U.N. selects university exhibit for bicentennial commemoration of slave trade’s abolition

The United Nations has selected “The Middle Passage: White Ships/Black Cargo,” an exhibit from the University of South Carolina’s McKissick Museum, to be displayed in commemoration of the abolition of the slave trade. The exhibit will be featured at the UN’s New York City headquarters from March 1 – 31.

The installation is part of a series of events organized by the United Nations and the Schomburg Center to commemorate the bicentennial of the slave trade’s abolition. A special session of the UN General Assembly will be held on March 25 to honor the victims of the trade.

“The Middle Passage” is based on Tom Feelings’ book of illustrations of the same title. Before his death in 2003, Feelings, an award-winning children’s author, former university art professor and South Carolinian, dedicated much of his life to telling the stories of African-American heritage.

Feelings first conceived “The Middle Passage” while in Africa. The exhibit features 52 illustrations and four sculptures depicting the journey of Africans from their native lands to the West. Each drawing is done in tempera, pen and tissue. Since its debut in 1998, the exhibit has had more than a dozen installations around the country.

“The images are painfully, yet beautifully, compelling,” said Jason Shaiman, McKissick curator of exhibitions. “They tell the story of the one of the ugliest and perhaps the most silenced period of American history.”

The exhibit will be displayed in a gallery at the entrance to the United Nations’ New York City headquarters. The effort is being sponsored by the ambassadors from the Caribbean and Africa.

For more information on the UN installation of “The Middle Passage,” contact Ja-Nae Epps at the McKissick Museum, 803-777-7251.