Mailing Address:What is UNESCO's African Passages? What is UNESCO? l What is the UNESCO Transatlantic Slave Trade Education Project? l What is UNESCO TST-USA? l Who are the USA sites? l What does TST-USA do? l What are the TST-USA goals? l What is our goal at the College of Charleston? l Who is the national coordinator at TST-USA? l Who is the College of Charleston site coordinator of TST-USA? l Teacher Material l Workshops & Conferences l Listserv
UNESCO’s African Passages
In 2004, the Transatlantic Slave Trade Education Project (TST) of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) encouraged each participating member state to develop a “Site of Memory” website about their region as an educational resource for teachers and other educators around the world. An important aim of UNESCO’s Transatlantic Slave Trade Education Project is the preservation and protection of places of memory related to the Slave Trade. Over 100 schools in 23 nations around the Atlantic World participate in this project.
A “site of memory” is a contemporary geographic or physical location with cultural, spiritual, or historic elements that can be interpreted to teach some or all of the themes of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. It can include buildings, the natural environment or the site of a significant event.
UNESCO’s African Passages is intended to be a prototype “Site of Memory” website. Focusing on the Ashley River Historic District of the Lowcountry surrounding Charleston, South Carolina, it explores the journey of Africans from freedom to slavery, the transformation of the landscape and development of wealth generated by the work of enslaved Africans, and the surviving traditions of those individuals in contemporary South Carolina.
UNESCO’s African Passages is a multimedia presentation and demonstrates not only the past contributions of enslaved people but reveals as well the enduring legacy of those contributions—in people, in music, in naming practices, in the built environment—as part of our effort to reveal the "living" past. Created and refined through a collaboration of academic and public historians, historic site and museum professionals, interested individuals and educators from around the world, this website contains spoken word and musical recordings, a series of primary documents—including maps and plantation records, as well as a detailed educational component with lesson plans and additional activities for teachers’ use in integrating the materials into their classrooms.
Related Links:
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
www.unesco.org
More about UNESCO’s Transatlantic Slave Trade Education Project
www.unesco.org/education/asp/tst
The UNESCO Slave Route Project
www.unesco.org/culture/slaveroute
