The Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project (MPCPMP), which first announced its proposed work in Port of Harlem magazine, just received a three-year grant from The Mellon Foundation. Established in 2011, MPCPMP, is a national non-profit organization that honors the two million captive Africans who perished during the trans-Atlantic crossing known as the Middle Passage and the ten million who survived to build the Americas.

The basic form of the honor comes from placing markers and holding remembrance ceremonies in the Americas where the Africans were deshipped. The first marker was placed and remembrance ceremony held in Baltimore in 2012. The non-profit, not affiliated with Port of Harlem magazine, also supports community-led research efforts, outreach, organizing, discussion, planning, and engagement.

To date, MPCPMP has identified 70 documented Middle Passage arrival sites in the U.S including Sapelo Sound, Georgia, where the first captive Africans arrived September 29, 1526, almost 100 years before the 1619 Point Comfort/Jamestown arrival. The Spanish imported the Africans to help build San Miguel de Gualdape. MPCPMP has also recently started researching for sites outside of the United States in St. Thomas, St. Croix, and Puerto Rico.

The number of documented arrival sites continue to grow. One volunteer researcher recently found and documents two additional sites in Delaware, two in Virginia, and nine in Maryland. The markers, alone, for each of the sites cost a minimum of $5,000 says Ann Chinn, former POH co-editor and MPCPMP founder and program director.

The grant “is truly a gift,” Chinn says, reflecting on that they never have had an annual budget of more than $35,000. With the grant, we can say to a community with an arrival site, “here is the money for the marker.” The Mellon Foundation grant will also assist them with printing booklets, pay travel expenses, and hire an archivist.

The Atlantic Slave Trade was the largest forced migration in human history. “The ocean and the arrival locations are sacred spaces,” adds Ann Cobb, MPCPMP Executive Director. However, Chinn says convincing people on the importance of their work is still task. “It’s the love of this history that allows us to works with little or no funding over twelve years,” she says.

The UNESCO Routes of Enslaved Peoples: Resistance, Liberty, and Heritage has a similar project that has designated 43 of these arrival locations as a “Site of Memory.” UNESCO recognizes these landmarks as internationally significant because of their cultural and historical importance to the collective interests of humanity.

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Note: The Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project (MPCPMP) needs your financial help. As a result of their ongoing efforts and your support, in 2023, markers will be installed at: Africatown, AL; Annapolis, MD; Historic London Town, Edgewater, MD; and Portsmouth, NC. Planning is in progress for: Biloxi, MS; New Bern, NC; Baltimore, MD; Darien GA; and Washington, DC.