Lifeline Expedition
Encyclopedia
The Lifeline Expedition is a reconciliation initiative which is a Christian
response to the legacy of the Atlantic Slave Trade
. It brings together teams of Africans, descendants of enslaved Africans and white people from the three former corners of the slave triangle and over a period of seven years has visited many significant slavery sites around the Atlantic world. Controversy has emerged over the fact that white people on the teams wore replica yokes and chains to express apology for the role of their ancestors in the slave trade.
Lifeline Walk along the Greenwich meridian
line in England. Journeys followed in France (2002), Spain & Portugal (2003), the USA (2004), the Caribbean Region (2005) and West Africa (2006). The seven year circuit of the Atlantic world concluded with the March of the Abolitionists, a National Project for the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade in England in 2007.
The first journey to attract worldwide attention was the journey to the USA which began in Annapolis Maryland, where Lifeline Expedition partnered with the Kunta Kinte
-Alex Haley
Foundation in a reconciliation march on 29 September 2004. The event was opposed by right wing
groups such as the National Alliance
who counter demonstrated with placards reading “You are Entering a White Guilt Zone” and “White Pride.”
In May 2006, the Lifeline Expedition team made an apology at the opening ceremony of the International Roots Festival in the Gambia. Apologies were given by English, French, German and American representatives as those nations were prominent in the slave trade in that region. The Vice President of the Gambia, Dr Isatou Njie Saidy
, accepted the apology and released the team from the yokes and chains. One of those giving the apology was Andrew Hawkins a direct descendant of England's first slave trader, Sir John Hawkins
.
The March of the Abolitionists in 2007, began in Hull
, the birthplace of William Wilberforce
, on 1 March. The walkers then walked 250 miles in yokes and chains, recalling the gruelling journeys of enslaved Africans, during the period of the Atlantic Slave Trade. Their penitential action took place in the season of Lent and, as well as expressing apology, also drew attention to the estimated 12 million people still in slavery today. The journey ended in Westminster on 24 March when the team joined the Walk of Witness led by the Archbishops of Canterbury, York and the West Indies
. . The walkers were released from the yoke and chains by the Archbishop of the West Indies. The second part of the March of the Abolitionists (the Sankofa Reconciliation Walk) took place in June and July and visited all the major former slave ports.
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
response to the legacy of the Atlantic Slave Trade
Atlantic slave trade
The Atlantic slave trade, also known as the trans-atlantic slave trade, refers to the trade in slaves that took place across the Atlantic ocean from the sixteenth through to the nineteenth centuries...
. It brings together teams of Africans, descendants of enslaved Africans and white people from the three former corners of the slave triangle and over a period of seven years has visited many significant slavery sites around the Atlantic world. Controversy has emerged over the fact that white people on the teams wore replica yokes and chains to express apology for the role of their ancestors in the slave trade.
The Journeys
The first part of the journey was the Jubilee 2000Jubilee 2000
Jubilee 2000 was an international coalition movement in over 40 countries that called for cancellation of third world debt by the year 2000. This movement coincided with the Great Jubilee, the celebration of the year 2000 in the Catholic Church...
Lifeline Walk along the Greenwich meridian
Prime Meridian
The Prime Meridian is the meridian at which the longitude is defined to be 0°.The Prime Meridian and its opposite the 180th meridian , which the International Date Line generally follows, form a great circle that divides the Earth into the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.An international...
line in England. Journeys followed in France (2002), Spain & Portugal (2003), the USA (2004), the Caribbean Region (2005) and West Africa (2006). The seven year circuit of the Atlantic world concluded with the March of the Abolitionists, a National Project for the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade in England in 2007.
The first journey to attract worldwide attention was the journey to the USA which began in Annapolis Maryland, where Lifeline Expedition partnered with the Kunta Kinte
Kunta Kinte
Kunta Kinte is the central character of the novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family by American author Alex Haley, and of the television miniseries Roots, based on the book. Haley described his book as faction - a mixture of fact and fiction...
-Alex Haley
Alex Haley
Alexander Murray Palmer Haley was an African-American writer. He is best known as the author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family and the coauthor of The Autobiography of Malcolm X.-Early life:...
Foundation in a reconciliation march on 29 September 2004. The event was opposed by right wing
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
groups such as the National Alliance
National Alliance
The National Alliance is a white separatist political organization. It was founded by University physics teacher Dr. William Luther Pierce in 1974, and is based in the Pierce family's compound in Hillsboro, West Virginia. Although it operates primarily in the United States, the National Alliance...
who counter demonstrated with placards reading “You are Entering a White Guilt Zone” and “White Pride.”
In May 2006, the Lifeline Expedition team made an apology at the opening ceremony of the International Roots Festival in the Gambia. Apologies were given by English, French, German and American representatives as those nations were prominent in the slave trade in that region. The Vice President of the Gambia, Dr Isatou Njie Saidy
Isatou Njie Saidy
Isatou Njie-Saidy is a Gambian politician. She has been Vice President and Secretary of State for Women's Affairs of The Gambia since 20 March 1997 and is the first Gambian woman to hold the position of Vice President...
, accepted the apology and released the team from the yokes and chains. One of those giving the apology was Andrew Hawkins a direct descendant of England's first slave trader, Sir John Hawkins
John Hawkins
Admiral Sir John Hawkins was an English shipbuilder, naval administrator and commander, merchant, navigator, and slave trader. As treasurer and controller of the Royal Navy, he rebuilt older ships and helped design the faster ships that withstood the Spanish Armada in 1588...
.
The March of the Abolitionists in 2007, began in Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
, the birthplace of William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce was a British politician, a philanthropist and a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becoming the independent Member of Parliament for Yorkshire...
, on 1 March. The walkers then walked 250 miles in yokes and chains, recalling the gruelling journeys of enslaved Africans, during the period of the Atlantic Slave Trade. Their penitential action took place in the season of Lent and, as well as expressing apology, also drew attention to the estimated 12 million people still in slavery today. The journey ended in Westminster on 24 March when the team joined the Walk of Witness led by the Archbishops of Canterbury, York and the West Indies
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
. . The walkers were released from the yoke and chains by the Archbishop of the West Indies. The second part of the March of the Abolitionists (the Sankofa Reconciliation Walk) took place in June and July and visited all the major former slave ports.