28/10/2024
"This is such a unique piece that there would be no history of similar sales.
You might want to try one of the major international auction houses", from Stampler Auctions, Harry Stampler. I requested to pay the auction house for a value of the historic chain/spike if it had no connection to Kunta Kinte.
KUNTA KINTE and the SLAVE CHAIN and SPIKE and Prince Emeka's US Tour
by Andrew Earl Singer, Worldwide Talent Magazine et al and MUAFA Worldwide Promotions, International Label Signing Agent
ROOTS is the Pulitzer Prize winning book (12 years of research) by Alex Haley. Kunta Kinte was born in 1750 in the Upper Niumi District, North Bank, Gambia and died in 1822 (aged 71–72) in Virginia, USA, his body is laid to rest in the Black Meadow Road Burial Ground in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, USA.
"After Roots first aired on television in 1977, a number of scholars and journalists questioned the veracity of Alex Haley’s story, some even suggesting that Kunta Kinte was in fact a fictional character, not related to Haley. When I took on the job of serving as historical advisor to the new Roots, I asked only this question: Could a person named Kunta Kinte have lived in Juffure, a town on the Gambia River, and been enslaved and carried to Annapolis, Md., on the Lord Ligonier in 1767? It didn’t take much research to answer each of those questions with a resounding yes", writes John Thornton, a College of Arts & Sciences professor of African American studies and of history and director of the African American Studies Program.
Kunta Kinte was led ashore in chains on Sept. 29, 1767, Andrew Earl Singer of Worldwide Talent Magazine received information that a chain from the 1700's found on the property where Kunta Kinte lived would be made accessible for his viewing and reporting.
"As soon as I held them in my hands, I knew this extremely old hand pounded by a blacksmith chain with a connecting nail/spike was used to hold a slave tethered to a tree. After researching the chain and its use to secure a slave, I realized the link was attached to the neck through a metal band with the chain, the location of where the chain was found (was below the surface and dug out) is only yards away from where Kunta Kinte was sold to Waller.
No one could escape with that chain tethered to the tree and connected to a metal ring fashioned around the neck.
The sheer weight of the chain and length (43") and the attached spike (2" with a worn rounded 1" opening and a flat surface where the spike can be pounded into a surface) are exactly meant to keep a person in a stationary position. The actual spot where the chain was uncovered had a tree (now removed) next to it. I came to the home where I was given permission to metal detect with my brother Jon overseen by the property owner and actual finder of the chain, We brought three pieces of equipment and methodically combed the area which was the compound where Kunta Kinte was held until he was transferred to the Virginia Plantation in Spotsylvania.
BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, the detector periodically sounded and we dug up several other artefacts in different areas and we found one small specimen also made of iron ore.
Finally, we had reached the end of the search area that we were allowed to excavate and cleared that area of the property of any metal 18 inches deep.
Jon and I returned inside of the home with the owner of the property (name requested to be withheld) and I purchased the historic chain. (undisclosed price)
On 3-30-24, Jon and I traveled to meet with Curator Gwen Ragsdale at the LEST WE FORGET MUSEUM OF SLAVERY at 5501 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa. 19144. Gwen gave a lecture to guests on Slavery that covered the realm of Slavery to Emancipation and many accomplishments that Black people have accomplished in making this a better world in every possible way.
Her lecture was a course from human trafficking, malicious treatment, documented evidence and the actual chains, shackles and other restraints used to keep Slaves from running away to freedom. After the lecture we met with Gwen and had the opportunity to compare the chain found where Kunta Kinte was held captive.
In my hands I held a comparable chain in size and weight to the one we have.. It was now apparent that we have a slave chain in our possession as opposed to a chain used for some other purpose as has been speculated, possibly as a chain for a boat or other uses. Gwen has verified that this chain is real as opposed to a modern chain made in a factory and has shown interest in acquiring the chain for the LEST WE FORGET Collection and we would definitely consider the chain being loaned to the Museum while on tour throughout the USA and the world.
Several years ago I began writing articles for one of the magazines I publish (Worldwide Talent Magazine et al) and the owner of a record label in France asked if I would publicize some of his artists. After several of those articles were published he began a discussion regarding publishing articles for his friend that owned a label in Nigeria.
I followed up his lead and began discovering the talented musicians' from every genre being promoted by MUAFA Worldwide Promotions (Music Africa Awake) in Lagos, Nigeria, and began what has become a friendship of kindred spirits, we call each other brother in the real sense of what a brother is.
Prince Emeka Ojukwu known as 'The Prince of Peace' has promoted peace and goodwill in Africa many years before I recognized his efforts, I am now one of his biggest supporters of his Peace Initiative Worldwide. Prince Emeka Ojukwu has traveled all over Africa (presently) awarding Kings, Presidents, Governors and exceptional individuals with The Prince of Peace Ambassadors Award. The culmination of this phase of the Peace Initiative is a grand finale, THE AFRICAN GLOBAL PEACE SUMMIT to be held on August 3, 2024 at the Palace of The King of Possotome, SA Anagonou LATE Ayolomi II whom has recently been honored as a Prince of Peace Ambassador. This gathering will be televised and the topic is Achieving Peace and Development in Africa and the World at Large.
According to Prince Emeka, finding and safeguarding the chain was directed by GOD as part of GOD's Intervention to help mankind heal and grow to what mankind as the caretaker of our planet must do to save earth from those seeking to destroy it.
