Symposium for the Design Competition for the African Burial Ground, NYC
4 feb 98
Notes compiled by Lacey Torge

The symposium and this evening is an opportunity for the competitors to
get a sense from the advisors what exactly their individual visions are
for the African Burial Ground. 

The Val Alen Institute is enthusiastic about sponsoring this event. They
have been involved in other design competitions and this one proves to be
very exciting. (Peggy introduced) 

Peggy introduces panel. 

From the Interpretive center, Dr. Dodson. Dr. Dodson has worked for the
Schomburg Center for Research in NY, was enlisted in the peace corps,
worked for the NEA, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Social
Change. The Memorial Advisory committee includes:  Stephen Campbell from
the Phoenix design Museum of Black Culture and is now doing work in
Harlem.  Dorothy Davis an Independent Curator for the Public Art Project
Gene Norman from Architecture Plus, Chairman for the NYC Landmarks
Position, he has also done design work in Nigeria David Rice on the design
committee in DC and on the Organization of Black Designers Dr. Cheryl
Wilson from the Division of Interpretation of the African Burial Ground
Project (?)  It is from her that tours are organized Grace Stanislas has
an MA in Art History and is affiliated with the Studio Museum in Harlem
and the Bronx Museum. She is also an international lecturer. 

All of this distinguished panels ideas will be beneficial in proposing an
appropriate design. 

Stephen Campbell what would he like to encounter in this space?  In other
sites, you usually have something more grand, a view, a sense of another
place. What we have here is a site with new and old buildings surrounding
it; the site is not distinct further it is a site in use, a site in
bondage. There is over 30 feet of fill over the actual burial ground and a
small sign about what we ought to remember. There is one small sign that
indicates who we were at the end of the 20th century. What would he like
to see? A sign about who we were at the end of the 20th century.  I am
most interested in what voice we are hoping to give to these people. 

David Rice In the case of the Memorial I think it is very important to ask
what are we remembering here?  The was the presence of Africans in New
Amsterdam as early as 1625. This fact has been lost when you consider New
York history. This is a prime opportunity to illuminate and educate.
Further, there is a sense of spirituality that runs very deeply to this
project on the cusp of the 21st century and it is just now that we are
talking about people from the 16th century.  Somehow they made their
presence known to us, this is the spiritual component. We have to give a
voice to the nameless, faceless people. The site itself is very large but
it is covered up by so many buildings. Perhaps there is a possibility of
seeing how new technology can be used:  electronic media, digital media.
This is important especially in regards to the sights and smells, maybe
invoking African chants. It is important for the competitors to really get
into the history of the people who are buried here. This is not your
regular memorial/ exhibit.  You could even get so in-depth as to identify
one or two actual people. Get emotionally, aesthetically and spiritually
involved in the place.
 
Dorothy Davis Our ancestors have revealed hidden truths, they demand the
rewriting of history, a place of transcendence and a point of departure
for all of us. This site is a point of departure and connection. These
individuals are not faceless persons. We are the children of these people.
We must give their faces resonances that will stay with us, for our
children. 

Grace Stanislas this is not just a memorial for New York. It is a national
and international memorial. Many people will be coming form very far, from
outside of our local community. We have to be able to communicate with
them. The main word here is integration. Your job, as designers, is to
figure out how to integrate the secular and the sacred, how to make
relationships meaningful. You mustn't forget about aesthetics either,
however. We need objects and ideas that are aesthetically pleasing and
compelling and powerful. As the designer you are responsible to do this. 
How to integrate? There will be a learning center. But we need to give as
much information that even if the visitors do not enter the learning
center that they will understand the full context. You will also have to
integrate the experience of modern day African, contemporary 21st century
Africans, with those that have come before. We must commemorate, honor and
respect. How do we communicate all of this. It is a tremendous we ask of
you.

Gene Norman As a designer I have to say emphasize how important it is to
be careful how the design reflects that this is a burial ground, how it
welcomes you to communicate with those that were there before you. You
must think about how do you mix the cultural aspects of Africa and
America? How is that reflected in some way? Further, how are Africans
transformed in to African-Americans? Finally, how does it hold together as
a design. An old but true saying is that less is more. We do not want to
be encumbered by structures that detract from the site's importance. This
is a challenging opportunity. We owe it to those buried there to make a
lasting, meaningful and understandable site.

