VOA标准英语2014--One-Time Slave Pen Now a Museum About Horrors of Slavery

 

One-Time Slave Pen Now a Museum About Horrors of Slavery 

ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA — The award-winning movie 12 Years a Slave is based on the memoir¹ of Solomon Northrup, a free black man from New York who was kidnapped in Washington in 1841. It is also the story of the notorious slave trader who sold him into slavery, James Birch.

In Alexandria, Virginia, just outside of Washington, Birch would become an owner of a slave pen where men, women and children were held before being sold as property.  Today, all that remains² of the site is a single building -- now home to a civil rights organization and a small museum about slavery. 

Thousands of slaves passed through the doors of the house in Alexandria, Virginia and the Freedom House Museum downstairs provides a glimpse about what they experienced.  As many as 60 men at a time were held in this small space, separated from their families.

Ugandan-born curator Julian Kiganda can not imagine what it was like for them, to know they might never see their loved ones again.

“Seeing that African-Americans had experienced on a regular basis, the separation of family. That for me was just so heartbreaking,” he said.

Most of the slaves had worked on local plantations³ picking tobacco.  When the soil was exhausted⁴, they were sold to plantations further south to pick cotton, says Audrey Davis, head of Alexandria's Black History Museum.  

“They were coming from a variety of places, and then being held in the slave pens until they were shipped out, or until someone was buying them directly from the pen, and then they would be brought out for inspection,” she said.

The slave pen took up an entire block, and was one of the most lucrative⁵ in the country. There was a kitchen, infirmary, dining area and an outdoor courtyard for exercise.  The traders knew that healthier looking slaves would command higher prices, and even gave them new clothes.

“The tailor shop would create the clothes that the slaves would wear at the market so they would look expensive," Kiganda said. "For the slaves, they would try to get rid of these clothes as soon as they could because they did not want to be reminded of being sold at market.”

The slaves were sold for up to four times what the traders had paid for them.

“People would pay $1,200 for a slave, back in those days, which is the equivalent of almost $30,000. And so that one slave could farm 800 pounds of cotton in one day," Kiganda said.

The metal door in the museum is a copy.  But the bars on the windows and brick walls are original.

Jacquelyn Nordorf, visiting from California, says it is chilling to imagine slaves crowded against the walls.

“It saddens me but it is our history," she said. "It was scary to be in a place where the slaves were actually kept and these people were sold for their lives.”

When they were transported, the slaves were shackled⁶ together to prevent escape and put on ships, or forced to walk long distances to plantations in the south.   

Visitors are encouraged to touch these slave chains.

“We felt it was important for people to have the ability to actually feel these things and feel the reality of what happened here,” Kiganda said.

Some people feel the presence of spirits here. The house now belongs to the Northern Virginia chapter of the Urban League -- an organization that empowers African-Americans.  Chief Executive Officer Cynthia Dinkins and her staff say they have heard and seen things they can't explain.

“I felt something brush against me, but I didn’t feel threatened at all," she said. "And they [staff members] said, yes, yes, we’ve experienced things like that, doors opening and closing, footsteps."

 

The slave pen was closed during the American civil war, fought between the northern Union and southern Confederacy, where slavery supported the economy.  After Southern-backed Alexandria surrendered to Union soldiers in 1861, the pen was turned into a prison.  It was used to jail unruly Union soldiers, and ironically, Confederate soldiers, who found themselves captured and held as the slaves had been.

1 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 plantations   

n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Soon great plantations, supported by slave labor, made some families very wealthy. 不久之后出现了依靠奴隶劳动的大庄园，使一些家庭成了富豪。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• Winterborne's contract was completed, and the plantations were deserted. 维恩特波恩的合同完成后，那片林地变得荒废了。 来自辞典例句

4 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

5 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

6 shackled   

给（某人）带上手铐或脚镣( shackle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The hostage had been shackled to a radiator. 当时人质被铐在暖气片上。
• He was shackled and in darkness of torment. 他被困在黑暗中备受煎熬。