Marc Morano, CNSNews.com
Thursday, March 6, 2003

The museum's West Africa exhibit, which opened Feb. 3 and continues through the end of August, includes the following statement at the entrance of the exhibit:

"Slavery had existed in Africa as it had in other parts of the world, for centuries, but it was not based on race and it did not result in dehumanization and death, as did transatlantic slavery."

It claims, "Because the economies of Africa did not depend on slave labor, the number of enslaved people was small until European traders arrived."

Julia Hotton, curator of the West Africa exhibit, "Captive Passage: The Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Making of the Americas," believes the European trans-Atlantic slave trade was much more violent than the African slave system.

When asked to explain why, as the museum exhibit states, African slavery was not "dehumanizing," Hotton suggested it would be wise not "to concentrate on that particular phrase," but added that "it was a different slave system" in Africa.

Slavery in Africa "just wasn't as violent and as perpetual as it was here," Hotton explained.

When pressed again on the issue of slavery in Africa, Hotton backpedaled.

"I am sure it was... I am sure it was dehumanizing. We are now talking about a matter of degree. That is very difficult," Hotton said.

"I don't know how absolute that is because I can't guarantee that somewhere along the way a slave somewhere did not die because of mistreatment," Hotton said.

'Hypocrisy'

Brad Phillips, the president of Persecution Project Foundation, a Christian ministry aiding victims of today's strife in Africa, said the Smithsonian exhibit's message was one of "hypocrisy and inconsistency."

Phillips, who has personally witnessed the effects of modern-day slavery in Sudan during his more than 60 trips there, told CNSNews.com all slavery is "dehumanizing."

"Slavery is slavery is slavery is slavery ... when you have little children, little girls that are being abducted or sold by their parents for economic reasons, being sold as sexual slaves in Burma and Thailand, it's all dehumanizing. Let's just be consistent; let's apply the same same standards," Phillips said.

Professor Robert Engs, a history professor at the University of Pennsylvania, also criticized the Smithsonian's views about the history of slavery in Africa.

"It's like comparing different levels of hell," said Engs regarding whether the trans-Atlantic slave trade was worse than Africa's domestic slave trade.

But professor Cheikh Babou, an African Studies professor at the University of Pennsylvania, believes race-based slavery was much worse than other types of slavery and agrees with the Smithsonian's view that African slavery was not "dehumanizing."

"I think that the type of slavery we saw in West Africa and other areas of Africa, where people were connected to their culture and environment, where they were not considered outside of the human purview, was different from what we saw later," Babou told CNSNews.com.

The Joy of African Slavery

According to Babou, many African slaves were treated like family members.

"A domestic slave, a slave that was pretty much incorporated into family, was like an adopted child in the family. They were not a commodity. They were not dehumanized," Babou explained.

Phillips disagreed, insisting that Africa's domestic slave trade was and still is dehumanizing.

"Slavery is a cultural system. It has been going on [since] ... Moses," Phillips said.

"Of course [slavery in Africa] was dehumanizing. Of course people were denied their God-given rights. People were treated as subhumans; they were treated as animals," he said.

Slavery Today: Amputations, Rape, Family Destroyed ...

Phillips said present-day slavery in Africa frequently results in "having your hands and feet cut off, sexual slavery, chattel slavery, being forcibly evicted from your home, having your wives taken, your children being taken by force for slavery."

Phillips pointed to the existence of slavery in Sudan as evidence of a double standard among academics and political leaders.

Why Don't 'Reparations' Agitators Object?

"Where is the outrage? The same people that want reparations for American slavery - where is their outrage for Africans who are being slaughtered today?" Phillips asked.

The Smithsonian is already being criticized for its portrayal of America at the Museum of American History.

The Smithsonian museums receive approximately two-thirds of their funding from the federal government and the rest from corporate and private donations.

The National Park Service is also under fire for presenting a video at the Lincoln Memorial that many visitors believe implies Abraham Lincoln would have supported abortion and homosexual "rights," as well as the modern feminist agenda. However, the Park Service is seeking to modify the content of the video, following several reports by CNSNews.com.

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