In Key West, a Beach Rich With History and Sorrow

For more than 30 years, Dr. Malcom has served as the director of archaeology at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key West. From there, he has researched and published detailed accounts of ships filled with African people who never made it to the coast during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.

Today in Key West, Florida, Higgs Beach looks just like any other beach in America. Gentle winds comb the sand up and down the shore. On weekends and holidays, the sounds of children playing and people frolicking about in the turquoise waters are commonplace.

But deep beneath the sand lies a complicated history in stark contrast to the modern scene. Dr. Corey Malcom has made that history a part of his life’s work.

We had the opportunity to interview Dr. Malcom and gain further insight into what happened on this historical and anguished beach.

TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

CLICK HERE

Podcast

Dr. Corey Malcom, Director of Archaeology at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum, speaks to Savage Studios about the “Illicit Slave Trade.” The “Illicit Slave Trade” was what took place after countries such as the US, Britain, and Spain outlawed the Slave Trade in the early 1800s. Despite the Slave Trade being abolished, ships, defiant of those abolished laws, continued to operate well in to the mid and late 1800s. Dr. Malcom gives us a brief history of this “illicit” period and how Key West, a small island in the Florida Keys, played a role.

0:00

The-Illicit-Slave-Trade_2