American non-profit organization
Diving With a Purpose (DWP) is an American
non-profit organization aimed at locating and documenting shipwrecks, predominantly those related to the
Atlantic slave trade .
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
History
Diving With a Purpose was founded in 2005 by Kenneth Stewart (born 1944/45),
[5] a retired copier repairman
[6] with the Tennessee Aquatic Project and the National Association of Black Scuba Divers, and Brenda Lanzendorf (1958–2008),
[7] a maritime archaeologist at
Biscayne National Park .
[2] They met during the filming of the 2004 documentary The Guerrero Project , a film chronicling efforts to locate the wreck of Spanish slave ship
Guerrero , which are still ongoing,
[1] although a likely candidate has since been discovered.
[8]
[9]
DWP was featured in 2020 television documentary series
Enslaved , featuring DWP member Kramer Wimberley,
[10] starring and produced by
Samuel L. Jackson .
[11] It is also the subject of a 2021 documentary titled Lessons from the Water: Diving with a Purpose by filmmaker
Charles Todd .
[12]
Activities
Roughly 300 divers have participated in Diving With a Purpose's maritime archaeology program since its foundation. The program includes one week of training and requires some prior experience,
[1]
[13] with the stated aim of training divers to become "able to assist in the historical documentation and preservation of artifacts and wreck sites".
[14] An offshoot program directed at a younger audience entitled Youth Diving With a Purpose (YDWP) was introduced in 2011.
[1]
[15]
The group has been involved with the discovery or documentation of numerous
[a] shipwrecks, including the
São José Paquete Africa
[17]
[18] and the
Clotilda .
[1]
[19] Other activities of the organization have included the location and mapping of plane wrecks related to the
Tuskegee Airmen in the
Great Lakes .
[20]
[21] A memorial site in
Port Huron, Michigan , was constructed in 2021.
[22]
[23]
Diving With a Purpose has worked or is working with groups and federal agencies including
NOAA ,
[24] the
National Park Service (NPS),
[25]
[26] the
Society of Black Archaeologists ,
[27]
[28] and the
Slave Wrecks Project , a collaboration between DWP, the Smithsonian's
National Museum of African American History and Culture , the NPS,
George Washington University ,
Iziko South African Museum , and the
South African Heritage Resources Agency .
[29]
Notes
^ Per the group's website, 18 as of 2021, with 18,000 volunteer hours.
[16]
References
^
a
b
c
d
e Hardingham-Gill, Tamara (August 4, 2021).
"Diving into the past: The Black divers searching for slave shipwrecks" .
CNN .
Archived from the original on August 4, 2021. Retrieved August 5, 2021 .
^
a
b Denson, Erik (September 28, 2017). Carey, Mia L. (ed.).
"Diving With a Purpose: Resurrecting a Forgotten Maritime Heritage" .
National Park Service .
Archived from the original on July 4, 2021. Retrieved August 5, 2021 .
^ Goodhue, David (June 11, 2018).
"This team unravels mysteries of the slave trade. And it just uncovered a shipwreck in the Keys" .
Miami Herald .
Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved August 5, 2021 .
^
"Diving With a Purpose" .
ACHP .
Archived from the original on March 21, 2021. Retrieved August 5, 2021 .
^
"Ken Stewart Honored as a Scuba Diving Sea Hero" . www.scubadiving.com . July 25, 2018.
Archived from the original on August 5, 2021. Retrieved August 5, 2021 .
^
"Conversation: Diving with a Purpose" .
Archaeology.org . 2009.
Archived from the original on April 12, 2015. Retrieved August 5, 2021 .
^
"Summer 2008 Arrowhead newsletter" (PDF) . NPS History Electronic Library. 2008. p. 10.
Archived (PDF) from the original on August 5, 2021. Retrieved August 5, 2021 .
^ Harlow, Olivia (September 1, 2018).
"From Santa Fe's desert to deep sea discovery" .
The Santa Fe New Mexican .
Archived from the original on September 10, 2018. Retrieved August 5, 2018 .
