Themes in American History

On the day before the final exam, I went to visit the African Burial Ground as for a traceback of what I’ve learned in the HIS 1000 class, since learning about the slave was one of the first things we learned at the beginning of the class as I recall. There are Two sites that I have visited; the National Monument and the Visitor Center. The visit to the both sites of African Burial Ground was truly a great experience of learning history that we usually cannot get information from class. This place is very important for the history of the New York City although many of us living in here don’t know even about the existence of slavery in New York.

 

The first thing I saw in front of me was the National Monument. I didn’t intend to visit from the monument, but as I was trying to find the entrance to the Visitor Center, I found the National Monument. There was a lady guide who explained basis of the monument, and by listening to her and seeing the monument itself, I learned that the height of the Ancestral Liberation Chamber represents the depth below the surface where the ancestral were discovered, and also the spirit of the Africans. I found that there were several symbols engraved on the wall of the Circle of the Diaspora, and the symbols shows the diversity of African culture.

 

 

 

 

After successfully found the entrance to the Visitor Center, I found more of the truth behind the slavery in New York. But before that I was stopped by the security, and went through heavy security check although I didn’t have anything suspicious on me. Finally the security guard let me in, and the first thing that caught my eye was one of the creation in the center of the exhibitions. As you can see from the picture below, there are people with sad looking faces surrounding a coffin and a smaller box on top of the coffin. I was wondering what was the box on the coffin, and found out that it was a coffin for a baby. The scene is capturing before lowering the coffins blessing for the deaths in the dark. The African slaves only could bury their dead family members either before the sunset or after their work under the city law. As thinking of the fact that such people are still remaining under the place where I was standing upon, and seeing the set of pictures of uncovered people and the numbers of those who are buried under the ground, I couldn’t help but to feel the sadness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I go around the exhibition, I found some more of new facts about the slavery that I didn’t learn in class. I found out that before the arrival of Europeans on the Africa, there was slavery system in Africa. The Africans back in their homeland were kidnapping people in order to switch their places so they can avoid being forced to be slave over the sea. Another thing was that the slaves who became sick were thrown out to the sea on the way of shipment. The other fact that I newly found out was the hardship of their labor work. The one thing I saw was the work at the docks. The slaves were unloading and loading the 50 gallos of barrels fully filled with rums which would have weighted over 400 pounds. I could actually move the barrel for experiencing the work of the slaves, but that barrel was very heavy although it was made easier to move compared to the real work the slaves had been doing back then. The men surely have worn out by the work, from sunset till night time, everyday… Just imagining of the life of them made me sweat. Although the slaves had somewhat a freedom guaranteed by the Dutch West India Company, such as owning property or getting married, those hardships were just cruel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This visit was lots of astonishments for me. There were numbers of facts about slavery that people in the NYC, and in New York State don’t know in the history until the abolishment of the slavery in New York in 1827. Who knows, even under where we usually walk, there might be slaves buried deep underground. Back to the chamber of the National Monument, there is a heart shaped symbol engraved. The symbol is called the “Sankofa” which means “learn from the past to prepare for the future.” These words and the symbols all over the monument have a huge meaning for us to be reminded that those African slaves are buried under us. This visit became more than just an extra credit assignment, and I could learn something very important that should never be forgotten.

 

Tags: african burial ground, Slavery in New York

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