WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:00.720 --> 00:00:19.350 [ambient sound of rain] 00:00:20.111 --> 00:00:29.350 [musical sound that slowly dissipates] 00:00:30.720 --> 00:00:32.350 First came the raindrops. 00:00:37.060 --> 00:00:41.290 Raindrops that turned to streams that turned to rivers. 00:00:42.111 --> 00:00:49.350 [ambient sound of birds] 00:00:50.250 --> 00:00:56.569 Rivers that traveled through clans, kingdoms, and empires, and journeyed into 00:00:56.569 --> 00:00:59.640 the deltas that led to the Atlantic Ocean. 00:01:01.560 --> 00:01:07.450 Before the treacherous journeys across the Atlantic, the waters ran through homes, 00:01:08.289 --> 00:01:14.620 fed cattle, and quenched the thirst of travelers and traders across the Sahara. 00:01:16.470 --> 00:01:21.600 The waters passed through depths of wells, scattered across the rain forests. 00:01:22.445 --> 00:01:27.425 And into the gourds of Mansa Musa's guards as they travel through the 00:01:27.425 --> 00:01:33.715 globe to document what will become a historical moment in world history. 00:01:36.025 --> 00:01:40.394 Before the people would travel through the waters in inhumane conditions, 00:01:41.154 --> 00:01:48.554 they cast irons, produced pottery, designed bronze casts, carved wooden 00:01:48.554 --> 00:01:51.410 masks, and molded terracotta figures. 00:01:54.359 --> 00:01:59.130 They flourished from the centers of Nok to the Bight of Benin. 00:02:00.590 --> 00:02:06.859 Waters flowed as they traded, fought, resisted, and fell. 00:02:08.190 --> 00:02:13.840 Waters flowed through the veins of those caught as they endured the toxic barracoons 00:02:16.649 --> 00:02:19.459 and drank from the well of forgetfulness. 00:02:24.245 --> 00:02:26.111 Waters flowed as they crossed the point of no return 00:02:28.455 --> 00:02:33.111 [sobbing, clanking chains] 00:02:33.720 --> 00:02:34.350 [a door slams] 00:02:35.111 --> 00:02:41.505 And sauntered into the bellies of the waiting ships. 00:02:43.334 --> 00:02:48.325 The waters never stopped flowing in the heat of the plantation fields. 00:02:49.475 --> 00:02:51.045 It came from within. 00:02:51.405 --> 00:02:56.945 As the sun drew out blood and sweat, it came from the tears, the 00:02:56.945 --> 00:02:59.665 songs, and the memories of home. 00:03:00.785 --> 00:03:06.334 The waters flowed through the conglomeration of languages that birthed 00:03:06.415 --> 00:03:12.405 African American English and the songs that formed the Negro spirituals. 00:03:13.825 --> 00:03:19.584 It flowed through the hair crimps of Madam CJ Walker, through Black Wall 00:03:19.584 --> 00:03:26.230 Street. The Black Seminoles traveled on it, and the revolutionaries 00:03:26.230 --> 00:03:28.210 on the Amistad fought on it. 00:03:29.480 --> 00:03:37.260 The Igbo landing happened in the waters, the waters that became a place of refuge. 00:03:39.410 --> 00:03:46.760 The waters flowed then, now, and right before Mansa Musa's journey. 00:03:48.669 --> 00:03:50.599 These waters define. 00:03:51.730 --> 00:03:52.600 And redefine. 00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:54.410 Who we are. 00:03:54.720 --> 00:04:10.350 [ambient sound of rain] 00:04:10.720 --> 00:04:18.111 [music]