^ Brotemarkle, Ben (August 17, 2015).
"Florida Frontiers: Searching for the slave ship Guerrero" .
Florida Today .
Archived from the original on January 27, 2021. Retrieved August 5, 2021 .
^
https://m.imdb.com/name/nm11736355/?ref_=m_ttfcd_cl8
^ Adams, Kelsey (October 15, 2020).
" 'This is a grave site': Diving with a Purpose surfaces the history of the transatlantic slave trade" .
CBC .
Archived from the original on March 25, 2021. Retrieved August 6, 2021 .
^ Owen, Rob (August 4, 2021).
"Eastside-raised filmmaker's documentary focuses on diving group chronicling shipwrecks from the slave trade" .
The Seattle Times .
Archived from the original on August 5, 2021. Retrieved August 5, 2021 .
^
"Maritime Archaeology Training Program" . Diving With a Purpose.
Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved August 5, 2021 .
^
"About us – Today" . divingwithapurpose.org . Retrieved August 6, 2021 .
^ Jordan, Adrienne (December 5, 2019).
"Youth Diving With a Purpose" . www.scubadiving.com .
Archived from the original on August 5, 2021. Retrieved August 5, 2021 .
^
"slave shipwrecks, underwater archaeology, coral restoration" . divingwithapurpose.org .
Archived from the original on March 16, 2011. Retrieved August 6, 2021 .
^ Bruce, Matt (November 26, 2020).
" 'Like Touching the Souls of Your Ancestors': Team of Black scuba Divers Share Experience of Salvaging Sunken Slave Ships" .
Atlanta Black Star .
Archived from the original on January 17, 2021. Retrieved August 6, 2021 .
^ Ruane, Michael E. (July 13, 2016).
"Haunting relics from a slave ship headed for African American museum" .
The Washington Post .
Archived from the original on May 22, 2019. Retrieved August 5, 2021 .
^ Williamson, Kim M. (August 23, 2019).
"Most slave shipwrecks have been overlooked—until now" . National Geographic. Archived from
the original on July 13, 2021. Retrieved August 5, 2021 .
^ Milano, Brett (October 21, 2020).
"Salvaging another piece of Black history" .
The Harvard Gazette .
Archived from the original on May 22, 2021. Retrieved August 6, 2021 .
^ Granath, Bob (November 3, 2015).
"NASA Engineer Helps Preserve Legacy of Tuskegee Airmen On Mission of a Lifetime" . Space Coast Daily.
Archived from the original on January 19, 2021. Retrieved August 5, 2021 .
^ Smith, Jackie (June 3, 2021).
"Work begins on Tuskegee Airmen memorial in Port Huron" .
The Times Herald .
Archived from the original on August 6, 2021. Retrieved August 6, 2021 .
^
"Tuskegee Airmen memorial to be dedicated later this summer" .
WPHM . June 16, 2021.
Archived from the original on June 19, 2021. Retrieved August 6, 2021 .
^
"Diving With A Purpose Receives Chairman's Award for Helping Federal Agencies Accomplish Submerged Resources Stewardship Responsibilities" .
NOAA .
Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved August 6, 2021 .
^
"Diving With a Purpose Underwater Archaeology Program" .
NPS . February 11, 2016.
Archived from the original on February 17, 2021. Retrieved August 6, 2021 .
^
"Diving with a Purpose: A Fifteen-Year Odyssey" .
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology .
Archived from the original on October 21, 2020. Retrieved August 6, 2021 .
^
"About" . www.societyofblackarachaeologists.com .
Archived from the original on February 2, 2021. Retrieved August 6, 2021 .
^
"Society of Black Archaeologists – March 2019 Newsletter" (pdf) .
SBA .
Archived from the original on February 13, 2020. Retrieved August 6, 2021 .
^
"Slave Wrecks Project" .
Smithsonian Institution . June 1, 2015.
Archived from the original on April 22, 2021. Retrieved August 6, 2021 .
External links