Diving With a Purpose

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]

Diving With a Purpose
Formation2005 (2005)
FoundersKenneth Stewart, Brenda Lanzendorf
TypeNonprofit
PurposeMaritime archaeology, focused on research of the Atlantic slave trade
Location
Websitedivingwithapurpose.org

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, starring and produced by Samuel L. Jackson.[10] It is also the subject of a 2021 documentary titled Lessons from the Water: Diving with a Purpose by filmmaker Charles Todd.[11]

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][12] with the stated aim of training divers to become "able to assist in the historical documentation and preservation of artifacts and wreck sites".[13] An offshoot program directed at a younger audience entitled Youth Diving With a Purpose (YDWP) was introduced in 2011.[1][14]

The group has been involved with the discovery or documentation of numerous[lower-alpha 1] shipwrecks, including the São José Paquete Africa[16][17] and the Clotilda.[1][18] Other activities of the organization have included the location and mapping of plane wrecks related to the Tuskegee Airmen in the Great Lakes.[19][20] A memorial site in Port Huron, Michigan, was constructed in 2021.[21][22]

Diving With a Purpose has worked or is working with groups and federal agencies including NOAA,[23] the National Park Service (NPS),[24][25] the Society of Black Archaeologists,[26][27] 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.[28]

Notes
  1. Per the group's website, 18 as of 2021, with 18,000 volunteer hours.[15]

References
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. "Diving With a Purpose". ACHP. Archived from the original on March 21, 2021. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
  5. "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.
  6. "Conversation: Diving with a Purpose". Archaeology.org. 2009. Archived from the original on April 12, 2015. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
  7. "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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. "Maritime Archaeology Training Program". Diving With a Purpose. Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
  13. "About us – Today". divingwithapurpose.org. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  14. 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.
  15. "slave shipwrecks, underwater archaeology, coral restoration". divingwithapurpose.org. Archived from the original on March 16, 2011. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  16. 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.
  17. 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.
  18. 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.
  19. 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.
  20. 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.
  21. 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.
  22. "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.
  23. "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.
  24. "Diving With a Purpose Underwater Archaeology Program". NPS. February 11, 2016. Archived from the original on February 17, 2021. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  25. "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.
  26. "About". www.societyofblackarachaeologists.com. Archived from the original on February 2, 2021. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  27. "Society of Black Archaeologists – March 2019 Newsletter" (pdf). SBA. Archived from the original on February 13, 2020. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  28. "Slave Wrecks Project". Smithsonian Institution. June 1, 2015. Archived from the original on April 22, 2021. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
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