Oh Howard, How I Love Thee: African Burial Ground National Monument

The lecture given this week was unlike any other lecture before it. Instead of textual evidence, pictures were used to expalin the history and meaning of the sacred African Burial Monument. Professor Mack demonstrated great passion for the site which encouraged me to want to gain more knowledge as to why it was so important. Not only was I encouraged to gain more knowledge, but also to experience and see this sacred monument for myself. In general I learned a lot of background information on the burial site. At first I didn't completely understand the necessity and importance of the the burial ground, but not to far into the lecture it had clicked as to why it was so important. Reflecting back on the, a key idea that stood out to me was the fact that the bones of the slaves told so much history about their lives and living conditions. One bone could tell the story of someon's whole life. It became apparent to me why it was so amazing that
Howard researchers are the ones who were able to find and analyze these bones. They literally held history in their hands, and from it they were able to teach the world alot about slaves in that time period, especially ones that were located in New York. Not only did I learn the importance of the site, but I was also exposed to a deeper meaning behind just the actual bones. It was also reveled to me that the fact that African American slaves had the honor to be buried and not just dumped in a whole shows a sense of humanity towards the slaves; that's not to say that slave owners were nice, but it does show there was some type of relationship between them two. It also possible reveals that slaveowners knew that they hadn't treated the slaves fair during their life so the LEAST they could do, was to properly bury them and respect the work that they had done during their lifetime.

Digital Gallery Talk; Ancestral Rites of Return:
This short clip was basically explaining how sacred the burial ground truly is. The narrator LaShaya Howie said, "The reburial marked a victory for the African descending community. For those community members the reburial reclaimed the existing sanctity by restoring over the 400 ancestors who had been removed." I completely agree with this statement and it just shows how important the burial ground is to the world, specifically the African American community. She also commented on Howard a couple of times; Howard was the place they held the blessing ceremony of the spirits and Howard researchers spent 10 years analyzing the bones. Howard gave a tremendous contribution to the sacred monument and it reminds me of how Howard scholars greatly contribute to the human progression, especially the black culture. This is a great example of how scholars across various fields of study advanced and transformed academic knowledge related to enduring problems of the human condition.

The Memorial and It's Symbols:
Medicine Wheel