Should serve as a link between Africans and African-Americans.
The ceremony made Vivian Windley feel that she had come full circle. Windley, 83, who has spent much of her life researching her African heritage, watched last month as Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo placed a wreath of yellow roses at the African Burial Ground in lower Manhattan. The wreath-laying was in memoriam for the African natives who lived in pre-Colonial New York and were interred in the burial ground. "I've always felt Africans didn't make the connection with us [African-Americans], but today we have made the connection," said Windley, who lives on Manhattan's upper West Side. "This is a significant acknowledgment of our ancestors who were enslaved here and who were not allowed to be buried in a white cemetery." [...] | Continue Austin Fenner's New York Daily News article "Burial Ground site connects the living" posted in articles on October 3, 2004 2:56 AM | t (0) « Previous phile: Footloose and fancy free, Freelon groovy. » Next phile: 'When Muslims become concrete, then prejudices begin to fade.' Return to top of page |
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