PRINCE EMEKA'S TOUR OF THE BADAGRY SLAVE TRADE MUSEUM IN NIGERIA
"I wanted to feel the pain of my brothers and sisters, so I placed the shackles on my body to actually feel for a moment the horror of being a slave, to feel what they felt, to see myself as they saw themselves but for me it was only temporary, and I could remove my shackles and enjoy the freedom of being free.
Despite my freedom, I carry with me in my mind the images from the Museum and the struggle they had as they were forced to leave their home in Africa to be workers for the rest of their lives in Europe and America and never see Africa again.
It is overwhelming to think that this is my heritage and I do not understand man's inhumanity to fellow man. The torture my people were forced to go through must never be forgotten and we must be reminded to keep this from ever happening again", laments Prince Emeka.
Prince Emeka has many business ties in Benin as he travels from Lagos, Nigeria and the opportunity came up to go to Badagry specifically to see firsthand the Museum and see this tourist stop that had become a thriving West African slave port.
The Slave Trade Museum was a wakening call for Prince Emeka, the struggle for the African people during the Slave Trade debacle had always been a very difficult reality for him to understand but as he entered the grounds to comprehend this for himself and see the documented evidence, he became intrigued, and he was with many other people seeking to know how this could have happened.
The “Paramount Ruler" was Chief Seriki Williams Abass (faremilekun Fagbemi) a renowned slave merchant was behind the slave trade here. Records reveal that in Badagry, approximately 20,000 slaves were sold yearly in Badagry. The visit to the Slave Museum was an eye opener with artwork illustrations, the treatment, enslavement devices and how these people were tortured, it is a jaw dropping experience that can only be compared to war.
The experience went far above the eyes, it went to the heart and soul as Prince Emeka said a prayer for all of the people harmed by this atrocity of humanity. As the PRINCE OF PEACE, Prince Emeka, shares his vision of a future where mankind has no wars, there is no jealousy and we are all brothers and sisters, united.
Prince Emeka is prepared to meet with government leaders and people seeking to utilize the public's interest in the humanitarian causes and to renovate additional sites as they have done in Badagry to bring tourism to prominence so it will attract more visitors and give local economies a financial boost. Prince Emeka would be willing and able to work with investors and governments in order to accomplish infrastructure and economic development as well as social issues that need resolution.
"People must become aware of how they are being manipulated in the destruction of the planet, how resources must be used to keep people from starving by using methods of feeding and nourishing rather than building weapons and using them for the annihilation and destruction of others for selfish motivations", states Prince Emeka.
YES, WE ARE ON A MISSION, individually and collectively and without my meeting and discussions with Prince Emeka Ojukwu 'THE PRINCE OF PEACE" I would have never come across the chain or the understanding of the slavery issue and so many of the accomplishments given us by the people of dark skin. For me, I look to the heart and mind of everyone and have overcome prejudices with love and compassion.
Prince Emeka will be visiting the USA and the groundwork has been formatted. The itinerary for the US Tour by Prince Emeka includes the United Nations, meetings with Ambassadors, the Washington Times, Senators and Congressmen and Congresswomen, The Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Foundation (Annapolis Md), National Museum of African American History and Culture (Smithsonian Museum Washington DC), African Burial Ground National Monument (NYC), America's Black Holocaust Museum (Milwaukee Wi), Elijah P. Lovejoy Monument (Alton Il), Emancipation and Freedom Monument (Richmond Va), Family Foundation for Unification and World Peace (Washington DC), Gettysburg Foundation (Gettysburg Pa), Harriet Tubman Memorial (NYC), Hearth: Memorial to the Enslaved (Williamsburg Va), The Legacy Museum From Enslavement To Mass Incarceration (Montgomery Ala), LEST WE FORGET MUSEUM OF SLAVERY (Philadelphia Pa), Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at the University of Virginia (Charlottesville Va), National Memorial for Peace and Justice (Montgomery Ala), Mothers of Gynecology Monument (Montgomery Ala), Portsmouth African Burying Ground (Portsmouth NH), Sandy Spring Slave Museum and African Art Museum (Silver Spring Md.), Slavery Memorial (Brown University RI), Statue of Frederick Douglass (Rochester, NY), United Nations Slavery Memorial (NYC), White House, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial and the Library of Congress. Additional places may be added, some may not be visited due to time constraints on this US Tour by Prince Emeka "The Prince of Peace". We have objectives for this historic chain, it may be sold, it will not be donated as some have requested, it will be on hand during the Prince Emeka US Tour to be photographed and discussed for exhibition in these museums and others throughout the world.
Our plan to join with other people for the Alex Haley/Kunta Kinte Festival 2024 in Annapolis, Maryland and present the chain for a yet to be determined period of time to be on display and then moved throughout the world to be displayed in Museum's. was accomplished. There is a condition for a museum to display the chain, any relic in their collection must first be returned to the country of origin from where it was removed during war time or other conflict.
We have several objectives regarding the chain and spike, matching the chain with other known chains in museums throughout the world, a metal analysis to determine when and where the chain was made, a DNA test to identify as a fact that it was used on Kunta Kinte, we are well aware of how it was used as stated above in this article. We realize making the assumption that it was used to restrain Kunta Kinte is impossible to prove, unless the DNA is a match but a preponderous of the evidence at hand persuades us to make the case, herein.
There is no doubt of the historical significance of the chain with the nail/spike as it appears to be one of a kind from all we have been able to see, it is our belief that this international treasure can best be utilized as remaining in our collection where it will be safeguarded and protected as well as being relegated to its importance and to be further studied and utilized as a true historical and significant contribution to the history of slavery for all to see.
Prince Emeka Ojukwu
Founder/CEO
Music Africa Awake (MUAFA Worldwide Promotions)
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