Mobile in Mobile County, Alabama — The American South (East South Central)
The UNESCO Slave Route: Resistance, Liberty, Heritage / Honoring The Memory Of The Ancestors
Photographed By Mark Hilton, December 5, 2020
1. The UNESCO Slave Route: Resistance, Liberty, Heritage Marker
Inscription.
The UNESCO Slave Route: Resistance, Liberty, Heritage, also, Honoring The Memory Of The Ancestors. . {Side 1}
The UNESCO Slave Route: Resistance, Liberty, Heritage. Launched in 1994, the international and inter-regional project ‘The Slave Route: Resistance, Liberty, Heritage’ addresses the history of the slave trade and slavery through the prism of intercultural dialogue, a culture of peace and reconciliation. It thereby endeavors to improve the understanding and transmission of this human tragedy by making better known its deep-seated causes, its consequences for societies today and the cultural interactions born of this history. The project is structured around five key fields of activity: scientific re-search, development of educational materials, preservation of written archives and oral traditions, promotion of living cultures and contributions by the African diaspora and, lastly, preservation of sites of memory.
The promotion of the memorial heritage related to the slave trade and slavery plays a decisive role not only in educating the general public, and young people in particular, but also in facilitating national reconciliation and social cohesion processes in societies.
It is in this perspective that ‘The Slave Route project has created a label to encourage the preservation of sites of memories and the establishment of itineraries that can tell this story and ensure that this heritage receives due attention at the national, regional and international levels.
This site fulfills the quality criteria set by the UNESCO Slave Route Project in conjunction with the International Network of Managers of Sites and Itineraries of Memory.
Mobile, AL is a documented Middle Passage arrival site where a national history can be traced regarding the social, economic and cultural connections African captive people and their descendants have made to the architecture, arts, industry, language, legal system and economy in U.S. society.
Honoring The Memory Of The Ancestors. Key original sites of American history in Mobile which are connected to African ancestors are documented by the Dora Franklin Finley African- American Heritage Trail:
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Sacramental Records document the June 11, 1707 baptism of Jean Baptiste, a 5-year-old person of African descent owned by Mobile’s city founder, Jean Baptist Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville. He was also recorded as the child’s Godfather.
Ft Conde. The brick reconstructed wooden fort was started in 1723 and completed in 1730 by enslaved Africans and Native Americans. Five brick masons were among the first free Persons of Color. O arch 1724, Bienville issued Black Codes modeled from St. Dominique.
John Ragland’s Slave Market. Enslaved captives were brought into Mobile via the Mobile River, unloaded and held in a three-story building until auctioned.
Africatown. Near this site in Mobile, AL, the last documented cargo of Africans landed in 1860 via the schooner Clotilda and marked the final recorded attempt to import Africans to the U.S. for the purpose of slavery. After the Civil War, when the Clotilda’s African survivors were freed, they established a separate community: Africatown. In 2019, the Clotilda was found near Africatown in the Mobile River Delta, where the vessel currently rests.
The Union Baptist Church. Organized in 1869 and founded by the African survivors of the Clotilda.
Africatown/Plateau Cemetery. When many of the African survivors of the Clotilda died, they were buried in this final resting place.
Wallace Turnage. In August 1864, during the Battle of Mobile Bay, this 17-year-old self-emancipated slave paddled a rowboat into the Bay where Union Navy gunboat sailors saved him and took him to Ft. Gaines where he was freed.
{Side 1}
The UNESCO Slave Route: Resistance, Liberty, Heritage
Launched in 1994, the international and inter-regional project ‘The Slave Route: Resistance, Liberty, Heritage’ addresses the history of the slave trade and slavery through the prism of intercultural dialogue, a culture of peace and reconciliation. It thereby endeavors to improve the understanding and transmission of this human tragedy by making better known its deep-seated causes, its consequences for societies today and the cultural interactions born of this history. The project is structured around five key fields of activity: scientific re-search, development of educational materials, preservation of written archives and oral traditions, promotion of living cultures and contributions by the African diaspora and, lastly, preservation of sites of memory.
The promotion of the memorial heritage related to the slave trade and slavery plays a decisive role not only in educating the general public, and young people in particular, but also in facilitating national reconciliation and social cohesion processes in societies.
It is in this perspective that ‘The Slave Route project has created a label to encourage the preservation of sites of memories and the establishment of itineraries that can tell this story and ensure that
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this heritage receives due attention at the national, regional and international levels.
This site fulfills the quality criteria set by the UNESCO Slave Route Project in conjunction with the International Network of Managers of Sites and Itineraries of Memory.
Mobile, AL is a documented Middle Passage arrival site where a national history can be traced regarding the social, economic and cultural connections African captive people and their descendants have made to the architecture, arts, industry, language, legal system and economy in U.S. society.
