African Burial Ground Trip

The trip to the African Burial Ground was such an eye opener. This was my first time both hearing about the burial ground and going for a tour although i'm from New York City.When we first arrived at the national monument we were greeted by a very enthuastic tour guide and before we begin Dr. Carr gave us some background information on the Africans buried at the memorial site.So he recited a libation for our ancestors and then the tour guide began. I learned so much about the Africans apart of the transatlantic slave trade in New York City, the diversity within the African community seen in the items that the Africans were buried with and the outside memorial full of knowledge with a cosmograph centered in the middle of it with African symbols around the inner walls pointing towards the rising sun in the same direction as the ancestors that were buried. Inside the monument we watched a video based on the lives of Africans in NYC from the 17th and 18th centuries to the discovery of the bodies at the burial site to the protest and celebration of our ancestors being recognized and ceremony starting at our beloved Howard University to NYC for the bodies coming home. The inside of the monument was very nice and there were pictures and quotes from the 17th and 18th centuries up to the celebration of the opening of the monument and one quote that caught my attention was by Maya Angelou "You may bury me in the bottom of Manhattan.I will rise.My people will get me.I will rise out of the huts of history's shame." Throughout the entire trip I felt as though I was in a history class with the wealth of knowledge our tour guide and Dr.Carr were sharing with us. All in all I enjoyed and learned so much from the trip and the mini visit to 125th wasn't a bad look either.