What makes this river so important? Often associated with the ancient Egyptians, the Nile has provided and supported life throughout many countries in Africa. It is connected to several other major bodies of water, and has impacted the development of African cultures for thousands of years.

Stretching 1,800 miles down the eastern coast and with its indigenous African, Middle Eastern and Asian influences, the Swahili coast has been a place of historical, cultural, economic, and political interactions and exchanges for thousands of years.

From 1830 to 1860, the City of Norfolk was the center of maritime activities in Hampton Roads as the Port of Virginia. These waterways transported goods to points North and enslaved human beings to the Lower South to work on cotton plantations. Yet, these same waterways that condemned so many to hard labor, separating families and causing so much pain, were also used to secure freedom for thousands through a locally autonomous system that fed into a national underground railroad network.

From the individual hidden voices that are now being heard to the ancient kingdoms that populated the African continent, Black and African history is intertwined with incredible stories that illustrate both adversity and diversity.