First and foremost, I believe it is the civil duty of us as African Americans to save and preserve the remains of our ancestors. It is very disheartening to hear that the city of New York saw no problem with building over our history. I applaud Howard University for taking the initiative by saving these sacred grounds.
I don't know if I will truly grasp the history of the African Burial grounds unless I am physically there. I would feel honored to be the descendants of people who worked so hard just to survive each and everyday. I think that I will feel a greater sense of pride of my ethnicity and a lot more respect for the staff at Howard University.
I believe that Howard's first priority was to save the burial grounds initially, and then study what remained very carefully. They chose to study the remains for several reasons. I believe they are unique, because this was a society that wasn't exactly part of slavery. Most importantly, we wanted to know/confirm the origin of these people.
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