I was born in Columbia, South Carolina. My parents were born in Lexington and Neeses, South Carolina, respectively. And now, at the International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina, I can find out when my enslaved ancestors first touched American soil. At the sacred grounds of the Gadsden’s Wharf seaport, the IAAM is giving the world a look into the deep southern history of the tumultuous slave trade. The exact port where the new museum now sits is the estimated spot where over 100,000 slaves were brought through on ships to the United States. The resounding notion heard throughout the weekend from Charlestonians about the museum opening was, “This ain’t heavy. This is history.”
The IAAM is set to explore the history, culture, and impact of the African American journey in connection to Charleston, the nation, and the world. With this new museum, they’re planning to shine a light on the diverse journeys, origins and achievements of descendants of the African Diaspora. Through mixed galleries, documentaries and digital research, the IAAM highlights the untold stories of the African American journey.
Gadsden’s Wharf, one of the many docks in Charleston Harbor, is estimated to have been where 45% of enslaved Africans entered this country. The memorial and museum site will include art installations and site objects that mark the history and archeology there. This area, which will be free and open to the public, also provides a space for informal and structured gatherings where stories and traditions can once again be shared.
The museum opened to the public on June 27, 2023, but IAAM has been in the works since 2000 when former Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr., voiced a need for the museum in his State of the City address. In 2002, a steering committee was formed to explore the development of the museum, and in 2005, Congressman Jim Clyburn became the museum’s first chair of the Board of Directors. As of early 2022, IAAM raised close to $100 million toward construction and the foundation of what will comprise the base of the museum. The museum will also feature a genealogy Center for Family History, which is a part of their research department that will allow visitors to start the beginning process of exploring their family heritage.
Ahead of the opening, Teen Vogue sat down with Dr. Tonya M. Matthews, president and chief executive officer of IAAM and Dr. Shelley Murphy, Coordinator of Genealogy Education of the IAAM, during the opening weekend of the museum to talk about this 20-year journey and the importance of knowing your history.
Teen Vogue: When did you first get involved with being a part of the museum?
Tonya Matthews: On paper, I became involved with the museum in April 2021. That's when I became the president and CEO to help move us over this last finish line. But truthfully, one of my mentors during my career was one of the first historians that was a part of bringing this project together more than 20 years ago. And I remember him talking to me about it. So when I got the call that they were looking for a CEO, my first response was, "They're not done yet?? We haven't opened that?” And that's when I began to understand what was happening and the incredible opportunity that I was about to have.
TV: I'd love to hear just a little bit about your work that you're doing specifically with the research and the genealogy and when you first got involved, Dr. Murphy.
Shelley Murphy: Well, actually when I first got involved was because of my mother. My mother was starting to write down things that she could remember her grandmother told her about the family. She was just real curious, and then if she could find out was there any documents or anything out there to support what she remembers her grandmother saying, and she was just gathering. So I wanted to help her because she never worked in an office or anything, so she didn't know about the computers coming in. This was in the late '70s. So actually she's the one that got me going, and then there were the mysteries on my dad's side of the family that we were just asking so many questions and there were no answers.
TV: What has it been like to be a part of the journey and get to this moment where the museum is about to open?
TM: It's been extraordinary. And while I've been on the journey for almost three years, other folks for 23 years, it still feels like a long time coming, no matter when you walked in the door. I think I feel an incredible sense of responsibility to, of course, the ancestors and the stories that we tell, but also for the blood, sweat, and tears over the last two decades. It's really interesting to come in at this point and be charged with being, I guess, the anchor, like a relay race to get us over the finish line. It's been incredible from day one.
TV: Growing up, my parents would always make me watch things like Roots and other slavery and segregation documentaries, but I never really was tuned in. I think as I started to get older, I wanted to care more because I thought it was so important. And so from your perspective, how important is it for young people to come to this museum and learn about their history and their past?
TM: I think for me, it's a half-and-half answer to the young generations and history. One, I think that it's a myth that young folks aren't interested in history. It's which stories are they interested in, and can we use that as their gateway into that space? And we need to be ready to answer those questions. Frankly, I might argue that some of our most powerful search engines would not exist if the younger generations weren't always trying to find out new things.
The second part is, and I honor my parents and my mother in particular in this, yeah, drag the children, this is part of how this works. A lot of stuff that's crammed into our heads when we're young by our elders or our aunties, and we think it's completely irrelevant until we actually need it. And then it's there. And I've actually even found that in my own journey. I'll end up someplace, "Oh, that's why I learned that. I understand where I am. I understand what's next."
TV: So for you, what is it like being a part of this museum opening and just specifically, I guess, the history that has to come with it? What are you excited for people to get to see and learn and explore when they get to walk through those doors?
