HOUSTON -- While ships like the Mayflower, Titanic, and Santa Maria are commonly remembered, few can name even one of the estimated 12,000 vessels that carried enslaved Africans across the Middle Passage. That conundrum is at the heart of "Into The Depths," a National Geographic podcast that sheds light on a painful yet pivotal part of global history.
ABC13's Briana Conner spoke with Tara Roberts, a diver, storyteller, and National Geographic Explorer, who is working to bring these long-lost stories back to the surface.
Roberts has spent years diving to shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean. She explores these remnants of the transatlantic slave trade that claimed the lives of an estimated 1.8 million Africans before they ever reached land. Her work helps uncover the human stories hidden beneath the waters to preserve a more complete narrative.
"What I'm trying to do - these divers, these historians, these archaeologists - we're trying to expand the historical record," Roberts said. "We are trying to fill in the gaps and tell a more complete story of this important moment that happened in our history. The transatlantic slave trade is one of the most monumental events in human history. It really shaped the world that we have today."
"Into The Depths" traces the lasting legacy of the global slave trade, connecting Africa, Europe, North America, and South America in a shared history of trauma, resistance, and rediscovery.
The podcast is available on most streaming platforms.
Disney is the parent company of National Geographic and this station.