"We need to educate (the public) about our history and take the next step, building bridges and creating relationships with one another," Hargrove said.
Hargrove, a member of the Augusta Museum of History Board of Directors, said the exhibit will be a first for the area. And when it comes to firsts, Hargrove has had plenty of them herself.
Kecia Thomas, an associate professor and coordinator for graduate education in psychology and a member of the Applied Psychology group at the University of Georgia, said Hargrove was the first black student to earn a Ph.D. in industrial and organizational psychology from UGA.
JoAnn Davis, human resource specialist at the University of South Carolina in Aiken, said Hargrove also was the first black female to head the school of business at USC Aiken.
