African Burial Ground- Sierra Williams

To here about how there were 10,000 buried at this site, was very shocking. The fact that there were buildings built on top of the burial ground was even more shocking. It was very interesting to see that people did take action, and acknowledged the fact that it was a sacred site. It seems as though professor Mack’s passion is in this area. If this were my passion, I would fight until the end to make sure that there was justice and peace brought to the burial ground. I understand that it was a very expensive project to take bodies out of the ground. People were protesting because they felt it was disrespectful. Four hundred nineteen bodies were taken out of the ground, and I fell as if the project should have been finished, and there should have been more research done. I think that because the bodies were buried under buildings to begin with, that people should not have been protesting against the digging up of the bodies. A factor that I thought was the most interesting was about the people themselves. Their teeth showed the most about them. The filing of teeth was a cultural marker, right of passage, and they felt as though it was aesthetically pleasing. My overall impressions of the project are that its good that the African Burial ground didn’t go ignored for a longer period of time. I think it is a good idea for me to visit the monument to be connected with my ancestors. As a historically black institute, I think that they have a certain obligation to be connected with projects such as these; especially when there are professors from Howard who are involved. Howard’s involvement in the project has inspired be to be a part of the legacy of transforming academic knowledge.