Aminata Diallo: The Innocence Of A Slave

I decided to make a mobile because it allowed me to take the innocence of the object and twist it. Slave trade stole Aminata Diallo away from her village at a young age, displayed by the mobile itself. As a young girl, Aminata understood more than the average child, but still held the innocence that her parents allowed. The objects that I’ve placed on the mobile twist that innocence until it’s seen as cruel by those that understand its nature. The base of my mobile is a ship and attached is an anchor. Throughout Aminata’s journey, she took many ships, starting with the slave vessel from Africa to America. On her first journey on a slave ship, many died, either due to sickness or riots. The next ship she boarded took her and Solomon Lindo

Aminata encountered a lot of loss, within her own family and friends and those around her. She saw people die by being thrown overboard, killed in riots, and killed by sickness.
Aminata Diallo’s father practiced the Muslim religion and taught Aminata about Allah. The crescent moons carved into Aminata’s cheeks represent her religious beliefs as do the moons on my mobile. Though not many people knew of her religion, as she stopped practicing at a young age, the moons became a part of her identity. Solomon Lindo once asked Aminata if she practiced a religion and she in turn told Solomon about her father. Such small scars most likely gave Aminata a great amount of comfort, as they represented where she was from and her family. Once Aminata arrived in America, a man by the name of Robinson Appleby purchased her from an auction. She worked on Appleby’s indigo plantation once Georgia nursed Aminata back to health. On the plantation, Aminata picked and processed the indigo, creating a dye. The blue flowers represent Aminata’s time on the indigo plantation and the things she went through. Robinson Appleby sexually assaulted her, she lost her son Mamadu to slave traders, and had her head shaved and belongings burned in front of the other slaves. The indigo business also gave her hope though, as it allowed her to meet Solomon Lindo, an indigo grader and her second owner. After slave trade

When she grew older, Aminata began helping her mother catch babies. Once the slave traders captured Aminata, they learned that she caught babies and allowed her to deliver babies on the journey to the ocean, and on the ship. At the indigo plantation, Aminata helped Georgia catch babies, as Georgie would go to other plantations to help deliver babies. Working for Solomon Lindo, Aminata earned her keep by catching babies in Charles Town. She caught the babies of slaves and of white women that didn’t want doctors to bleed them. The doctors still practiced ‘bloodletting’ in the 18th century, to help cure or prevent