Author: Jill Schuler, Research Fellow
In late March, I spent ten days on the Caribbean Island of Martinique as part of the Tale of Two Ships (TOTS) project. I was joined by Adrienne Nirdé, director of the NC African American Heritage Commission and Principal Investigator of the TOTS project. The pirate Blackbeard captured La Concorde only sixty leagues (or approximately two hundred miles) off the coast of Martinique. La Concorde was travelling to Martinique to sell captive Africans into enslavement when Blackbeard took it. Despite Blackbeard taking their ship, the French were able to bring a lot of the captive Africans to Martinique on another ship and sold them into enslavement. Our goal was to see what we could uncover about La Concorde and the lives of the captive Africans eventually sold into enslavement in Martinique.
Our first stop was to the Regional Museum of History and Ethnography. The museum is in a brightly colored historic home in Fort-de-France that was turned into a museum in 1999. The museum features a variety of exhibits on the history and culture of Martinique and the Caribbean. Near the museum is the famous Bibliothèque Schoelcher. The library’s colorful and intricate construction was shipped piece by piece from the 1889 World Exposition in Paris. Inside is an active library where I was able to find articles about the history of slavery in the Caribbean and its eventual abolition.
Next, we spent three days at the Archives Territoriales de Martinique (ATM), also located in Fort-de-France. When we arrived, we learned that they had been the victims of a cyber-attack, and their online searching systems were out of order. This meant we had to go old school and use printed archive catalogs and guides to help with our research. ATM did not have many documents from the time of La Concorde, but they did have copies of documents from the 1700s that related to colonial activity in Martinique. These resources helped us learn more about the possible fates of the captive Africans onboard La Concorde after they were sold into enslavement.
Outside of the archives, we visited many historic sites and monuments in Martinique that relate to the slave trade. We travelled all over the island, visiting historic plantations called habitations. Musée du Château Dubuc was an habitation located in the region of Trinité on the eastern side of the island. Today, the site provides an informative tour of how a historic sugar plantation operated, however very little of the tour talked about the lives of the enslaved forced to work on the property. Another habitation, called Musée de la Pagerie, is known as the birthplace of Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais, wife of Napoleon Bonaparte. We learned that the museum had recently updated its exhibits to provide more information on the lives of the enslaved people forced to work on the property producing cacao, coffee, indigo, cotton, and sugar. One of the most memorable places we visited was La Savane des Esclaves. Over 3 hectares, La Savane des Esclaves is an outdoor museum that presents over 400 years of Martinique history, focusing on the lives and experiences of the native groups and enslaved people who lived there.
Martinique is a key location in the history of La Concorde and QAR, as the ship brought many captive Africans to the island to be sold into enslavement. Visiting historic sites where these people may have been forced to work provides a new perspective and understanding of the history and impact of La Concorde. During two of its three voyages, in 1713 and 1717, La Concorde brought 934 African people to Martinique, of which 116 died during the journey. Those who survived the crossing had a life of excruciating labor awaiting them upon their arrival to Martinique. Visiting the places where they may have been forced to work and learning about the industries they were forced to engage in forms a more direct connection to the people and provides an alternative avenue for telling their story.
Images:
-(Main Image) The outdoor museum of La Savane des Esclaves presents exhibits on the history of native and enslaved people on the island. The museum also featured beautiful displays of vegetation and a medicinal garden. Image by NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
-The famous Bibliothèque Schoelcher is one of the most iconic buildings in Fort-de-France. Named for the famous French abolitionist Victor Schoelcher, the library was shipped in pieces to Martinique from the 1889 World Exposition in Paris. Image by NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
-Located in Le Diamant region of Martinique, the Cap 110 Memorial is one of the most well-known memorials on the island. The 15 concrete statues look out over the bay in remembrance of the wrecking of an illegal slave ship in the bay on April 8, 1830, where many lost their lives. Image by NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
“A Tale of Two Ships” is a project of the NC African American Heritage Commission executed in partnership with the Queen Anne’s Revenge Conservation Laboratory. It is funded by the NC African American Heritage Commission’s IMLS Award for MH-249108-OMS-21, “A Tale of Two Ships: Part Deux.” The project strives to uncover more about Queen Anne’s Revenge’s previous life as the slave ship La Concorde.