African Burial Ground Trip- Sara Tosi @02647875

I was very excited to attend the African Burial Ground trip this past weekend. Despite not having gotten any sleep the previous night, and suffering from a severe chest cold, I was in high spirits as I waited with my classmates outside Crampton Auditorium at 5:00 AM on Saturday. When we finally boarded the bus and got going I fell asleep almost immediately, waking just in time to glimpse the iconic city skyline as we entered the city. After our chaperone provided us with granola bars and orange juice we were let off the bus at the Burial Ground site. We congregated around the memorial near where the bodies of those studied here at Howard are now buried. Dr. Carr led a simple prayer and libation for our ancestors buried there. I was glad that I was wearing dark sunglasses because Dr. Carr’s words moved me to tears. Being at the memorial was a very spiritual experience. An employee of the burial ground explained the significance of the memorial to us and then Dr. Carr took some time to explain the meaning of some of the symbols carved on the memorial. Then we got to go inside and see a short movie about the burial ground and some exhibits with information about the people buried there. When Howard University was mentioned during the movie my classmates and I cheered with bison pride. One of the employees explained to us that the burial ground comprises about 5 city blocks and is mostly under the municipal building, the courthouses, and police plaza, in other words, the buildings associated with justice in New York. I learned from the exhibits that 40% of the 20,000 bodies buried in the burial ground were children under two years of age. That was probably the most sobering fact about the place. Despite being a very small and simple memorial, the burial ground was a very powerful place. After a couple hours at the burial ground we got back on the bus and were driven up to Harlem and were given some free time. I was very glad to be in my home state of NY and met up with one of my best friends from high school for lunch. I am very grateful that we freshman were given this opportunity and wish I could go on this field trip every weekend it is offered.