I went on a Black Heritage Tour of Amsterdam and found that so much of the historical impact and influence Black Europeans had on the Netherlands is very hidden and almost removed from the history of Amsterdam. Though the actual influence of my culture here in the Netherlands is so vast, only a very small, hard-to-locate portion of said history can actually be found in Amsterdam.
I call this series ‘Hide and Seek’ because so much of the ugly truths of slavery and the treatment of Black Europeans specifically in Amsterdam is if not all hidden not only publicly but in history as well. The information was hidden-and I chose to seek it out. Spending time with native Black Dutch Europeans I was able to see how though we may be far from each other geographically, we share the same story and struggle being Black in a world that always sees us as second-class.
