Transatlantic Autobiography
Charlyn Griffith-Oro
British Guiana Passport, Guyana Passport, United Kingdom Passport,
United States of America Passport
Because of the displacement of the Indigenous people of the so-called West Indies, the forced migration of Africans during the TransAtlantic Slave trade, and the indenture of South Asians, my ancestors, the Arawak, the Carib, the Yoruba, and the Madrasi, converged in both Trinidad and Guyana creating a spiritual passport, allowing me to time travel through these legacies over 400 years later.
My father, Charles V. Griffith, and mother, Eucline M. McMillan (Griffith), grew up in large families and experienced their countries gaining independence from “the crown,” only to become a part of the Windrush Generation that migrated to the United Kingdom between 1948 and 1970. Each of their siblings, their parents, and extended families chose various locations. Each took their journeys toward obtaining their citizenships in the U.K., pledging loyalty to the country that had colonised their people, obtaining what they felt was access to resources due them.
Twice immigrated, Charles and Eucline experienced the hardships of people who leave their homelands, including the strain of being very far away from family. Though they grew an incredible extended and global community in London, they were able to reconnect with their siblings (and parents) as we joined family in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Northern Virginia in the 1980s.
These three texts were written across 75 years, shaped by the sugar triangle between Africa, Europe, and the Americas (the Caribbean islands, and North and South America). This triptych of books links Philadelphia to the Haitian struggle for independence.
Toussaint L’Ouverture: a Biography and Autobiography (1863)
J. R. Beard (John Relly), and James Redpath
Haverford College Libraries
The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution (1938)
C. L. R. James
Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection
The Philadelphia Negro (1899)
DuBois, W.E.B., 1899
Charlyn Griffith-Oro, Private Collection
Toussaint L’Ouverture: a Biography and Autobiography (1863)
J. R. Beard (John Relly), and James Redpath
Haverford College Libraries
L’Ouverture, born of parentage from the Alada Kingdom (Benin), freed himself from colonial enslavement, becoming a dutiful servant of what would become the republic of Ayiti/Haiti. Writing from a French prison, he defended his work to ensure the continued freedom of the island and the economic progress of its people. At this point, his wife and children had been kidnapped by Napoleon Bonaparte, and his wealth (valued at about $6 million) had been stolen by Philadelphia “hero” Stephen Girard, after whom Girard Avenue and Girard College are named.
The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution (1938)
C.L. R. James
Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection
C.L.R James, a Trinidadian scholar, offers a perspective on the Haitian Revolution that places the enslaved at the centre of the story, and consistently reminds us that freedom came about primarily through the work of mobilised Black people, not the white abolitionist movement. Nicolas Ponce’s plates as well as a portrait and signature from The Autobiography of Toussaint L’Ouverture can be found in the first edition of this book.
The Philadelphia Negro (1899)
DuBois, W.E.B., 1899
Charlyn Griffith-Oro, Private Collection
W.E.B. Du Bois, child of a Haitian labourer, was commissioned by the University of Pennsylvania to conduct a sociological study of Black life in Philadelphia’s 7th Ward where Blacks with lineage to the islands also resided at the time of his research.
The Happy Negro (1810)
London: Published by William Holland, No. 11 Cockspur Street
Handprint aquatint
The Library Company of Philadelphia – Political Cartoons Collection
This 1810 satirical print entitled, The Happy Negro, was first published in London. This composition, which places the viewer on an unspecified island of the so-called West Indies, was originally created as a commentary on the decadence or mismanagement of Caribbean plantations and the arguable “power” given to the enslaved. But it is also a family photo of sorts.
The song referenced in the text below the image, possibly overheard by the artist, could represent the observations of our beautiful family. Our songwriter comments on those upholding the pillars of colonialism, busy stealing land, overseeing the production of agricultural products for European consumption, and subsequently exploiting the labour of the highly skilled people stolen from their own farms and communities.
Notice their attire, lush robes, the formal shoes, and the baby’s gaze set upon their mother. Imagine a warm breeze blowing, easy sighs shared between them. Do you recognise your facial features or your body’s shape here? Do the shape of the palm fronds remind you of a home?
Resistance rooted in
heritage
Interested in more stories about heritage, or more original art? Check out the work below:
