Tara Roberts wasn’t looking for a life-changing journey when she visited the Smithsonian. But a single photograph—of Black divers exploring the wrecks of slave ships—pulled her into a story larger than herself.
Compelled to follow, Roberts strapped on her own diving gear and began tracing the transatlantic slave trade through the ocean’s hidden graveyards. From Mozambique to Benin, Costa Rica to St. Croix, she joined archaeologists and historians searching for the long-lost ships that carried 12.5 million souls across the Middle Passage.
Along the way, Roberts also dove inward—reckoning with her own identity, family history, and the weight of generational memory. Lush, lyrical, and deeply moving, Written in the Waters is a memoir of exploration, grief, resilience, and the healing power of connection.
