Gadsden's Wharf spreads out around you, named for Christopher Gadsden, one of Charleston's most ardent patriots, designer of the Don't Tread on Me Gadsden Flag, and a Son of Liberty who helped incite the Revolution against British tyranny. The irony contained in that name is almost too large to hold: the man who built this wharf to facilitate the slave trade was simultaneously among the most passionate advocates for American liberty. At Gadsden's Wharf, historians estimate that more than one hundred thousand enslaved Africans were disembarked after surviving the Middle Passage.
This was the largest single point of arrival for enslaved people in North American history. Ships from West and Central Africa docked here, unloaded their human cargo, and took on rice, indigo, and later cotton for the return voyage. The people brought here were held in barracoons — temporary holding pens — while they were prepared for sale.
Many were sick, all were traumatized. Some died before they could be sold. The forty percent statistic that historians cite — forty percent of all enslaved Africans brought to what is now the United States arrived through Charleston — passed through or near this location.
The International African American Museum, which opened on adjacent land in 2023, was built partly over the water to honor this ground. Let that number settle in your mind, and feel its weight in human terms.