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Jun 18, 20261
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Museum Director Uses Slave Shackles as Powerful Teaching Tool on America's Painful History

Lamont Collins, founder of the Roots 101 Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, uses 400-year-old slave shackles as an interactive teaching tool, allowing willing visitors to wear them briefly to create a visceral understanding of slavery's reality. The museum houses numerous artifacts from the African American experience, and Collins's approach—which has generated both emotional responses and resistance—aims to move historical education beyond abstract narratives into embodied comprehension.
Quick Facts
Who
Lamont Collins
What
Museum director places slave shackles on visitors' wrists
When
400 years ago (shackles crafted)
Where
Louisville, Kentucky (Roots 101 Museum)
- Museum director places slave shackles on visitors' wrists
- Video of shackles being placed on white visitor went viral
- Educational practice using artifacts for experiential learning
- Shackles designed in multiple forms for different body parts
- Shackles used to track runaways with bells and spikes
At the Roots 101 Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, founder Lamont Collins employs an unconventional but deeply impactful educational method: allowing willing visitors to experience the weight and reality of slave shackles. The museum houses shackles crafted 400 years ago in Ghana, among numerous artifacts documenting the African American experience. By inviting visitors—particularly white Americans—to briefly wear these restraints, Collins creates what he describes as a visceral learning experience that transcends abstract historical narratives.
Shackles were instrumental instruments of the transatlantic slave trade, used to restrain and dehumanize over 12 million Africans across three centuries. European and American slave traders deployed them in multiple forms: designed for wrists, ankles, waist, and neck, and even made in children's sizes. These restraints were forced upon kidnapped and sold Africans cramped into ships destined for slave markets in the Deep South. Specialized collar shackles featured bells or spiked ends to assist slave catchers in tracking runaways. Beyond physical constraint, shackles served psychological purposes—reinforcing the denial of freedom and functioning as both punishment and deterrent.
Collins founded the museum in 2020 following donations from collectors and activists. His approach to historical education emphasizes embodied understanding. "It's such a deep learning tool," he explains. "No matter how we hear people tell stories, how people try to change the story, the reality of the stories is in those shackles. Nobody can deny the reality of what you feel in those shackles." A video of Collins placing shackles on a white woman's wrists gained significant social media attention last year, sparking broader conversations about how Americans engage with difficult histories.
Collins acknowledges resistance to this confrontational pedagogy. Some visitors decline to wear the shackles, while others become emotional after brief experience. He uses these moments as teaching opportunities: "I would say to them 'Why I can't put these on you for two seconds and we had them on for 200 years.' It starts a conversation." Collins observes that while many people express interest in learning history, they often prefer to do so within comfortable boundaries. His work challenges visitors to move beyond passive consumption of historical facts toward direct, uncomfortable engagement with the material reality of slavery.
This educational initiative takes on broader significance as part of America's 250th anniversary commemorations, prompting national reflection on how the country acknowledges and teaches its foundational injustices.
Why This Matters
This unconventional teaching method addresses a critical gap in American historical education: the abstract nature of slavery often allows readers and students to intellectually distance themselves from its brutal reality. By facilitating direct physical experience with authentic artifacts, Collins's approach transforms passive learning into embodied comprehension, particularly for white Americans who may otherwise avoid confronting their nation's foundational injustices. As America enters its 250th anniversary, how citizens engage with and acknowledge historical trauma becomes increasingly consequential for reconciliation, education policy, and national identity.
Timeline & Sources
Jan 1, 2020
WireLamont Collins founds Roots 101 Museum in Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 1, 2025
WireVideo of Collins placing shackles on white visitor gains social media attention
Jun 18, 2026
WireAP article published about museum's educational practices as part of America 250 series