Facing the Gulf: Learning Stories of Slavery in Galveston, 1816-1865 is as a digital archival exhibit and resource guide that attempts to locate the lives and stories of enslaved people in Galveston’s early history. This online repository seeks to accomplish two goals: 1) complicate overgeneralized historical narratives that ignore the nuances of Galveston’s unique realities and landscapes, and 2) to serve as a guide and roadmap for further research into this subject.
Rather than attempting to cover all facets of Galveston's antebellum history, this exhibit seeks to focus specifically on the lives and stories of enslaved people that have been marginalized in mainstream historical narratives about the city. This means naming enslaved people whenever possible and keeping their experiences at the forefront of this exporatory research.
A note on language: Please be aware that potentially offensive language may be present in images and direct quotes from primary historical documents. Most 19th century and even early 20th century authors did not hold back from making blatanly racist statements and assumptions about Africans and African-Americans. While offensive language is present in some materials, I have not included any materials that contain words that would be considered outright profanity in today's world.
Facing the Gulf: Learning Stories of Slavery in Galveston, 1816-1865 was created on behalf of the Galveston Historical Foundation by 2021 Edward L. Protz intern, Katelyn Landry. This internship was generously supported by the Mary Moody Northen Endowment.
You can contact Katelyn by email at kal7@rice.edu. To provide further feedback about your experience navigating this exhibit, please visit the Feedback page.