A project that has been decades in the making is now opening in 2023. The International African American Museum was initially announced by Charleston Mayor Joe Riley in 2000.
The museum will be 150 thousand square feet and built on the former site of Gadsden’s Wharf. The wharf is where slave ships would dock and unloaded thousands of slaves. According to The Post and Courier, up to 800 enslaved Africans died there during the winter of 1807 and were buried in a mass grave nearby.
Embed from Getty ImagesAccording to historical data, Charleston was one of the largest entry points for enslaved Africans entering the United States.
The museum will have 9 galleries, ancestry data and a memorial garden that will have a clear view of the ocean.
