Remembering the Ancestors at the African Burial Ground

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Remembering the Ancestors at the African Burial Ground

Statement by His Excellency, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo,
GCFR, President of The Federal Republic of Nigeria,
and Chairman of the African Union at the New York
African Burial Ground, New York City, September
22,2004.

Five centuries ago, men, women and children were taken
from their motherland and transported to the Americas
under the most heinous conditions imaginable. It was
the longest and most devastating, depopulating and
underdeveloping act of man in human history. We come
here today to pay our respects to some of those
enslaved Africans who survived the Middle Passage and
went on to contribute their labor and talents to the
early development of New York City and North America,
and to those children among them whose lives were
ravaged by disease, neglect and malnutrition. We are
also here to signal a time of reflection, healing and
reconciliation with our African-American sisters and
brothers from whom we have been separated in spirit
for far too long.

*Whereas, millions of Africans were taken from their
homelands and transported to the Americas as part of
the four- hundred year- history of the transatlantic
slave trade; and

*Whereas, millions of others lost their lives in the
slave- trading wars in Africa and the Middle Passage;
and
*Whereas the sons and daughters of Africa were New
York City’s first municipal work force, building its
forts, roads and public buildings, clearing land for
its settled areas constructing its dwellings and
growing its food; and

*Whereas these African people who worked without
compensation but were dehumanized and discriminated
against until death, and in death they were denied
even the right to be buried in the Christian cemetery;
and

*Whereas more than the 20,000 of our African ancestors
are buried in New York City’s African Burial Ground in
the shadows of City Hall, beneath two courthouses and
numerous public buildings in this five-square- block
cemetery; and

I, Olusegun Obasanjo, in my capacity as President of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Africa’s largest
independent nation with a population of about 150
million people and as Chairman of the African Union,
the official continental organization of African
nations, do, on this day, 22nd September 2004, humbly
place this wreath in solemn tribute to the African
ancestors for their resilience and indomitability.
We share pains of the past and hopes for the future
with our African-American brothers and sisters
throughout the Western Hemisphere.
I extend to them a hand of reconciliation, fellowship
and solidarity as beloved brothers and sisters. I also
call upon the citizens of the City of New York to
revere this site as a sacred place of mediation,
reconciliation, and healing and as a site of African
history and heritage.

Five centuries ago, men, women and children were taken
from their motherland and transported to the Americas
under the most heinous conditions imaginable. It was
the longest and most devastating, depopulating and
underdeveloping act of man in human history. We come
here today to pay our respects to some of those
enslaved Africans who survived the Middle Passage and
went on to contribute their labor and talents to the
early development of New York City and North America,
and to those children among them whose lives were
ravaged by disease, neglect and malnutrition. We are
also here to signal a time of reflection, healing and
reconciliation with our African-American sisters and
brothers from whom we have been separated in spirit
for far too long.

*Whereas, millions of Africans were taken from their
homelands and transported to the Americas as part of
the four- hundred year- history of the transatlantic
slave trade; and

*Whereas, millions of others lost their lives in the
slave- trading wars in Africa and the Middle Passage;
and
*Whereas the sons and daughters of Africa were New
York City’s first municipal work force, building its
forts, roads and public buildings, clearing land for
its settled areas constructing its dwellings and
growing its food; and

*Whereas these African people who worked without
compensation but were dehumanized and discriminated
against until death, and in death they were denied
even the right to be buried in the Christian cemetery;
and

*Whereas more than the 20,000 of our African ancestors
are buried in New York City’s African Burial Ground in
the shadows of City Hall, beneath two courthouses and
numerous public buildings in this five-square- block
cemetery; and

I, Olusegun Obasanjo, in my capacity as President of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Africa’s largest
independent nation with a population of about 150
million people and as Chairman of the African Union,
the official continental organization of African
nations, do, on this day, 22nd September 2004, humbly
place this wreath in solemn tribute to the African
ancestors for their resilience and indomitability.
We share pains of the past and hopes for the future
with our African-American brothers and sisters
throughout the Western Hemisphere.

I extend to them a hand of reconciliation, fellowship
and solidarity as beloved brothers and sisters. I also
call upon the citizens of the City of New York to
revere this site as a sacred place of mediation,
reconciliation, and healing and as a site of African
history and heritage.