New York National Parks African Burial Ground Digital Diaries: FIRE » New York National Parks

FIRE — One enters the Ancestral Chamber, with its naval design, through the “Door of Return.” This area of the memorial fuels visceral reflection of the Middle Passage or Africans’ Transatlantic deportation to the “New World.”

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Ashley Bowden

When walking through the “Door of Return” and the Ancestral Libation Chamber, I can’t help but to think about how enslaved people felt and what they thought upon boarding and disembarking slave ships.

Everytime I enter the memorial, I am deeply moved and glad to know that those freed and enslaved men and women who labored for the colony have finally received the recognition they deserve. It is now my duty to share what I’ve learned at the African Burial Ground National Monument with my family and friends!