I had gone looking for a field of some sort. As we walked down Broadway, that seemed less and less likely. Feeling pressured by the ticking time, already 5 minutes late, it seemed impossible we would find the right place. Broadway is a busy commercial area. Surely there isn’t space for a graveyard. I pictured […]
I didn’t expect the museum to be so small. To me, such a tragic site deserved much more. And yet, the size was perfect. It was intimate. The exhibition was not about slavery alone, but about people. This is made clear when one sees the central display: models of a family gather around to coffins, […]
The African Burial Ground Memorial visit was mind opening. The memorial was small but it’s significance was far greater. It’s tribute to the real colony builders that sacrificed their flesh and bones for the foundation of New York was touching. The movie that was shown stated that the way we treat our dead is a signifier […]
by Daniel Cohen The African Burial Ground is quiet and peaceful, but it is still in Manhattan. And Manhattan is a very, very noisy place. The burial ground is near the intersection of Lafayette and Centre Streets, not to mention right near Broadway, resulting in the serenity of the memorial sharply interspersed with the noise […]
The African Burial Ground was something I had neither seen nor ever heard of before prior to our trip. The fact that it had never made its way into any of my classrooms before this semester, despite twelve long school years. I found it interesting that I had been to museums and monuments, such as […]
At around 1:30pm, I stepped off the subway stairs, leading me to a bright and vibrant Manhattan intersection. The sunlight offered a stark contrast to the dark, artificially lit subway platforms. Screeching, discordant sounds of the subway was replaced by a multitude of indistinguishable voices from people around me. People crowded together in what looked […]
The first thing that struck me about the outdoor monument was the scale. I’ve placed a picture of my friend Alice above to indicate the scale of the triangular prism structure at the far end of the monument. This monument really does a good job of impressing the gravity of the site onto visitors. The […]
We set off for the African Burial Ground at around 12:30. The commute was fairly easy. We took the Q train straight to Canal Street where we got off and walked for a dew minutes. Overa
Around noon on Wednesday, March 30th, I embarked on a trip to African Burial Ground. The weather was sunny and around 50 degrees Fahrenheit. I arrived at the location around 1:30pm via the 5 train from Brooklyn College to City Hall. The area surrounding was an urban district of federal buildings, including the New York […]
Shallow to pensive. The trip to the African Burial Ground completely transformed my mood. “Okay guys, you are about to enter a Federal Building, so this will be a lot like the security check at the airport.” Huh? Where am I? Laughter dominated my experience at the security checkpoint. From the secondary screening to the […]
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 […]
On Wednesday, Mark, Mitch, Robin, and I went to the African Burial Ground, separately from the rest of the class because of our biology lecture exam at 3:40. We left right after our English class and arrived at the burial ground a bit before noon. My first impressions of the burial ground and the museum […]
On the 30th of March, at approximately 11:45 AM, our small group consisting of Mark Rayev, Mitch Vutrapongvatana, Sandy Mui, and myself found ourselves at the doors of the African Burial Ground Memorial Museum. The weather was surprisingly pleasant: temperatures fluctuated between 50 and 56 degrees, wind chill was little more than a gentle breeze, […]
The date is Wednesday, March 30th, 2016. Mitch, Robin, Sandy, and I arrived at Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall Station at 11:45 A.M. We had an interesting start to our field trip when I tripped up the stairs leaving the train station. When we finally surfaced to street level, there was a unique blend of smells being […]
Any emotional significance attached to the burial grounds did not affect me until I found myself standing in the small gift shop tucked away to one side of the exhibits, examining a handmade African bracelet. Memories hit me furiously, awakened from slumber: snippets of Afrikaans thrown between merchant and consumer haggling over goods, thumbing through […]
On Wednesday, March 30th, Mark, Sandy, Robin, and I left Brooklyn College to head to the African Burial Ground in Manhattan. We left immediately (by immediately, I meant we stopped by Burger King and bought food; we had coupons yaaas!) after English class at approximately 11:00 am. We went ahead of the rest of the […]
Wednesday, March 30, 2016 As I walk into the African Burial Ground, I am scanned by security. I understand that I am walking into a government building that holds great significance. The first thing I notice is the timeline of the creation of the burial ground. It was a long process creating this building that […]
On March 30, 2016, we visited the African Burial Ground. It took about an hour to get there from Brooklyn College, but it was simple; I took the 5 train from Flatbush Avenue to Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall. The walk from City Hall to the African Burial Ground was pleasurable and inspiring. As I exited the […]
“Lai Lai, oh Lai Lai.” “Lai Lai, oh Lai Lai.” “Ago.” “Ame.” The entire train ride home that song in the voice of a young girl was running through my head. A rush of emotions and questions ran through my head. I was building comparisons between my previous visit to the African Burial Ground in […]
