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Pontella Mason, Ancestral Roots, 800 E. Lombard St, Baltimore MD, 1999.jpg

Ancestral Roots

Pontella Mason is one of Baltimore’s unsung visual artists. He has created murals for the Anacostia Community Museum, former President Jimmy Carter, and several other public organisations. His murals depict African American life and the diaspora. In 1999, he created the extensive mural Ancestral Roots, which depicts the antislavery heroes Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, and Frederick Douglass, as well as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Notorious B.I.G., Tupac, Shirley Chisholm, and Marcus Garvey.

Albreda.jpg

Museum of Slavery

The Museum of Slavery in the village of Albreda first opened in 1996. It is housed in the Maurel Fréres building which was built by the British colonial government in the 1840s. Only a short distance from Juffure, the home of Kunta Kinte - the main character of Alex Haley's 'Roots' - the museum is dedicated to interpreting the history of transatlantic slavery in the area. It is a hub for students and researchers.

The museum's displays use a collection of artefacts to examine the process of enslavement, with particular focus on capture and the Middle Passage. These artefacts include chain neck collars, foot cuffs, yokes and manillas. The museum also has a display about 'Roots'.

Guided tours are regularly welcomed to the museum. Visitors are also frequently taken to visit the nearby 'factory' ruins which was once used as a slave station by French and British colonial administrations.