In Slavery’s Wake: Making Black Freedom in the World is the newest travelling exhibition from the National Museum of African American History and Culture. This exhibit is a powerful departure from the Smithsonian’s focus on America, confronting the global legacy of slavery with boldness and depth. It is the result of a decade-long collaboration among nearly two dozen curators from ten institutions across four continents. This extensive teamwork and research allowed the exhibit to push the limits of traditional museum storytelling. This immersive and innovative experience intertwines history, resistance, and contemporary reflection.
This exhibition is more than a history lesson; it is a call to understand the past to build a more just future. This location-based experience will tour internationally through 2028, with stops in Brazil, Senegal, South Africa, Belgium, and the UK, ensuring this compelling narrative reaches a worldwide audience. Amid modern global trends to suppress honest explorations of race and history, the exhibition stands as an act of remembrance and resistance.
The exhibition's title is inspired by the concept of "the wake," which refers to the enduring effects of slavery that ripple through time and across the globe. These "waves" can be seen in the custom stitching displayed throughout the gallery. Intertwined within these wave patterns are words such as “violence,” “exploitation,” and “oppression,” stitched in seven different languages, all of which connect back to sewn representations of slave ships.
The exhibition gathers over 1,200 individual scenic elements, including hundreds of objects, images, oral histories, artworks, and multimedia installations. Together, these elements offer a deep understanding of slavery’s influence and the global fight for freedom it ignited.
When visitors first walk in, they are confronted with a striking artefact: an 18th-century iron and wood scale from Bahia, Brazil, likely used to weigh enslaved people, representing the permanent weight of slavery. A world map and historical documents, including a 1455 Papal Bull, illustrate how empires profited from and codified enslavement. Artefacts such as an iron muzzle, ID tags, and a slave badge demonstrate how control was enforced through brutal tools. These elements trace the systemic nature of slavery and ground the exhibition in a powerful confrontation with history’s physical and institutional legacy.
A central gallery honors freedom fighters who resisted slavery and advanced justice. The exhibition features well-known figures, like the La Amistad rebels, alongside lesser-known individuals, such as Jan Smiesing, a healer in the Dutch Cape Colony, and Marème Diarra, who fled Mauritania on foot. Women are central to the narrative, including the legendary Anastácia. Artist Yhuri Cruz reimagined her image in Anastácia Livre, a vibrant portrait celebrating her as empowered and unbound.
Artist and illustrator Daniel Minter's installation is a highlight of the exhibit, created for contemplation and remembrance. Visitors can sit comfortably on strategically placed seating, surrounded by curving walls adorned with vibrant collaged illustrations of Black women, natural motifs, and geometric patterns. The artwork is enhanced by animated line-drawing projections depicting daily activities, such as braiding hair. From above, colorful lights shine down, accompanied by the soothing sounds of the ocean and rhythmic singing.
The final gallery links the past to the present, exploring global Black liberation movements. From Pan-Africanism to Black Lives Matter, a series of posters, images, and personal artefacts highlight the evolving nature of resistance.
Exhibitions like In Slavery's Wake are vital not only for the museum and cultural industry but also for the visitors they serve. This exhibition addresses the global legacy of slavery with honesty, depth, and innovation. Through powerful artefacts, immersive design, and stories of resistance, it connects past injustices to present-day struggles for freedom. The exhibition encourages reflection, dialogue, and action at a time when truthful and historical global narratives are under threat, making its message both timely and transformative.
Partners
- National Museum of African American History and Culture - Exhibit Design & Exhibit Owner
- Ravenswood Studio, Inc. - Exhibit Fabrication
- Sage Creative Group - Tour Management
- Shipping Monster - Exhibit Shipping
- Monadnock Media - Media Production
- Creative Technology - AV Integration
