Fort Jefferson in the distance
By Audrey Peterman
This month marks the 100th Anniversary – the Centennial Observation – of Black History Month, established in 1926 as Negro History Week by Dr Carter G. Woodson at the building in Washington, DC that’s now a National Historic Site. As someone who worked with many allies over the last 30 years trying to engage Americans of color with the National Park System and experiencing limited success, it feels like the cosmos is laughing now.
On this Centennial anniversary we might expect a soaring celebration and increased awareness of our shared history. The latter is happening, though not in the way we might expect: The administration would probably prefer that the month of commemoration did not exist. BUT its craven efforts to erase Black history in the parks is making a lot of Black Americans aware of them for the very first time!
I think cosmos is making it clear that WE THE PEOPLE should be the primary keepers of our history. That we should know it and it should live within and through us to strengthen the bonds of citizenship.
As your National Parks conductor, I plan to take you on a tour of National Parks across the country, from Florida to Alaska, and show you the EXACT places where our ancestors made the biggest difference apart from in the slave economy. One of my all-time favorites (I’ve been to 195 of 433) Dry Tortugas National Park, is off the southernmost coast of Florida where the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea meet.
Made up of seven small islands, the most prominent is Garden Key on which the massive Fort Jefferson is situated. It shows up as a giant golden mirage while we’re still a ways off at sea. Taking shape as we get closer, it resolves itself into a gigantic fort, literally straddling the small island.
This fortress was built with 16 million bricks, beginning in 1846 and at one time was the largest brick structure in the Western Hemisphere. It was intended as a key part of America’s coastal defense system against incursion of foreign ships.
Enslaved Africans labored to fashion the bricks that constitute it into this formidable structure. I do not doubt that their DNA might be found deeply embedded in the fort even after all this time.
As we disembarked on our first visit my husband Frank said,
“I bet Black men worked on this.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Well, it’s hot, sweaty and dangerous work. What do you think?”
In the bookstore we bought a book that confirmed “the enslaved people were ‘leased’ by the government from their “owners,” whom the government paid. Work on Fort Jefferson started in 1846. Enslaved Africans, skilled in masonry and brickwork, were chief among the labor force. It’s a classic example of the roots of Black disenfranchisement.
The enslaved men also tried to escape by boat. Our colleague Stefan Moss has since pioneered The Saltwater Underground Railroad, detailing more of the story of enslaved Africans pioneering south, propelled by the passion for freedom.
The physical attributes of these two islands close to each other make me feel like we’ve dropped into a paradise at the end of the world. The island to starboard is Bush Key, so appropriately named after the teeming masses of approximately 300 species of shorebirds lining the sands and perching in the mangroves. There’s the male Magnificent Frigate Bird with his bright red pouch, so we know it’s mating season. Those with the regal white throat are the females. The sounds of all the birds calling at the same time is like heaven.
This MOAT connects the beach and the fort, though parts of it are currently closed to explorers. It has openings to the seas, and marine life wafts in and out like the world’s biggest aquarium. We can see Queen Conch slowly traversing the floor! That parrot fish is weaving a blanket of film around itself! And that small octopus is turning itself inside out! A fairyland and marine wonderland combined.
There’s so much more to explore in this park. My greatest aspiration is that African Americans and indeed all Americans will make this 100th Black History Month the BREAKTHROUGH. Let’s go out and see and enjoy our National Park System and take a stand to protect them as our ancestors protected them for us.
(Audrey Peterman is a national award-winning environmentalist, author and advocate for National Parks since 1995.)