SM: The biggest thing for me is the young people coming through here and they got questions. We got different generations now that are different than my generation growing up, and the hope is that they will come through and they will ask questions, and then they'll be curious enough that they're going to want to know who came before them in their family because you kind of know where you're going and what you came from. And there are probably a lot of similarities and a lot of things that are common. Like I had a love of French. I don't know why, I love the language, I love the people, I love the culture. Well, after 10, 12 years of doing this research, [my] third, fourth, great-grandfather was French. And I thought, "Could that be handed down?" but there was such an attraction, and this was from high school, and coming forward, there was just such an attraction and why was I attracted to that culture?
So I just lay it back to the ancestors, "Don't forget me," and there are so many things that they're not learning in school. There are things in here that will open that door for them. And again, being able to ask those questions, "Well, where do I come from? I get my parents and my grandparents, but what about them, and where did they come from? Who were they? What did they do? Oh, did they fight in a war? Was anybody a nurse or a doctor?" Or whatever it is. "Did anybody come on the Mayflower or did they come on a slave ship? What did they experience, and what was going on?"
TV: Thinking of the significance of it being in Charleston. I know that was the exciting part for me coming to it. My parents were so excited. I was born in Columbia, South Carolina. My mom's from Lexington. My dad's from Neeses. All of my family is from South Carolina, so they're very excited about this whole experience. So from your perspective, what is it about being able to have this museum specifically in Charleston?
TM: I think one of the things that I have really enjoyed about my job here is being on the learning curve to answering the question, "Why Charleston?" I think my mother's people in Louisiana, Maryland, DC, anywhere in the South should do. But when you learn the story of Charleston, when you learn the story of Gadsden's Wharf, the magnitude, the impact, the influence is astounding. There's so many stories that I know separated from context, and I'm starting to say, "Oh, that was South Carolina, and that's South, and that too?"
I think there's a really good reason for us to be in Charleston, I think historically. The other thing that I would say is it's wonderful that we're in a city that values and spurs tourism, because we're going to get a lot of folks who are going to come here anyway.
TV: I love that you mentioned that because I think it's so important to the history of slavery. I found out on my dad's side, they actually changed their last name, not legally. It used to be Ishmal and now it’s Ishmael. So I was like, "That's interesting within itself. Why did you guys decide that?" I think history is so important, especially for young people because it's like you don't know what happened back then.
SM: In the segment on the research on Craig Melvin, he also is from the Columbia and Lexington area. He has deep roots there too, which is interesting that you all might have known each other back then. But as you mentioned, there are challenges that come with this research. The name and the spelling is another critical part, that enslaved people or formerly enslaved people had the opportunity to change. They could take whatever name they wanted once they were free. Sometimes, most of the time they did not take the last slave owner's name. It could have been a previous one or a mother or grandparents' one, but it's not as common as people think. Some places it was, and during different times it might be, but you also got to see who's in that community and understand what's going on in that community to try to piece together what were the experiences. Were they enslaved? Were they freeborn? What were the differences? And then, how does that pertain to me right now? Because again, the kids today, and it's sad because they're not getting some of this history in schools, and I didn't get it in the '50s and '60s, but through my work in the last 30 years, I'm getting it.
I don't consider myself a historian because I'm a genealogist and it's about that research, but I think we're missing so much. There are so many stories to be told about whatever ancestor might have done this or been involved with that, or maybe they just farmed 20 acres and stuff and that's how they kept their family alive. So I think there's so much to be told, and that's that next generation, the hope is there that they will step up and step out and start talking about this and engaging in that research and challenge themselves to make sure that they can at least find out one of their lineages and to see where that takes them and what they find out that's fascinating.
TV: What are you most excited or excited in general for people to get to experience when they come in through those doors?
TM: I think the thing I'm most excited about people experiencing is a range of emotions. I like museums and some museums are specific. One moment in time, one emotion, one feeling, this is the sensation. Because of what we're trying to do here in introducing folks to the full context of the African-American journey, you're going to go through all the emotions. And people tend to be surprised by that and awed by that, that they can feel so many different things from happiness to sadness, to victory, to frustration, to resilience and resistance, to flat out joy in one visit. And so I think I'm most excited that people will get to experience that breadth of emotion that's very similar to the breadth of the stories that we tell.
I think this is the biggest thing for me as a researcher, is for people to be able to come in and ask those questions and get on that journey to find those answers, and then what does it do after that? They teach somebody else to do the same thing, to be able to pass those stories down, pass what they've learned down, and they keep that going because there will be generations after us, just like we're the generations after our ancestors.
TV: Lastly, can you explain how the genealogy process will work for those wanting to find out more about their family history while at the museum?
SM: Yeah, they are different. Genealogy one-on-one will be available. They'll have a 15-minute session a couple of times during the day, that people, when they come through, can make it up to the Center for family history, and it's a getting started and basically just to say, this is how you get started. We'll offer that a couple times during the day, and it'll be consistent. Every day that we're open, this will be there. There'll be a staff person that's there, so if there's any questions or anything, they can be answered.
The other opportunity is August 1st. Online they can book a consultation, a 45-minute or an hour consultation with one of the staff.
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