Summary
A piece of a sunken slave ship, the São José, will be returned to its home museum in South Africa. This artifact is currently part of an exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture. The exhibit highlights the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the exhibit change is due to the end of a loan agreement.
Key Facts
- The São José was a Portuguese slave ship that sank in 1794 near Cape Town, South Africa.
- The ship was carrying more than 400 enslaved people from Mozambique to Brazil.
- About half of the people on the ship died in the wreck, and survivors were sold into slavery.
- The shipwreck was discovered in 2015 and confirmed as part of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
- A timber piece from the ship has been on display in Washington since 2016 as part of a loan.
- The timber piece will return to South Africa after the loan ends on July 1.
- Other parts of the shipwreck, like the ballast stones, will remain on display and return in two years.
