New York African Burial Ground

The trip to New York is one I will never forget. At first when I was told that we had to go to New York to see the African Burial Ground I was a little bored by the thought. I figured I could look it up on the Internet or in books and find out the same information. How different I feel about that now. The experience of being there, is one I can't really describe, even with the most descriptive words. I just felt like I actually got a hands on history lesson and it affected me. I do not want to say I was emotional, but I was very mentally connected to what I was apart of. History..... my history. Real people, real emotions. It was all a reality check for me. I learned so much in that small amount of time that we were there. The group I was in started outside and the first thing that kind of attached to me was the 7 graves that held the 419 bones that were found. The way they were placed, the way they kind of came out of the ground, it got to me. I could feel a presence in the atmosphere like something was there. The pyramid that had the door of no return and being inside it and realizing that it was the same type of space that my ancestors traveled in, it was such an eerie feeling. Then looking at all of the symbols and there meanings, I just felt so connected to my history. When we went inside and watched the movie about Kwame John it was the most touching moment I had throughout the whole time there. When I first sat down to watch the movie I thought it was just a documentary. But when the story about Kwame surprised me. It was so deep and the feeling in the room was so still. As we watched the movie no one moved, spoke, you could barely here people breathing. As soon as it was over we sat in the room and just stared at the black screen. No one moved for almost a minute and then we all kind of looked around at each other as if we all just shared a moment. Even after we left out the room none of us were speaking. The movie got to me, I thought about it for the remainder of that day. I'm happy I got a chance to experience the African Burial Ground. That was an experience that no book, Internet or other person could tell me or teach me about. I plan to go back with my family in the future.

Richelle Jenkins