美国国家公共电台 NPR Historian Goes Underground To Shed Light On Richmond's Role In Slave Trade

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: 

As the nation prepares to inaugurate a new president, we've been getting glimpses of some of the communities he will soon lead. Our series is called Finding America. Today we go to Richmond, Va.

FREE EGUNFEMI: When people come to Richmond, it really feels like a hipster haven¹. First thing you see is a lot of restaurants. You see a lot of social entrepreneurships. You see a lot of boutiques. But I don't want people that look like me to be forgotten in the midst of that.

SHAPIRO: Historian Free Egunfemi worries that the history of Richmond's black community is getting lost. It's easy enough to find monuments celebrating Confederate history in Richmond. It's harder to find evidence of Richmond's role in the country's slave trade unless you go underground, which is what Free Egunfemi and producer Kelley Libby did. A local restaurant employee led them into a basement that Egunfemi believes was used in the Underground Railroad.

EGUNFEMI: So as we come down in this hole...

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Yeah, this hole - you're right, (inaudible).

EGUNFEMI: This basement is actually part of Sweet Teas restaurant, which is a black-owned soul food restaurant here in Shockoe Bottom in this section of downtown Richmond, Va.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Lower your head down when you come down. Come on down.

EGUNFEMI: In this basement, you'll find a very low ceiling. You'll find very old bricks...

Yep, ouch.

...But certainly the ability to understand what this space could have been like in the 1800s.

Do you have a flashlight?

There's boarded-up and bricked-up tunnels that were used in the Underground Railroad.

(Laughter) So being down here right now today feels so strong because I know that this was the last space in Richmond that many people actually occupied before they whisked themselves to freedom and started a new life in places like Philadelphia.

OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Inaudible).

EGUNFEMI: Yes, let me get - you get...

This was something that I was able to uncover through conversations with the people that live and work here in digging for the untold² story.

Did you hear about this when you first came? Did they tell you?

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: The owner told us about all this.

EGUNFEMI: Richmond, Va., is the nucleus³ of the slave trade in Virginia because there were at least 300,000 people that were gathered from all over the surrounding counties and brought to ships and sold down the river. That's actually the term that they used - sold down the river to never see their families again.

We are only a few steps from auction⁴ blocks on every corner of this area. They're not marked. There's no memorials. There's no signage. There's no remnants. There's no evidence. All of this stuff has been erased⁵ to time.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Inaudible).

EGUNFEMI: So you're going to have to shimmy up that.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Yeah, (inaudible).

EGUNFEMI: Richmond is a majority black city.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Little bit closer or what?

EGUNFEMI: There's more black people than any other background here in Richmond, Va., and our narratives⁶ have not been celebrated⁷. Nor have our accomplishments⁸.

There's two (unintelligible).

This is something that I feel is very important to be told by the descendant community itself, to be held as a historical remnant of all we were able to accomplish when the city and the state and the nation had laws on the books that made us not be able to have life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness like everyone else. So for my ancestors and for those that were enslaved here, tortured here, disrespected here, I say power to the people. May we never forget what this space represents for self-determination and self-liberation and all the things that go into people preserving their freedom. May it be so.

SHAPIRO: That's historian Free Egunfemi in Richmond, Va. Her story was produced by Kelley Libby. It comes to us from "Localore: Finding America," a national production of AIR, the Association of Independents in Radio. You can find more stories at NPR and at Finding America.

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1 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。

2 untold   

adj.数不清的，无数的

参考例句：

• She has done untold damage to our chances.她给我们的机遇造成了不可估量的损害。
• They suffered untold terrors in the dark and huddled together for comfort.他们遭受着黑暗中的难以言传的种种恐怖，因而只好挤在一堆互相壮胆。

3 nucleus   

n.核，核心，原子核

参考例句：

• These young people formed the nucleus of the club.这些年轻人成了俱乐部的核心。
• These councils would form the nucleus of a future regime.这些委员会将成为一个未来政权的核心。

4 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

5 erased   

v.擦掉( erase的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；清除

参考例句：

• He erased the wrong answer and wrote in the right one. 他擦去了错误答案，写上了正确答案。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He removed the dogmatism from politics; he erased the party line. 他根除了政治中的教条主义，消除了政党界限。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 narratives   

记叙文( narrative的名词复数 )； 故事； 叙述； 叙述部分

参考例句：

• Marriage, which has been the bourne of so many narratives, is still a great beginning. 结婚一向是许多小说的终点，然而也是一个伟大的开始。
• This is one of the narratives that children are fond of. 这是孩子们喜欢的故事之一。

7 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

8 accomplishments   

n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就

参考例句：

• It was one of the President's greatest accomplishments. 那是总统最伟大的成就之一。
• Among her accomplishments were sewing,cooking,playing the piano and dancing. 她的才能包括缝纫、烹调、弹钢琴和跳舞。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》