The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture said it will remove a timber remnant from the slave ship São José-Paquete de Africa from its “Slavery and Freedom” exhibit later this month in Washington.
Museum officials said the timber piece, which weighs 33 pounds (15 kilograms), is being prepared for a trip back to a home museum in South Africa. They said the last day for visitors to see the timber on display is March 22.
The timber has been prominently displayed as part of a loan agreement that began when the museum opened in 2016. The loan was initially for five years and was extended another five in 2021, with the agreement ending July 1, according to the agreement reviewed by The Associated Press.
The museum said the ship remnant will be among several items sent back to the Iziko Museums of South Africa later this year. Because of the remnant’s delicate nature, the museum said a special crate has to be built for transport.
Other items from the ship, including ballasts that served as counterweights for the human cargo, are expected to remain on display. The museum said those other items will be returned to South Africa in two years, and that a manifest of the cargo on the ship will replace the timber piece in the exhibit.
The São José was a Portuguese vessel bound for Brazil with more than 400 captives from Mozambique. The Smithsonian said the ship struck a rock and sank in December 1794 off the coast of Cape Town, and that half of the people aboard perished.
The Smithsonian said survivors were resold into slavery in the Western Cape. The ship remnant was recovered in 2015, and the Smithsonian said it was identified and studied through the Slave Wrecks Project, an international network of institutions that confirmed it was associated with the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
The “Slavery and Freedom” exhibit is in the museum’s lowest public level and focuses on the slave trade, including the ships and conditions of transport, as well as artifacts such as shackles. It addresses the Middle Passage, a portion of the Atlantic crossing where many captives died, and Paul Gardullo, the assistant director of history at the museum, told the AP there is no exact count but that the number of deaths during the journey is in the millions.
The museum’s change comes as Smithsonian museums and other federal history institutions have been scrutinized under a March 2025 executive order signed by President Donald Trump, titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” The National Museum of African American History and Culture is one of the institutions named in the order.
Michelle Commander, the museum’s deputy director, told the AP that the timing of the exhibit alteration could raise questions but said the change was related to the loan agreement. She said, “That’s why we’re being transparent in this moment, because we are aware that there are those kinds of questions,” and added, “But, as we’ve said, this is really about the conservation needs of that item.”
Gardullo said South Africa has a cultural patrimony law that dictates how artifacts and historical materials are treated and how long they can be loaned out. He said, “The wooden materials are more fragile, and they need a little more close care.”
Some visitors recently said they were moved by the display and were not aware that the timber remnant would be altered shortly. Krystina Hernandez said the tangible nature of the exhibit takes it out of textbooks and into reality, and Anehtra Reynolds said the presentation gave her “a ‘piece of what they felt in terms of their misery.’” Reynolds also said she saw a sign “that mentioned there were some slaves who starved themselves to death in hopes that they would, when they died, they would be returned to their land.”
Jim Carnes said, “The artifacts are extraordinarily powerful,” and Jorge Carvajal said the exhibit helped silence stereotypes, adding, “Empathy is what I’m trying to say. This will help people empathize a lot more. I mean, at least you would hope.”
Commander said museum staff will work to maintain the exhibit’s impact with the remaining artifacts and displays. She said, “The story does not leave the museum because this timber is going to be returned to its owners.”