Key original sites of American history in Mobile which are connected to African ancestors are documented by the Dora Franklin Finley African- American Heritage Trail:
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Sacramental Records document the June 11, 1707 baptism of Jean Baptiste, a 5-year-old person of African descent owned by Mobile’s city founder, Jean
Photographed By John Bloomfield, December 22, 2019
2. Honoring The Memory Of The Ancestors Marker
Baptist Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville. He was also recorded as the child’s Godfather.
Ft Conde. The brick reconstructed wooden fort was started in 1723 and completed in 1730 by enslaved Africans and Native Americans. Five brick masons were among the first free Persons of Color. O arch 1724, Bienville issued Black Codes modeled from St. Dominique.
John Ragland’s Slave Market. Enslaved captives were brought into Mobile via the Mobile River, unloaded and held in a three-story building until auctioned.
Africatown. Near this site in Mobile, AL, the last documented cargo of Africans landed in 1860 via the schooner Clotilda and marked the final recorded attempt to import Africans to the U.S. for the purpose of slavery. After the Civil War, when the Clotilda’s African survivors were freed, they established a separate community: Africatown. In 2019, the Clotilda was found near Africatown in the Mobile River Delta, where the vessel currently rests.
The Union Baptist Church. Organized in 1869 and founded by the African survivors of the Clotilda.
Africatown/Plateau Cemetery. When many of the African survivors of the Clotilda died, they were buried in this final resting place.
Wallace Turnage. In August 1864, during the Battle of Mobile Bay, this 17-year-old self-emancipated slave paddled a rowboat into the Bay where
Photographed By John Bloomfield
3. MPCPMP Table for Mobile, Alabama
Sources - Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, Emory University, Archives of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Mobile, AL; The Dora Franklin Finley African-American Heritage Trail of Mobile (DFFAAHT) www.dffaaht. org
Union Navy gunboat sailors saved him and took him to Ft. Gaines where he was freed.
Erected 2019 by Dora Franklin Finley African-American Heritage Trail of Mobile.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Industry & Commerce. A significant historical date for this entry is June 11, 1707.
Location. 30° 41.442′ N, 88° 2.247′ W. Marker is in Mobile, Alabama, in Mobile County. Marker can be reached from South Water Street. Located at Cooper Riverside Park. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 101 S Water St, Mobile AL 36602, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regarding The UNESCO Slave Route: Resistance, Liberty, Heritage / Honoring The Memory Of The Ancestors. Mobile was founded
Photographed By John Bloomfield, December 22, 2019
4. The UNESCO Slave Route: Resistance, Liberty, Heritage
in 1702 by Pierre Le Moyne Sieurd’Iberville and his brother Jean Baptist Le Moyne Sieurd’Iberville. The early French settlers lived on 27 Mile Bluff then moved south to a flat piece of land known as Fort Conde. Shortly after French arrival, a ship bringing enslaved Africans landed. A brick fort built by African and Native enslaved workers started in 1723 and ended in 1730. Five brick masons were among the first Free Persons of Color in the settlement. In March 1724, Bienville issued Black Codes modeled after St. Dominique (Haiti) that regulated behavior and laws governing enslaved Africans and their descendants. .Many of the French and African descendants still live on the land deeded to their ancestors at Mon Louis Island. Others live at Mobile’s first settlements, Chastang and Mount Vernon.
The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, the oldest church in Mobile, contains documents of the births, deaths, and marriages of the French, Spanish, and African residents. Prior to the Emancipation Proclamation (1863), data of enslaved Africans and those of African descent were in diocese records. This notation is the earliest written record of a person of African descent:“ . . . . on 11 June, 1707, I baptized Jean Baptiste, a Negro belonging to Mr. Bienville of about five years of age. Godparents were Jean Baptist Le Sieur and Marie Le Sieur.” It was signed by H.
Photographed By Mark Hilton, December 5, 2020
5. View from marker down the Mobile River towards Mobile Bay.
Replica Columbus ship, the Pinta can be seen moored in far background.
Roulleaux de la Vente, Pastor, Archdiocese of Mobile. Trading in enslaved Africans became a principal business of Mobile. Arriving in Mobile Bay captive people were unloaded and auctioned at John Ragland’s Slave Market.
Related markers. Click here for a list of markers that are related to this marker.
Additional keywords. Middle Passage, human trafficking
Photographed By Mark Hilton, December 5, 2020
6. Honoring The Memory Of The Ancestors Marker view towards downtown Mobile.
Credits. This page was last revised on December 6, 2020. It was originally submitted on April 5, 2020, by John Bloomfield of Palm Coast, Florida. This page has been viewed 481 times since then and 46 times this year. Photos:1. submitted on December 5, 2020, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. 2, 3, 4. submitted on April 5, 2020, by John Bloomfield of Palm Coast, Florida. 5, 6. submitted on December 5, 2020, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. • Mark Hilton was the editor who published this page.
