My Trip to the African Burial Ground

When I was informed that my Freshman Seminar class would be attending the African Burial Ground in Manhattan, NY, I was excited. Thoughts like "Oh, a free trip to New York" and "This should be interesting" bombarded my mind. However, I would not have gotten the effect of this monument by just reading it out of a book. This was something I had to experience and I am glad I did. Waking up at the crack of dawn and sitting on a bus for four hours was worth it.
Upon arrival to the burial ground, everyone was so excited about the infamous Manhattan. However, the attention was quickly redirected when we were brought to the burial site and got to see the graves of a few Africans. Dr. Carr lead a speech that included a ritual that involved pouring to the graves of our ancestors. We then took a tour of the monument that had inscriptions of a quote on one side and a map of the burial site on the other. It was then that we were informed of how unappreciated we are as a race in America because we saw the little space that the landmark was allotted compared to the rest of the site in which buildings were built on top of. We then stood in an enclosure that took the form a slave ship. Inside we all packed in to get the full effect of how packed Africans were in slave ships. We explored the symbols that we inscribed on the walls and analyzed the meaning. Once inside, we watched a movie on the hardships of being a slave and how African lives were not valued. We then explored an exhibit that taught the rules that governed slaves, the chores that slaves had to do, and the most touching exhibit, pictures of the remains of the African that were uncovered for study.
One thing that fascinates me is that I lived in Newark, New Jersey, which is thirty minutes from New York City and predominantly black community. However, I have never even heard of the African Burial Ground. This is a problem for me because I do not feel that my community is being informative enough about the history of our people. This African descendant community has worked hard to conserve this space for generations like me own, I feel that we should all cease this opportunity. I appreciate Howard University for embarking me on this journey, not only physically but mentally as well.