The day Enric Garcia, director of the Maritime Museum, went to his usual office at the Barcelona Provincial Council and explained that he planned to organize an exhibition on slavery, more than one person from the presidency area almost fell out of their chair. They feared the discomfort and unease that the topic would generate among the descendants of notable Catalan families who had enriched themselves with this business. But Garcia, a rigorous historian, stood firm and finally, last February, managed to inaugurate the exhibition, albeit later than he had planned. He maintains, and he is not wrong, that the origin of many fortunes through slavery is a taboo that must be overcome and accepted, as has happened in other countries. "It's not about self-flagellation," he states.
La infàmia was a pending exhibition on Catalan participation in the slave trade. This is also historical memory. It can be visited until October 5. The exhibition begins with a recreation of the Gran Teatre del Liceu, one of the works financed by the Barcelona bourgeoisie with money partly from the slavery economy. There are also references to industrialization and the 1888 Universal Exhibition, the first great international showcase of a Barcelona that had finally been able to tear down its walls and build its Eixample.
Throughout the exhibition, various related objects and documents can be observed. Thus, the viewer will see shackles, whips, and other elements used with slaves, models of ships owned by Catalan shipowners, maps and diagrams of how the ingenios were, the Cuban haciendas where sugarcane was processed to obtain sugar and spirits and where forced labor was used. Some of these plantations belonged to Catalan owners, such as Josep Carbó Martinell, Josep Antoni Marquès Torrents, Salvador Samà Martí, Teresa Sicart Soler, Pau Soler Morell, Tomàs and Pau Lluís Ribalta Serra, and Josep Riera Romeu, among others.
This was one part of the business. The other was done by the shipowners and captains of the slave ships dedicated to transporting Africans to the Caribbean island. Among the former are names like Josep Canela Raventós, Isidre Inglada, Jaume Tintó Miralles, Jaume Torrents Serramalera, Jaume Vilardebó, and Antonio López, Marquis of Comillas, who in the end was the one who paid the price for everyone. His statue was removed as a great lesson to slave owners by Ada Colau's municipal government from the square that bore his name between Via Laietana and La Llotja. However, the pedestal with his name inscribed still stands.
Today, slavery, fortunately, repulses us, but we must admit that during the 19th century it was generally accepted by the society of the time. England was the first country to outlaw slavery in 1807, after having dominated this trade. It was the moment of opportunity that Catalan, Basque, and other Spanish merchants found to take their place. Spain did not abolish it until 1837, but continued to allow it in the colonies of Puerto Rico and Cuba, until it was totally eradicated in 1886.
For decades, Catalan businessmen dedicated to the slave economy formed an influential lobby that even tried, in the 1860s, during the American Civil War, to get the Spanish Government of the time to recognize the confederation of the southern slave states. They even financed them. General Juan Prim prevented that recognition. He was in Veracruz with a Spanish military contingent, along with France and England. The three European powers allied to occupy the Mexican port of Veracruz and force the revolutionary government to continue paying the foreign debt it had decided to suspend.
Finally, the Spanish left Mexico, and Prim decided to pass through Washington on his return trip to Spain. In the North American capital, he managed to meet with President Abraham Lincoln. It seems that in that meeting they agreed that Spain would not recognize the confederation. A few years later, both were victims of two assassinations, and some researchers argue that their opposition to slavery may have had something to do with it.
The exhibition ends with a video and an art installation that speaks of reconciliation, although it also warns that racism is one of the legacies left to us from that infamous era. The exhibition also includes a reference to the House of Slaves on the Senegalese island of Gorée, where captured Africans were gathered to be quickly embarked on ships that would transport them to America. It is a building that shakes one to the core, especially a narrow door that opens to the Atlantic Ocean. It is the door through which those unfortunate people left Africa forever.
For all the above, it is not only necessary, but also convenient, to review this dark part of our history. And I am left with a phrase from Enric Garcia that is a great declaration of intent: "The era in which museums had to be neutral is over. We take a stand. Against slavery, the exploitation of people, and racism".