We filed up in front of the African Burial ground on Wednesday March 30th 2016 at 1:47 pm. The weather was quite chilly considering that It was late March. The cold wind slashed through my body as it gushed past me. The security guard let us in the building four at at time. The inside was very profound it had an air of nostalgia and forgotten memories. However; the first thing we were greeted with was a thorough scanning session analogous to entering any federal building in the United States. We had to take off our jackets, shoes, belts and all metallic objects from our pockets and place them through a conveyor belt and then we passed through a scanning machine to finalize the procedure.
As we approached the interior of the facility we formed a group and awaited professor Williams’ instructions. She told us to look around and then go to the memorial at the outside of the building. When we were dispersed I cast a glance around my surroundings and saw a black family standing around what seemed to be a coffin. Just wen I saw the pale skin I realized that these people were actually made out of wax and depicted the burial of a slave and a small infant. The woman who was hugging a small girl was he wife of the person in the bigger coffin and the couple standing next to them were the parents of the infant furthermore, the old lady standing at the head of the coffins was delivering the last words in the honor of the deceased. This scene was created to portray how the people (slaves) showed their pride by naming their burial ground as the “African” burial ground because the black community used the name of their ancestral country when ever it was possible for them to bring it glory. According to the movie we watched “what would be a better way to honor the country than to name a sacred place like a burial ground after it”.
There were many artifacts found with corpses such as bracelets, buttons, rings, coins etc. that were displayed in glass cases throughout the displays. I still remember the song “La ilaha illallah Mohammed ur rasoolullah” that played as in the background I realized only afterwards that it was actually a verse that Muslims say It is an Arabic phrase which means “There is no GOD but Allah and Muhammad is his last messenger/prophet”. I was quite shocked with this new form of enlightenment and felt an even deeper connection with the people buried at this place among whom some were Muslims (as I myself am a Muslim). I then went to the little shop they had at the corner it contained many things that portrayed the significance of this burial site. Afterwards I headed outside towards the back of the building there I saw a beautiful piece of architecture dedicated to the grounds a memorial it was made of marble. The outside smelled of lush green grass (planted in the lawn behind the building), dust (from the construction and cleanup work going on in the area) and smoke (from the passing vehicles) but the bitter wind stung my nose as it cut through my trachea into my lungs with a blow plunging me into sense of deep discomfort.
On my way back I smelled some hot pretzels and many appealing aromas from the surrounding restaurants which stimulated my appetite therefore I went to a subway store on my way back and ordered a footling, sandwich but I had not forgotten how the people had suffered during the hard times of slavery which me very sad but also thankful that I had been blessed with a life full of freedom and opportunity.