When the ground was disrupted in 1991 and 419 sets of remains were excavated and studied, the African American community was outraged and maintained that the excavation was disrespectful. The African people fought for the stories of their ancestors to be respected and memorialized. Later, researchers and government officials realized that the preservation of this site meant that every artifact should stay with the people the artifacts were buried with and that the people should remain untouched. Excavators returned the remains. It was because of this realization that the African Burial ground was born.
The monument was covered in symbols: letters representing Islam, peace, nature, guardianship, the signature of the spirit, divinity of mother earth, imperishability and endurance and the supremacy of God. On each side of the ship, on the floors and across the monument are these African symbols that were hand carved in African countries. There was this implicit feeling of hope and it makes sense because that was all these Africans had when they were enslaved in New York. The symbol pictured is the Asase Ye Duru which stands for Divinity of Mother Earth. It literally means that the Earth has no weight. The symbol emphasizes the preservation of the planet and how people have an obligation to respect the grounds they walk on. It’s particularly fitting because it is everything the African Burial Ground stands for- the preservation of African stories.
I think that the African Burial Ground is a great place to focus on for your iMovie project. I’ve never been there before, so I would love to learn more about it. The variety of symbols there really make it feel very emotionally charged and is a wonderful connection to the history of the area. Your description also fits the picture you took really well.