Kidnapped, trafficked, liberated, died in a quarantine camp, and no rest after death: that is the story of 325 Afrikan men, women, and children who were ceremonially reburied on St. Helena over the weekend of 20/21 August. They are part of the forgotten history of the "liberated" Afrikans of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Namibian environmental and cultural heritage consultant Annina van Neel has been concerned for years with the fate of the 325 men, women, and children. She has fought for respectful treatment and for the reburial of their exhumed remains. Archaeological excavations during the construction of St Helena's airport in 2008 uncovered their remains and for nearly a dozen years they were stored in boxes in a storage room of an old prison. Now they are finally getting the respect and peace they deserve.
Impressive ceremony at the end of a lonely battle
The ceremonies on 20 and 21 August were dignified. On August 20, the coffins containing the human remains were ceremonially reburied. On 21 August, in a gathering of hundreds of attendees, poems, speeches, silence, and music were shared near the mass grave. At the end of the ceremony, each attendee could tie a white ribbon to a tree. There is no provision yet for a permanent memorial.
Not everyone on St. Helena is happy with the attention given to the mass reburial. Annina van Neel encountered a lot of opposition over the years. The documentary “A Story of Bones” (https://tribecafilm.com/films/story-of-bones-2022), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York in June this year, tells her story. A story linked to the sad fate of the Afrikan men, women, and children who thought they had been liberated and would return home.
St. Helena as a depot of 'liberated' Afrikans in the 19th century: how a silent disaster happened
The mass reburial marks St. Helena's pivotal role in ending the trans-Atlantic slave trade in the nineteenth century. After Britain's ban on the slave trade in 1807, the British Royal Navy began patrolling the Atlantic, intercepting slave ships that violated the ban. The abducted Afrikans aboard these ships were taken to St. Helena between 1840 and 1872. More than 25,000 so-called liberated Afrikans have thus set foot on St. Helena. But they were not returned to their country of origin in Afrika. Some were shipped further to the Caribbean islands to work on the plantations. Thousands died in the quarantine camps along the hills of St. Helena in Rupert's Valley, unprotected from sun and wind and with few amenities. It seriously tarnishes the reputation that the United Kingdom likes to assume as the initiator and 'watchdog' of the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
Forgotten History: The Fate of Marginalized Communities
About 8,000 men, women, and children are still buried anonymously on the island. St. Helena thus houses the greatest physical reminder of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. It is the largest burial place of enslaved Afrikans in the world. As is often the case with marginalized communities, this important part of their history has been largely forgotten and little recorded. The Dutch Wikipedia does not even mention it. The island of St. Helena is best known as Napoleon's place of exile.
Endangered historical slave cemeteries on Dutch territory
The Netherlands has a similar marginalized history from the time of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. On St. Eustatius, once the Western Hemisphere's largest transit port for the slave trade, the St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance fights for the respectful treatment of their excavated ancestors from the former Golden Rock plantation. They also want protection for the Godet cemetery -heavily affected by erosion- and the ruins of the nearby slave depot the Waterfort. Kenneth Cuvalay, President of the Alliance: “Slavery has been identified as a crime against humanity by the United Nations and the European Parliament. The burial grounds on St. Helena and St. Eustatius is therefore an important cultural heritage of the Afrikan diaspora community. A place to commemorate and say “never again” together.”
What is needed to protect marginalized heritage?
The St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance has been working closely with St. Helena for the past year as well as with Peggy King Jorde, specialist in the field of marginalized heritage and involved in the creation of the African Burial Ground Memorial in New York in 1990. King Jorde has also worked with Annina van Neel on St. Helena and, like Van Neel, is co-producer of the documentary 'A Story of Bones'. Their expertise is invaluable to St. Eustatius. Cuvalay: “The local government on St. Eustatius says it has no expertise or resources to do justice to this important cultural heritage. We want to create awareness at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and at the heritage sector in the Netherlands for the fact that the Afrikan cultural heritage on St. Eustatius transcends the local interest. Due to slavery and colonization, the indigenous and Afrikan diaspora communities worldwide have lost the rights to their heritage. The Alliance wants moral will, expertise and resources to be made available to protect their heritage and have a say in it.
