This is part two of the 2019 Black History Month series on two important sites- the African Burial Grounds in NYC and a tiny island called St. Helena. In this second part, I’ll discuss the burials on the island....
This is part two of the 2019 Black History Month series on two important sites- the African Burial Grounds in NYC and a tiny island called St. Helena. In this second part, I’ll discuss the burials on the island. Quick Recap: How did St. Helena Island become the final resting place for 1000s of freed slaves? In 1807 when the British slave trade was abolished, there wasn’t a neat and hard stop. In fact, when the decree was issued, there were ships in the water proceeding through the middle passage… The Royal Navy began to police the water for ships filled with enslaved people en route to the Caribbean and the Americas. Some of these ships were made to turn back, but they all didn’t go to the original port. They turned back to the closest point- St. Helena Island. Part II: The Graves and Burials on St. Helena Island “From 1840 to the late 1860s, scores of ships carrying some 27,000 slaves were captured and brought to the island. The slaves who survived were granted freedom and most were eventually relocated, but for nearly 10,000, many of them children, a rocky valley on St Helena became their final resting [...]
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