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DuSable Museum’s ‘Equiano’ exhibit and Instagram film tell story of Olaudah Equiano as if he lived now, with social media
Black joy.
That is what one sees when stepping foot inside the DuSable Museum of African American History’s new “Equiano” exhibit. The exuberance of an average 11-year-old boy of Igbo culture living with his family in Nigeria — playing with his siblings, going about his weeks, sharing his familial experiences filled with art, music and community.
This is the origin story of Olaudah Equiano, a youth kidnapped from his West African home in 1756 and enslaved. It’s a tale that unfolds in an 80-minute long film via Instagram story posts on @Equiano.Stories — hundreds of snippets that will be posted (starting Feb. 16). Executive produced by DuSable, followers can watch Equiano’s life and journey as if he is living right now and posting about his days on social media.
Equiano’s story is famously documented in the 1789 book he self-published, “The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African, as Published by Himself.” His memoir is a staple in African American studies classes, according to Kim Dulaney, DuSable’s director of education and programs.
Exhibit called Equiano includes vertical screens showing “Equiano.Stories,” a new film made for Instagram by film studio Stelo Stories and executive produced by the DuSable Museum of African American History. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
“We deal with the part when he’s 11 years old,” Dulaney said. “That’s what’s different. He talks about his family before slavery ... he goes on to tell his story about how he found ways to make money, bought his freedom back, then published his own book through crowdfunding. He self-published, had nine printings and then used the power that he got from the book to write the Queen of England a letter and helped end slavery in England.”
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In the Equiano exhibit, we see everything through Equiano’s lens as if he had a social media account and a cellphone. His account is retold at the DuSable on large vertical screens showing scenes from the film and social, cultural lessons that coincide with it. The film can only be seen on Instagram.
“This is Black history; this is our real origin story,” said DuSable President and CEO Perri Irmer. “Our story begins in freedom, not in slavery. This is a story that has been taught in Black studies and in literature forever, but it’s never been popularized. Now we’re able through this medium to meet people, especially young people, where they are, in the most democratic way possible.”
Chokwe Cikunza in the Equiano exhibit at the DuSable Museum of African American History. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Irmer is hoping the film will cause a paradigm shift in the way Black history is taught, consumed and learned. She’s also hoping it will create an era of pride in Black people, but also of Black people.
“This changes the way other people look at us, where we are not just former slaves to be degraded, discarded, undervalued and dehumanized,” Irmer said. “You can’t say after seeing this that we were found running around the jungle and we were brought to civilization. This is Black joy. And to understand that origin of freedom, I think will result in a very different attitude and realization not just for us as Black people, but for everybody. And we all know that that’s what’s needed more than ever right now.”
The project is another made by Stelo Stories film studio, which brought viewers @eva.stories in 2019. That story, which documented Eva Heyman’s world by smartphone, depicted the Jewish teen’s life during the 1944 German invasion of Hungary.
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Equiano’s story was filmed in South Africa with hundreds of cast and crew, villages recreated and Nigerian foliage transplanted for authenticity, Irmer said. The Equiano exhibit brings to life his Igbo village life and customs, from symbology to recipes to folklore. The exhibit sits in a replica of an adobe hut filled with West African artifacts from DuSable’s permanent collection. Brenda Liboy, the exhibit’s creative director, and exhibit director Martin Giesse said it took their team three months to construct. The exhibit will also include an interactive aspect wherein museumgoers can learn African dance steps through an app, according to Giesse. Vic Mensa also created a playlist for the “Equiano” experience.
Irmer said “Equiano” is a permanent exhibit, the first chapter of the museum’s freedom and resistance experience. It rests next to an exhibit that encapsulates Black history from the trans-Atlantic slave trade through President Barack Obama’s election, African American history. Now that story starts in Africa.
Helmet mask: antelope (Nyanga) in the exhibit Equiano currently at the DuSable Museum of African American History. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
“We finally had an opportunity to start at the beginning,” Irmer said. “To present this freedom story of our beautiful history before the crime of slavery was committed — to hear this beautiful young boy, his experiences with his family in his Igbo culture, in his village, his love with his family with his mother, especially — the symbology, the customs, the food, the dance, all of that was part of our existence and our reality in the very beginning.”
“His anti-slavery activism, and the popularity of his memoir opened people’s eyes to what was actually happening,” Irmer said. It is an incredibly impactful story.”
Dulaney stresses the lessons found within Equiano’s story and the museum experience is for all ages.
“The power of one voice, the power of telling your own story ... when you tell your own story, we see the humanity in it,” Dulaney said. “It starts with his loving family at home instead of in slavery. And it ends with the responsibility to go back and help others, which is what he did.
