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Category Archives: ancestors
African Presence in Texas
This post continues our Wednesday series that highlights historic Middle Passage/UNESCO Site of Memory markers that have been installed and those locations where a remembrance ceremony was held since MPCPMP incorporated 9 years ago. MPCPMP is/was involved in the planning … Continue reading
Posted in African American History, African Diaspora, ancestors, Middle Passage, transatlantic slave trade, Wednesday African History Series
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African Presence in New Hampshire
This post continues our Wednesday series that highlights historic Middle Passage/UNESCO Site of Memory markers that have been installed and those locations where a remembrance ceremony was held since MPCPMP incorporated 9 years ago. MPCPMP is/was involved in the planning … Continue reading
Posted in African Diaspora, ancestors, descendants of slaves, Middle Passage, Wednesday African History Series
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Trace
Periodically we respond or address issues that surface from our reading. Trace: Memory, History, Race, and the American Landscape is a recently published work by Mount Holyoke earth science professor Lauret Savoy that merits attention. Her writing is lyrical and … Continue reading
Posted in African American History, ancestors, ethnic studies, Native Americans, slavery, Uncategorized
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Chipping Away
We have reached the final month of another year. For the past four years, ours has been a small attempt to redefine and expand the narrative of US American history to include Africans and their descendants as principal and crucial … Continue reading
Posted in African American History, ancestors, captured Africans, descendants of slaves, Middle Passage, slave ports, transatlantic slave trade
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Fantasy
If I am not who you say I am then you are not who you think you are. Whenever observance for July 4th approaches, historical reflection is appropriate. This year, 2015, has been a time when chickens came home to … Continue reading
Posted in African American History, African American literature, American legal system, American politics, ancestors, captured Africans, descendants of slaves, Slave economy, slavery, Uncategorized
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Symbolic Images
Among people who are part of the Western Hemisphere’s African Diaspora there are certain images that trigger a gut response – the Door of No Return is one. Viewing a framed image of the ocean, many of us require no … Continue reading
Posted in African American History, African Diaspora, ancestors, descendants of slaves, Middle Passage, slavery, transatlantic slave trade
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The Whole Truth: A Missed Opportunity
History is as much about what is omitted as what is included. This was seen recently, when Professor Henry Louis Gates and Ben Affleck faced a quandary and by all apparent measures failed to present a complete story. On Sunday, … Continue reading
Posted in African American History, ancestors, slavery
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Why the Middle Passage?
Many people have questioned the Middle Passage as the focal point of the Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project (MPCPMP). Why choose this as a defining point of history related to Africans and their descendants? We are often asked … Continue reading
Posted in African American History, African Diaspora, ancestors, captured Africans, Middle Passage, slave ports, slave ships, slavery, transatlantic slave trade
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Second Burial
Among several West African ethnic people, death does not immediately entitle a person the status of ancestor. Traditionally there is a space of time between physical burial, which is quick, and the ceremonial burial that requires an established ritual, after … Continue reading
Posted in African Diaspora, African literature, ancestors, burial ceremonies, descendants of slaves, ethnic studies, Middle Passage, transatlantic slave trade
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Remembering Ancestors
For the first time in three years Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project has not scheduled a public remembrance ceremony for August 23rd. It feels strange. This year each person is on an individual, perhaps private, path of remembrance. … Continue reading
Posted in African American History, ancestors
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