Creative Final Paper: World Civilizations: 1500AD to the Present<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/span>When the remains of hundreds of colonial-era Africans were uncovered during a building excavation in Lower Manhattan in 1991, one coffin in particular stood out. Nailed into its wooden lid were iron tacks, 51 of which formed an enigmatic, heart-shaped design. We recently read about how the scandal following this discovery caused a heated debate among historians of the early Americas and the African diaspora. Use this context to write your final paper.<\/i><\/p>\n Historians Debate the Meanings of an African Sankofa or an Anglo-American Heart at the African Burial Grounds in Manhattan<\/b><\/p>\n Detailed directions:<\/span> In this paper, choose a side: is the symbol in burial 101 an African \u201cSankofa,\u201d an Anglo-American \u201cheart,\u201d or something in between? What does that mean for historians of slavery? \u2026of the African diaspora? . . assimilation in Early America? Why is this interesting or important? \u2026why does it matter? . . . to you as a Historian? . . . to the Black community in NYC? . . .to world history?<\/p>\n In a five-page essay write as though you are one of the experts we read about in the popular article on the Sankofa scandal. Choose one below:<\/p>\n First summarize the debate meaningfully in page 1-2 and then stake your claims as one of the authors above in pages 3-4, finally summarize your points and offer potential research avenues and\/or solutions for the future and include your bibliography on page 5.<\/p>\n IMPORTANT FORMATTING AND GRADING INFORMATION: Your essay must be double-spaced and in MLA format. You must include at least 3 direct citations from articles, academic or popular, on the scandal. You may also feel free to ask any relevant questions to representatives at the African Burial Memorial when we visit this week. For how to cite an interview, see MLA formatting or ask your instructor.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (Background information) Coffin\u2019s Emblem Defies Certainty<\/p>\n By <\/b>Sewell Chan<\/b><\/span><\/a> <\/b>Jan. 26, 2010<\/p>\n When the remains of hundreds of colonial-era Africans were uncovered during a building excavation in Lower Manhattan in 1991, one coffin in particular stood out. Nailed into its wooden lid were iron tacks, 51 of which formed an enigmatic, heart-shaped design.<\/p>\n The pattern was soon identified as the sankofa a symbol printed on funereal garments in West Africa and it captured the imagination of scholars, preservationists and designers. Ultimately, it was embraced by many African-Americans as a remarkable example of the survival of African customs in the face of violent subjugation in early America.<\/p>\n The sankofa was widely invoked in 2003, when the 419 remains were reinterred at the site, now known as the African Burial Ground<\/span><\/a>, following painstaking examination. It was chiseled into a black granite memorial unveiled in 2007. It is featured in an interpretive display in the federal building at 290 Broadway (the construction of which led to the discovery of the graves), which describes it as a direct link to \u201ccultures found in Ghana and the Ivory Coast.\u201d And it serves as a logo for the African Burial Ground as a whole.<\/p>\n Michael A. Gomez, a professor of history at New York University and an authority on the African diaspora, said the design\u2019s apparent link to 18th-century Africa \u201cis of enormous meaning and carries a lot of symbolic weight.\u201d For decades, historians and anthropologists have debated the extent to which the continent\u2019s cultural practices endured and came to influence art, language, music and religion in the Americas a question with particular resonance for the African-American community. <\/p>\n <\/span>The burial ground sankofa was important in this debate, Dr. Gomez said, \u201cbecause, let\u2019s face it, we don\u2019t have an extremely large amount of material culture with which to work.\u201d<\/p>\n But now a peer-reviewed study, published this month in a leading history journal, argues that the heart-shaped symbol is not, in fact, a sankofa, and probably does not have African origins at all. Indeed, it suggests that the sankofa probably did not yet exist as a symbol in Africa at the time the coffin was made, and that the design is likely Anglo-American in origin. <\/p>\n The National Park Service, which has managed the burial ground since it was a declared a national monument in 2006, is itself stepping back from the original claim. As a result of research by scholars who prepared reports in 2006 for the federal government, the interpretive sign in the service\u2019s new $5.2 million visitor center, scheduled to open on Feb. 27, will say only that the design \u201ccould be a sankofa symbol\u201d and that \u201cno one knows for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n In an interview, Erik R. Seeman, the historian whose new study treats the sankofa claim skeptically, acknowledged that his argument could be politically fraught. In his article, published in the January issue of The William and Mary Quarterly<\/span><\/a>, he makes a point of emphasizing his belief that African influences did play a major role in the lives of early black Americans <\/span>although generally as part of hybrid traditions. <\/p>\n\n