The Whipped P exhibit was created to educate people of all cultures and backgrounds. More importantly, it was designed to help bridge the gap between Africans and African Americans.
by 
My name is Christen Griffin, though I go by Malak Al-Mawt. I am 23 years old and from St. Louis, Missouri. I was raised by my single mother, Mia Burgess, who is now a school principal but was an elementary teacher when I was growing up. For as long as I can remember, she made sure I learned about Black history and the struggles our ancestors endured so that we could have the opportunities we have today. Sadly, many of those hard-won sacrifices are now being undermined and overturned.
Since President Trump took office, he and his administration have repeatedly attempted to erase key parts of Black history in America. He began by trying to shut down the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, claiming that “the museum only shows the bad part of slavery.” That statement deeply bothered me because there is nothing good about slavery. No matter your background or culture, slavery was and remains unacceptable. It is an undeniable part of American history. Without the labor and contributions of enslaved people, America would not be what it is today. We built the Capitol, the White House, and created countless inventions that shaped this nation.
The erasure didn’t stop there. After I debuted the Whipped P exhibit, he specifically targeted the image of Peter Gordon, ordering that it be removed from Google and other search engines. He was even quoted as saying, “Slavery is always being depicted in a bad way. Slavery wasn’t that bad. There were some good parts of slavery.” That was not only false but profoundly disrespectful. To attempt to minimize the story of Peter Gordon is to disregard one of the most powerful symbols of resilience in American history.
Who was Peter Gordon? Let me tell you about this courageous man.
In March 1863, a man known only as Peter escaped from slavery on a Louisiana plantation and after a harrowing journey found safety among Union soldiers encamped at Baton Rouge. Before enlisting in a black regiment, he was examined by military doctors, who discovered horrific scarring on his back—the result of a vicious whipping by his former overseer. This photograph documenting Peter’s condition created a sensation when it reached the public and quickly became one of the most powerful proofs of slavery’s brutality. As one journalist declared, “This Card Photograph should be multiplied by 100,000 and scattered over the States. It tells the story in a way that even Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe cannot approach, because it tells the story to the eye.”
On Independence Day 1863, in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg, Harper’s Weekly featured several articles concerning recent action in the field by black troops fighting for the Union cause, including an account of Peter’s escape from bondage and his subsequent military service. Based on photographs, the images accompanying the article documented Peter’s metamorphosis from fugitive slave to U.S. soldier, punctuated by a view of his horribly scarred back.
Sergeant Peter was reported to have fought bravely in the Union assault on Port Hudson in July 1863, as part of General Benjamin F. Butler’s Louisiana Native Guards, a regiment made up entirely of free black recruits. Nothing further is known about his life.
The story of Peter Gordon resonates deeply with me, and I want to explain why. In 2013, I watched a video of a young man lying lifeless in the street. His name was Michael Brown. I was in middle school when he was killed by a police officer. Then, in 2020, I saw another horrifying video—this time of a police officer pressing his knee into a Black man’s neck. That man was George Floyd.
The connection between these tragedies and our history is undeniable. The origins of policing in America trace back to slave patrols in the early 1700s, which were created in the South to control enslaved people and maintain the slave system. These patrols were responsible for preventing escapes, suppressing uprisings, and punishing enslaved individuals. After the Civil War, they evolved into formal police departments that continued enforcing racial control through Black Codes and later Jim Crow laws.
To this day, Black Americans still carry the invisible scars of Whipped Peter. What do I mean by that? We continue to experience racial violence, systemic discrimination, and the pain of seeing our history erased or ignored. Much of our true history is still not taught in schools.
My fashion brand Blood Cotton Clothing blends history and social issues with fashion. I have always loved clothes and I have always been passionate about social justice issues. I created the Whipped P shirt and sweater to educate every person in the world. We know about other cultures, but Black History is never presented.
The Whipped P exhibit was created to educate people of all cultures and backgrounds. More importantly, it was designed to help bridge the gap between Africans and African Americans— a disconnect that deeply saddens me. My hope is that my work inspires unity and understanding, and that the Whipped P exhibit not only informs but also awakens people to the harsh realities African Americans continue to face in America today.
