Slave Wrecks Project

Luís Graça was one of several teachers invited to tour Complexo Brasil at the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon in Early 2026.

Created by Brazilian curators, the exhibition seeks to discuss the complicated relationship between Brazil and its former colonizer, Portugal.

Educators like Graça are actively thinking about how to tell a fuller version of Portuguese history that does not shy away from the realities of enslavement, empire, or colonization. His reflections share the perspective of a Portuguese educator wrestling with how best to incorporate these stories into the classroom.

In 2024, Graça particpated in the SWP workshop “Difficult Histories, Difficult Legacies — How to teach and talk about slavery,” at the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon. This workshop aims to equip educators with the tools to facilitate classroom conversations about race, slavery, and colonialism.

“Difficult Histories, Difficult Legacies” will convene for the third year in July. Learn more on our website.

https://slavewrecksproject.org/blog/reflecting-on-teaching-difficult-histories-in-portugal/

In 1852, the brig Camargo illegally trafficked more than 500 people from Mozambique to Angra dos Reis, Brazil.

As the Slave Wrecks Project and its partners work to document the ship’s wreckage in Brazil, the story of the lives affected by the Camargo’s journey reveals a deep international history of greed, profit, loss, and memory.

To learn more about this story on our website.
https://slavewrecksproject.org/blog/the-camargo-a-history-of-global-connections/

Image Credits: Gabrille Miller, Yuri Sanada, and the Library of Congress

“Underwater spaces hold stories that cannot speak for themselves.” 🌊
From Benin to Biscayne National Park, PhD student Angelo Ayedoun is building skills to protect underwater cultural heritage, bridging research, conservation, and community across continents.

After completing the Summer 2025 Internship at Biscayne National Park, Aydedoun reflect the experience reinforced his belief that “Benin and West Africa can develop effective models for protecting underwater heritage by drawing on methods that combine research, conservation, community involvement, and collaboration across the continents.”

The internship program is hosted by SWP, Diving With a Purpose and the National Park Service

https://slavewrecksproject.org/blog/preserving-the-maritime-histories/

“Where are your monuments, your battles, martyrs?
Where is your tribal memory? Sirs,
in that grey vault. The sea. The sea...
has locked them up. The sea is History.”

Those are the first lines of Derek Walcott’s poem, “The Sea Is History,” as referenced by Tom Healy in his reflection on visiting the Quilombo do Santa do Bracuí in November.

Read his reflection on the powerful nature of the experience on our website by following the link.

Dispatch from Angra dos Reis, Brazil - Slave Wrecks Project Tom Healy writes about his time in Angra dos Reis Brazil visting the community of the Quilombo Santa Rita do Bracui.

Days before the In Slavery’s Wake exhibition opened in Rio de Janeiro, a small cohort traveled south of the Quilombo de Santa Rita do Bracuí. They journeyed to collect water from the Camargo site. This ship was intentionally sunk off the coast to hide the 500 enslaved Africans it had illegally trafficked to the country. The descendants of enslaved people living in Bracuí today are closely tied to the water where the ship hides.

Daniel Minter, the artist behind the installation, The Universe of Freedom Making in Slavery’s Wake, writes, “This exhibit travels to four continents to places linked by a long history of inflicted terror and a history of continuing struggles. But these people are bound by a force greater than history. Our great mother, the ocean, binds us to her on a molecular level.” The water from Bracuí was placed inside a glass gourd in the installation and will, over time, evaporate into the air of the exhibition, filling it with the “molecular memory of freedom making.”

Image Credits: Yuri Sanada, Johanna Obenda

https://slavewrecksproject.org/blog/in-slaverys-wake-and-the-camargo/

“Now that the Story Map is available to the public, I hope it can serve as a meeting place where students, researchers, fishermen, sailors, teachers, travelers, and members of the diaspora can find something that speaks to them or piques their curiosity. I invite everyone to explore, share, and use Sea Paths in an open and collaborative way.” - Celeste Mandlaze.

Slave Wrecks Project is excited to highlight the work of Celeste Mandlaze and the team at CAIRIM on Sea Paths, an interactive story map that seeks to bring the underwater heritage of Mozambique Island to its residents and the larger world.

Follow The link to learn more about why Celeste created Sea Paths and see the online exhibit for yourself!
https://slavewrecksproject.org/blog/sea-paths-routes-and-memories-on-mozambique-island/
Departamento de Arqueologia e Antropologia - UEM

Sea Paths: Routes and Memories on Mozambique Island - Slave Wrecks Project This project grew out of a desire to bring the public closer to these maritime stories, not just as historical data, but as a living part of the communities that continue to inhabit and care for the sea.

From the Shore to the Deep” is the story of Samira Jamu’s journey as a scuba diver. Learn about her work on Mozambique Island and the Community Monitor Program in her new essay on the Slave Wrecks Project Blog.

“Each dive, each project, each young person I teach is part of a much larger story, a story about memory, resilience, and hope. And I am proud to be one of its voices.” - Samira Jamu.

Read more in the link in our bio.