New York Burial Ground

To be honest, I was not to fond of this weeks lecture about the New York Burial Ground by Professor Mack. Although he presented to the class a very defying topic, but as he told us about our ancestors and their remaining, there was not too much meaning to it. I still do not know why we have to learn about this, like what more can we do. The significance of the burial site was that all the remains were so defined in great detail to the point where you can see the dissimilar physical aspects of remaining but what exactly did that suppose to mean knowing this information. I understand that knowing this information should affect us in some way, shape, or form but I really did not get any overwhelming feeling in regards to this presentation, maybe it was just because of the instructor. Overall it was a respectable lecture but we should have had a better speaker with more definition in his teachings.

Nsibidi -Means love and unity, and indigenous form of writing aside from hieroglyphics

Asase Ye Duru- Divinity of the world, assembles wealth might and authority, reminds us of the importance of life

Medicine wheel -they were discover primarily by archeologist, sacred hoop, shows the belief in the interconnect of the world, the cyclicality of the nature, and the a understanding of the astronomical world

Tanit -the early African Muslims who have been here since the early 1600s

Yegba-One of the gods that was found in Nigeria and was bought to the western hem by enslaved Africans who continued the tradition. Also means the Guardian of the cross roads, also the trickster

In general, the impression of the entire monument is that it is history , our history at that, and that we could really learn something from this. Hopefully when I visit the monument I want to be empathetic to our ancestors who had to experience this tragic incident. I want to feel like I was once a part of it. I believe that Howard University was chosen to study this burial site because of many of our ethnic backgrounds, our enhanced educational knowledge on African American history, and the quality of our professor’s. Yes this has inspired me to become a part of this legacy because I want to matter, I want to be a part of something that is bigger than me, but that I can still make a positive effect on.