Docks Noirs (Black Harbor)

Docks Noirs (Black Harbor) is an augmented reality memorial honoring the Black dockworkers, sailors, abolitionists, and freedom seekers whose labor and movement shaped the harbor cities of the Atlantic world during slavery and emancipation.

Inspired by historian Marcus Rediker's Freedom Ship and developed in conversation with the author, the installation explores the maritime Underground Railroad and the often-overlooked role of ships, sailors, dockworkers, and waterfront communities in helping thousands escape slavery by sea. While popular memory often imagines the Underground Railroad as a network of routes across land, maritime escape routes connected ports, rivers, and coastlines throughout the United States and beyond.

The installation includes portrayals inspired by David Ruggles, the abolitionist who assisted Frederick Douglass after his escape from slavery, and a young Frederick Douglass himself. Surrounding them are representations of unnamed dockworkers and laborers whose work helped build the economic foundations of American port cities, yet whose stories remain largely absent from public memory.

Through augmented reality, Docks Noirs (Black Harbor) returns these hidden histories to the waterfront landscape, inviting viewers to reflect on labor, resistance, freedom, and the enduring legacy of the maritime world.

Docks Noirs (Black Harbor) is part of Slavery Trails, an ongoing augmented reality memorial project exploring hidden histories of slavery, labor, and resistance across the United States.