The Middle Passage was a forced migration. In the end, 10 to 12 million people were ripped from their culture, their languages, their heritage, and their land (Iliffe, 2007, p. 135).

Our society does not provide opportunities to mourn the trauma and unfathomable suffering of the Middle Passage. But we as a community can hold that space for one another. In Liberation Table, for example, a ritual with salt represents the tears our ancestors cried, the sweat of their toil, and the ocean that still separates many of us from our ancestors’ countries of origin. We also take that time to remember our ancestors who died at sea.

Reference: Iliffe, John. Africans: The History of a Continent. 2nd ed., Cambridge Univ. Press, 2007.

TODAY’S PRACTICE: Listen to the 1619 Podcast episode Introducing ‘1619’. Read page 32, “Thicker Than (Salt) Water,” in the Liberation Table Guide.

DAILY REFLECTION: How can you honor those whose names have been forgotten to history: children, ancestors, loved ones, the people lost in the Middle Passage?

TAKE ACTION: Uplift a photo of yourself with a banned book that changed your life (post with #freedomtolearn).