\u201cOur end goal here is to do archeological research underwater to help find sunken slave ships and document them.\u201d Baxter said, looking at the ocean.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it\u2019s a whole \u2018nother level of diving. You\u2019re taking measurements, writing them down underwater, and then coming back up and creating schematic drawings so that they can create a recreation of that shipwreck.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ship wrecks are etched into Florida\u2019s southern coasts. One of the most infamous is the Henrietta Marie,<\/a> a slave ship that sold 200 people into slavery in Jamaica. On its way back to Britain, the vessel was eventually swallowed up in the New Ground Reef. <\/p>\n Today a memorial in the Florida Keys<\/a> honors those that were held captive on this ship. <\/p>\n But most slave ship wrecks remain uncovered on the coast. Historians estimate that as many as 1,000<\/a> ships sank during the Middle Passage, but fewer than 20 of these wrecks have been documented. <\/p>\n Within that 400 year period of the transatlantic slave trade, an estimated 2 million <\/a>African captives died at sea\u2013 drowned, murdered, tortured, or generally lost to history.<\/p>\n Diving With a Purpose<\/a>, an underwater archeology program committed to uncovering these slave shipwrecks, encouraged Baxter to start diving for history.<\/p>\n \u201cI was so scared, I\u2019m not going to lie. Going underwater, you can\u2019t breathe there,\u201d Baxter said.<\/p>\n \n 1 of 2 Shellie Baxter washes off after a dive<\/p>\n Amara Evering<\/p>\n \n 2 of 2 Shellie Baxter’s schematic drawing of the Porter Anchor Wreck.<\/p>\n Courtesy of Shellie Baxter<\/p>\n At 54, Baxter completed her first dive. Even though she grew up by the ocean in San Diego, she had a complicated relationship with the water.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was about eight or nine years old, I went swimming with my school and I almost drowned,\u201d Baxter said, leaning forward.<\/p>\n Drowning death rates for Black and Indigenous children in the U.S. are disproportionately higher than white children. For Black children many of these deaths happen at public pools,<\/a> similar to Baxter\u2019s almost fatal case.<\/p>\n These higher rates of drowning are a side effect of a few factors<\/a>, including a lack of access to swimming classes and pools, historical exclusion, and a passed down \u201cfear of drowning\u201d.<\/p>\n Despite Baxter\u2019s childhood experience, diving has been life-altering, symbolically reminding her of own survival.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re actually doing it, and surviving it, it\u2019s just empowering. It\u2019s a whole nother world underwater,\u201d Baxter told WLRN.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd it was just really exciting to be with so many Black and brown long-term divers [at Diving With a Purpose<\/a>] and teachers. And the way that they were sharing, not just with the youth, but with me, as an adult coming into this late.\u201d<\/p>\n Within the past two years, Baxter has completed over 40 dives and is committed to sharing this knowledge with Black women and girls who are curious about their history.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing able to get my hands dirty, or wet in this case,\u201d Angeni Nettles, 24, said sitting next to Baxter by the ocean, \u201cMade this history a lot easier to digest.\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE: We cannot be afraid’: Black leaders rail against new African American history standards<\/a><\/p>\n Nearby sat Alana Lara, 16, the youngest diver in the group.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t like history,\u201d Lara added, \u201cBut I realized how much more there is to the world that we don\u2019t know. Even how history can repeat itself. If we learn from the past and see mistakes, we can maybe make it right in the future\u201d<\/p>\n Lara is part of a new cohort of young divers in Baxter\u2019s organization called the UnderH20 Explorers<\/a>\u2014 a free program targeted towards girls of color.<\/p>\n As they learn how to dive, they are also unearthing the history behind slave shipwrecks on Florida\u2019s coasts.<\/p>\n \u201cThe stigma that Black people don\u2019t dive is always there,\u201d Rollins said, \u201cBut, I\u2019m an adventure seeker.\u201d<\/p>\n Shellie Baxter (far left), Alana Lara (left), Marlynn Rollins (right), and \u200aAngeni Nettles (far right) wait to go out on a dive <\/p>\n Pushing past gaps in historical records<\/p>\n Within the past two years of diving, Baxter has hopes that her underwater work can fill the gaps that are in so many historical records, especially for Black Americans whose family lines have been severed by slavery.<\/p>\n \u201cThere’s a thing called the brick wall of 1865, because before emancipation, we were not listed as people in government documents. We were only listed as property in insurance documents, slave rosters, and wills.\u201d Baxter said, \u201cBut those documents only list people by gender and age, not by name.\u201d<\/p>\n Before 1865, only two censuses included what was known as a \u201cslave schedule<\/a>\u201d; a record that documented the first and last name of enslavers, but only the age, sex, and color of the enslaved. The 1870 census <\/a>was the first time that Black Americans were recorded by name.<\/p>\n Much of Baxter\u2019s genealogical work focuses on pushing past this barrier in historical records.<\/p>\n \u201cThe goal is to find your oldest traceable ancestor pre-1865. So when you\u2019re able to cross that barrier, then you can start to get some of that family tree.\u201d Baxter said. \u201cSo many people think it\u2019s not possible to figure it out. They think that even DNA [tracing] isn\u2019t going to be enough\u201d<\/p>\n Until recently, most of Baxter\u2019s genealogical work has been on land. She uses a process called Legacy Tracing to find family lines that appear to be \u201cuncoverable\u201d by combining DNA analysis, historical records, and technologies such as LiDAR mapping to map out cemeteries.<\/p>\n But some stories still remain beyond the reach of historical documents.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat if part of your family didn\u2019t survive to become part of a data set?\u201d Baxter said, “Then it\u2019s not going to show up.\u201d<\/p>\n For the millions that died at sea during the Middle Passage, there are no gravesites for Baxter to map out and often, there are few historical documents for her to reference.<\/p>\n Courtesy of Shellie Baxter<\/p>\n Shellie Baxter examines a portion of the Porter Anchor Wreck. <\/p>\n The bigger picture<\/p>\n Because of these gaps, Baxter believes that it is equally important for families to learn about the larger historical context that shaped the lives of their ancestors.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to learn about what was happening in that place at that time.\u201d Baxter said, gathering her diving gear, \u201cWhat were the powers that be?\u201d<\/p>\n
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