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African Burial Ground Summary

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The excavation of the African Burial Ground was an exciting time for the advancement of research and discovery of new knowledge. Research teams everywhere tried to collaborate on the project to conduct their own research, some demoralizing to the deceased. The New York Metropolitan Forensic Anthropology Team (MFAT) was highly concerned with gaining data towards the development of racial identification, in the name of biological anthropology. Racing methods look solely at the physical differences between Europeans and Africans, putting people on a spectrum of physical superiority and legitimizing the institution of slavery. MFAT focused on the absence or presences of stereotypical traits of Africans such as extreme jaw prognathism, extended …show more content…

No data could be shared about descendent connections or variation between continents; they solely wanted to point out the differences, the eugenics, between those in the African Burial Ground and the Euro-Americans. Blakey and Roche (1997) comment that members of the New York descendant community often identified this research troubling and that, “the methodologically constructed black identity by MFAT is dissociated from any particular culture and history, creating an identity that is culture-less, history-less and biologically shallow” (p.88 & 89). Therefore, why should someone’s relative be disturbed for the promotion of discrimination based on race? The research that MFAT was trying to publish was harming to the dead and the descendant communities. This data provides a misrepresentation of the work that has been done to understand the historical value of the site and the Africans buried there. The research was unethical, does not follow the guidelines of the Vermillion Accord (1989) set by the World Archaeological Congress. The Vermillion Accord serves to highlight the ethical responsibilities archaeologists have to the dead and the descendant

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In the novel, Burial Rites, Hannah Kent draws upon the symbolism and imagery of nature and the supernatural to highlight the central protagonist 's approaching death by execution. Symbolic ravens are scattered throughout the text and provide a sense of constant foreboding in a natural setting that is equally alarming. The Iceland of 1829 is a harsh physical environment with a social structure strongly influenced by both superstition and strict social guidelines. Within this structure, the doomed Agnes 's fatalistic perspective is a reminder that her life and eventual death are shaped by forces beyond her control. While Kent 's use of imagery is usually focused on Agnes 's approaching death, and the waiting she must endure, it also serves

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Walker’s statement on the bottom of page 69 and the top of 70,”what now masquerades as World History is largely fictitious.” raises a serious topic that causes extremely heated debates. Agreeing with the statement, I understand that Walker wants the truth of Africa and its people to be heard and believed. European historians seized and intentionally manipulated history in order to create the idea of them being the founding fathers of the African civilization. When Europeans first began their journeys to Africa they were completely baffled in the discovering of something they were intimidated by. Africa was not a place that was meaningless and worthless, but instead to their surprise it was a place that was rich in culture.

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A memorial site designed by Rodney L¿on was completed in 2007. The memorial consists of a sunken Libation Court (gathering space for cultural ceremonies). It is surrounded by a Circle of the Diaspora inscribed with signs, symbols, and images of the African Diaspora. A Wall of Remembrance describes events that contributed to the African Burial Ground 's creation. The reinterment locations are marked with four Ancestral Pillars.the African Burial Ground is possibly the only preserved, urban, eighteenth-century African cemetery in America.

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The Indian Removal Act was signed in 1830 by President Andrew Jackson to remove the Cherokee Indians from their homes and force them to settle west of the Mississippi River. The act was passed in hopes to gain agrarian land that would replenish the cotton industry which had plummeted after the Panic of 1819. Andrew Jackson believed that effectively forcing the Cherokees to become more civilized and to christianize them would be beneficial to them. Therefore, he thought the journey westward was necessary. In late 1838, the Cherokees were removed from their homes and forced into a brutal journey westward in the bitter cold.

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Her tragedy reflects not only the sexism in the African American families in early 20th century, but also the uselessness

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but I do not think about what that means nor what means for my other identities nearly as much as I probably should. While the captured Africans, repressed Native Americans, and the European settlers that fragmented them are all parts of my ancestry and have led to my current identity, my identity now is so vastly different from their modern counterparts. Let me begin with the dominate culture that makes up the bulk of my identity, African

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