AT A GLANCE
• A timber from the slave ship São José-Paquete de Africa will soon be removed from display at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington.
• The artifact has been on loan from South Africa since the museum opened in 2016 and must now be returned under the terms of the agreement.
• The ship sank in 1794 near Cape Town while carrying more than 400 Africans forced into slavery from Mozambique.
• The final day for visitors to see the timber on display in the museum’s Middle Passage exhibit is March 22.
Slavery Exhibit at African American History Museum Changes as Loan Agreement Ends
A powerful artifact tied to the trans Atlantic slave trade will soon leave one of the nation’s most visited history museums.
A timber from the slave ship São José-Paquete de Africa, currently displayed inside the National Museum of African American History and Culture, will be removed later this month and returned to South Africa after the expiration of a long standing loan agreement.
The 33 pound wooden fragment has been a centerpiece of the museum’s “Slavery and Freedom” exhibit since the Smithsonian institution opened in 2016. The artifact appears suspended above a dark gallery space beside a ballast stone, creating a haunting visual representation of the ships used during the trans Atlantic slave trade.
The original loan agreement allowed the artifact to remain in Washington for five years before it was extended for another five in 2021. That extension expires July 1. Museum officials say the timber will now be carefully packed and shipped back to the Iziko Museums of South Africa, which owns the piece.
Because the artifact is fragile, a specialized crate must be built to safely transport it.
Other artifacts recovered from the same ship, including ballast stones used as counterweights for enslaved people forced aboard the vessel, will remain on display for now. Those items are expected to return to South Africa in about two years. In place of the timber, museum staff plan to display a cargo manifesto from the ship.
The final day visitors will be able to view the timber in the exhibit is March 22.
Artifact Tied to Early Slave Shipwreck Discovery
The São José-Paquete de Africa was a Portuguese slave ship transporting more than 400 captives from Mozambique to Brazil when it struck rocks and sank in December 1794 off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa.
Roughly half of the Africans aboard the vessel died in the wreck. Survivors were later sold into slavery in the Western Cape, according to museum historians.
The wreckage of the ship was recovered in 2015 through the Slave Wrecks Project, an international collaboration of historians, archaeologists and institutions studying slave ship disasters. Researchers confirmed the vessel was directly connected to the trans Atlantic slave trade.
It is considered one of the earliest slave shipwrecks ever recovered in which enslaved Africans died.
Inside the museum, the timber has been displayed in the lowest level of the building within the Middle Passage gallery. The exhibit explores the brutal ocean journey that millions of Africans endured while being forcibly transported to the Americas.
Historians estimate millions of people died during the Middle Passage alone.
Exhibit Change Unrelated to Federal Review of Museums
The change to the exhibit comes during a period when national museums and historical sites have faced increased scrutiny over how American history is presented.
President Donald Trump’s administration issued an executive order in March 2025 titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which calls for reviews of exhibits, displays and programming across federal museums and parks as the country approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture is among the Smithsonian institutions named in that order.
Museum leaders say the removal of the timber is unrelated to the federal review and is simply part of the original loan agreement.
Michelle Commander, deputy director of the museum, said staff wanted to be transparent about the timing because they understood the change could raise questions.
“But as we’ve said, this is really about the conservation needs of that item,” Commander said.
Paul Gardullo, assistant director of history at the museum, explained that South Africa’s cultural heritage laws regulate how historical artifacts can be loaned internationally and how long they may remain abroad.
Wood artifacts, he said, require particularly careful preservation.
“The wooden materials are more fragile, and they need a little more close care,” Gardullo said.
Visitors Say Artifact Brings the Past Into Reality
Visitors who recently toured the exhibit said the physical presence of the ship timber makes the story of the Middle Passage more real and emotionally powerful.
In the darkened gallery, museumgoers often pause quietly while studying the artifact positioned beside the ballast stones once used to stabilize the vessel carrying human cargo.
Krystina Hernandez, who was chaperoning a group of schoolchildren including her 7 year old son, said the exhibit moves the history of slavery beyond textbooks.
“It takes it out of the book and makes it real,” she said.
Anehtra Reynolds of northern Virginia said the display left her emotional as she walked through the gallery.
She said the exhibit’s design, including the darkness of the room and the artifacts themselves, gives visitors a glimpse into the suffering endured by enslaved Africans.
“I think there was a sign in there that mentioned there were some slaves who starved themselves to death in hopes that when they died they would be returned to their land,” Reynolds said.
Jim Carnes, a visitor from Birmingham, Alabama who has worked in civil rights education, said the artifacts carry tremendous emotional weight.
“The artifacts are extraordinarily powerful,” Carnes said, adding that the exhibit left him feeling both sadness and anger.
Jorge Carvajal, originally from Colombia and now living in South Florida, said seeing the display challenged stereotypes and encouraged empathy.
“Empathy is what I’m trying to say,” he said. “This will help people empathize a lot more.”
Museum officials say even after the timber returns to South Africa, the story of the Middle Passage will remain central to the exhibit.
“The story does not leave the museum because this timber is going to be returned to its owners,” Commander said.
