African Slaves Found Peace in Key West

K E Y  W E S T, Fla., Feb. 6, 2004 -- A small, unique piece of American historylies beneath a narrow strip of sandy beach not far from thisisland's hotels and nightlife.

It's the known resting place of nine Africans, and 286 othersare believed to be entombed along Higgs Beach on Key West's shore.

The dead were casualties of a trans-Atlantic trip aboard threeAmerican-owned slave ships intercepted by the U.S. Navy in 1860.The vessels were heading to Cuba to sell their 1,432 passengersinto labor.

Rescued from slavery, the Africans spent three months in KeyWest, being cared for by local doctors with supplies purchased bythe U.S. marshal and donated by an accepting citizenry. About 1,100survived, and were eventually sent back to Africa in a dangerousvoyage.

"They were brought here for refuge and became part of ourcommunity," said Norma Jean Sawyer, director of Key West'sAfrican-Bahamian Museum. "In Key West, they found some peace."

A Slave Shipwreck

The cemetery is just one attraction for tourists who findthemselves in Key West during February, which is black historymonth. There's also a permanent exhibit focusing on the HenriettaMarie shipwreck on display at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum, inMallory Square just steps from famous Duval Street.

Excavated largely by the society, the Henrietta Marie, whichsank near Key West in 1701 after delivering slaves to Jamaica, isone of only a handful of slave shipwrecks in the Western Hemisphereever identified by name.

The slave trade had been declared illegal in the United Statesby the mid-19th century. But it still continued to places such asCuba and Brazil, financed illegally by American profiteers. Slavetraders were considered pirates and faced penalties of death ifcaught.

President Buchanan in 1859 ordered a blockade of Cuba with Navysteamers to intercept any American-owned slave ships.

In the spring of 1860, sailors boarded the Wildfire, the Williamand the Bogota, finding the Africans living in deplorableconditions. They were destined to be sold as slaves in Cuba for asmuch as $1,200 each, said archaeologist Corey Malcom of the MelFisher museum.

A Gracious Welcome

The Navy brought the Africans to the nearest U.S. port, KeyWest. The remote mariner town had only 3,000 residents and its mainindustry was salvaging, also known as wrecking.

"These surprise guests were welcomed graciously," Malcom said.

Soldiers, carpenters and others quickly built a barracks and ahospital on a three-acre compound on what is the United States'southernmost point. The Africans, many of whom were ill afterenduring the six-week voyage from their homes near present dayBenin and the Congo, were confined to the compound.

They remained in Key West for three months, with U.S. MarshalFernando Moreno spending his own money to build the barracks andprovide the Africans with food, clothes and medicine.

Townspeople "cleaned out their closets" and wagon drivers,carpenters and other workers were hired to help, Malcom said. Butdespite their efforts, 295 of the Africans died.

Moreno paid the $1,617 for the burial of 294 Africans. One otherwas buried before Moreno took custody of the Africans.

Moreno spent thousands of dollars in the three months, butalthough he petitioned the government for repayment until hisdeath, he was never reimbursed.

The surviving Africans were sent across the Atlantic to Liberia,a U.S.-sponsored West African colony for free slaves. Some died onthe voyage, and most of the roughly 800 who did make it neverreturned to their homes.

Sawyer says the careful burials of the Africans is a pre-CivilWar reminder of Key West's reputation of tolerance, a quality it isknown for today for its acceptance of any person and lifestyle.

"The people here made sure they weren't just thrown in ahole," Sawyer said. "They were given some reverence as humanbeings."

The town's seafaring identity made it such an accepting place,though there was a minority who didn't like the presence of theAfricans and was eager for them to leave, Malcom says.

"You would see that diversity and tolerance because there werealways people coming in off ships from different places withdifferent values and different cultures," he says.

Graves On Beach

But their tale of death and survival remained obscure untilabout four years ago, when Malcom helped discover the nine graveson Higgs Beach near a paved road and beach volleyball courts.

Inspired by an old map of the Higgs Beach area that showed thecemetery, he found documentation on the whole ordeal, fromapothecary shopping lists, to inventories of plates and dishes, toa journal of the return trip to Africa.

Malcom then decided that the area in and around Higgs Beachshould be investigated. He contacted Lawrence Conyers, a Universityof Denver archaeology professor, who came to Key West withground-penetrating radar. They beamed radar waves into the ground for three days and foundnine graves that resembled a series of 5- to 6-foot-long ovals,neatly lined up in rows of three only a couple of feet deep. Malcombelieves most of the other graves were moved after a fort was builtover the cemetery, and suspects there could be a massive pile ofbones nearby.

The site of the nine shallow graves is marked off by a blacksteel fence, and plans are to build a more permanent barrier toprotect them. Malcom is preparing to apply for a designation on theNational Register of Historic Places.

"I expect at some point, whether it's us or someone else,someone will come across the other 280 people that were buriedthere," Malcom says.

Adegbolu Adefunmi, prince of the Yoruba African tribe inAmerica, and Sawyer coordinated three days of burial andpurification rituals for the cemetery last year.

While there are historic burial grounds for freed slaves, thecemetery joins one in New York as one of two in the country thathouses people from Africa who were not sold as slaves, Adefunmisaid.

"Unlike many Africans buried on [U.S.] soil, these people wereshown respect with an ordered burial," Adefunmi said.

If You Go…

SITE OF THE AFRICAN GRAVES: Between West Martello Tower andWhite Street Pier on the south side of Atlantic Boulevard. Acrossthe boulevard from the cemetery, a plaque installed by the state ofFlorida tells the refugees' story. MEL FISHER MARITIME HERITAGE SOCIETY & MUSEUM: 200 Greene St.,Key West. Phone (305) 294-2633 or visiti www.melfisher.org. Open9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Admission $10 adults, $8.50 students, $5children. Attractions include permanent exhibit about the HenriettaMarie, a slave ship. Read the story of the Henrietta Marie atwww.historical-museum.org/exhibits/hm/henmarie.htm. LOFTON B. SANDS AFRICAN BAHAMIAN MUSEUM & RESOURCE CENTER: 324Truman Ave., Key West. Phone (305) 295-7337 or visitwww.bcclt.org/museum.htm. Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday throughFriday; weekends by appointment. Suggested donation: $5 per adult.The museum is sponsoring the screening of an African film on Feb.13 and a "Heritage Fashion Show and Dance" featuring African andCaribbean clothing on Feb. 27; both events at Key West's Veteransof Foreign Wars center. KEY WEST: Black history month will be observed at local churcheswith various events including a Unity Day program and a celebrationof ancient African and contemporary black history. Other localattractions include ecotourism, fishing, historic sites, sunsetsand Ernest Hemingway's house. For help with lodging or otherinformation, contact www.fla-keys.com or (800) 352-5397.