Mary welcome to the slavery and freedom exhibition. My name is mary elliott and i am a Museum Specialist and cocurator of the slavery and freedom exhibition, which is one of three exhibitions in the history gallery. We have three exhibitions in this gallery and those exhibitions cover 15thcentury africa and europe all the way to today. Some of the themes we cover include holding onto humanity under some of the most inhumane conditions. We look at the harsh realities of slavery and freedom, the resistance and survival of a people. We look at africans and African Americans shaped the world as well as a nation. We look at how they shaped the the landscape and were shaped by the landscape. That means socially, politically, economically, geographically, as well as culturally and intellectually. What is important for people to understand is we look at these stories that are american stories. They are human stories. They are told through the africanamerican lens. Equally important to understa