|
|
This is only a preview of the paper
Click here to register and get the full text.
Existing members click here to login
|
|
|
Article: The African Burial Site In Manhattan
In 1991, a construction company was demolishing buildings on Reade Street in order to erect a Federal Building. ...
They had totally forgotten about this and an investigation revealed, that during slavery in New York City, the area was a place where African slaves lived. The site was their designated burial ground and many African slaves were buried there. The question now is; did Federal, State and City authorities know that this was an African Burial Site before they decided to approve it for the Federal Building? If they were not aware of it, then the African Community in New York City and America could reason with them. However, if they were aware of it and then continued to ignore the cultural importance and significance of this find to the African community a huge public outcry would occur. ... Upon thorough investigation by anthropologists and other experts, it was revealed that these remains were mostly children of African slaves. ... This action led to a public outcry and immediately a group of African Americans got together to protest against it. ... After the building was erected, African Americans were still fuming over this incident. Some African Americans were against the construction of the Federal Building on the site. They wanted the governments to make the site a historical burial site for African Americans.
Other African Americans were in favor of continuing the project but wanted them to have a space in the vicinity designated as an African Burial Site. In the end, these African Americans prevailed; still, this issue did not fade away in the dust. A group of African Americans continued to demand that the remains of their 419 ancestors be returned and be buried at the site and a ceremony be given to them. Eventually, they won their case and the remains were returned and a ceremony was recently held for these 419 African Americans on Saturday, October 3, 2003. ... I pass the Burial Site almost everyday and I have stopped by on several occasions to read the few lines they have written on a small white and black sign. How inappropriate, here we have sacred ground and there was not even a monument, a cross or anything there.
Approximate Word count = 1792
Approximate Pages = 7.2
(250 words per page double spaced)
|
|
|
|
|
|