Dr. Dodson This is an extraordinary find. It is an extraordinary
collective space shared with people around the world. The structural
arrangement of the huge skyscrapers surrounding it diminishes the
significance of it. Only a small piece has been rescued of many, many
acres.  What we do have is towered over by towers.  How to communicate
reality with this space? We need to connect to the larger area it should
be infused with spiritual power that is there, not just what is under our
square, but where 20,000 human remains' voices speak. 

Peggy These authorities are collectively making the decision, taking into
account the local community, the descendants, broader community and the
descendent community.

Cheryl Wilson She wanted to inform the competitors of the resources in New
York. There have been six documentary films made, over 555 articles
written about the sight by people around the world interested in the
project, the have been 17 (?) Newsletters like the ones distributed
tonight, 175 volunteers, including many members of the descendent
community.  There are 15,000 slides of the excavation, another 5,000 from
work being done at Howard University. Since 1993 there have been over 25
symposiums. Over 80,000 tourists have visited the site. There is literally
tons of people who have written in about what they think should go here.

Peggy introduces "Sentinels," people who have been involved and fighting for the sight from the
very beginning. The three she introduces are older women. 

Miriam Francis (sentinel) and Mrs Diggs (sentinel)

Miriam Francis We have been on guard form the beginning of the discovery
of the African Burial Ground. She is proud of what has happened so far. We
need a museum, a stamp, and anything else in honor of our ancestors. They
have to be remembered after we are gone. This is more than a pet project.
This is a people who have been forgotten and disrespected and need to be
acknowledged for what they have done, work sun-up to sun-up. One image
that stays with me whenever I consider this project is the image of a
mother being buried with a baby in her arms.  Her suffering must have been
so great, she needs to be remembered. 

Ebony (very vocal older woman, who has another African name that I did not
catch)  She wants to let it be known that she is opposed to the open
competition. It is impossible to interpret our history without knowledge
of the history of many nations. Torture and rape. Even today we cannot get
a conviction for a European male who has raped. Did anyone other than
Eastern Europeans design the Holocaust Museum? I want to state my open
disapproval and that I object to the open competition. Let the truth and
horror be told by Africans who know and who have studies, from the 14th
century to the present. (My notes get a little confusing here, I will
transcribe and maybe someone who was present who took better notes at this
point could clear up the discrepancies) Part of the horror is trying to
erase this. 21st century African survivors? What is this? We have to
transform it into healed, not sick. Why erase history? No one can be
authority on Africans other than Africans. Our recognition and reparation
has yet to be settled.

Mrs. Diggs The spirituality of this ground is gone. This is filled in
dirt. This should stay with the people. We do not need outsiders to do
this for us it should be for and by Africans. 

Question and Answer session led by Peggy. She would sometimes defer to
other people, I did not indicate this in my notes.

Q: How do we create a memorial? Are they going to dig up the ground again? 
How to balance the design aesthetic withe the community needs of site?  A: 
We have a high level of sensitivity to the kind of impact a design
actually takes. A. (Mrs Diggs) John Henry Clark (a senior member who was
too ill to make it to the meeting).  Anyone really wanting to do this
project should call him and get his advice on the memorial. His number is
212/862-8171. The site is very small, it is originally many acres. Is it
true that City Hall is on part of the burial grounds? 

A: Yes that is true.
A: (Ebony chiming in) City Hall is in denial. All that Boss Tweed stuff
too.  Boss Tweed too. 

Q: What is the role of the advisors' recommendation with the SSDB?  A: The
advisors have a great deal of weight, but the SSDB is government. There
would be a design, a construction of that design, and the final would be
the reinternment.

Q: What is the problem with putting these women (indicating the vocal sentinels) on the
committee?

At some point someone said something about Mai Lin designing the Vietnam
Memorial A: (Dorothy Davis) It is not about ethnicity here, it is the
spiritual things: history, emotion. 

Q: (Mrs Diggs) I don't see why we can't see the real things.  Decomposed
and all. The holocaust memorial has real artifacts. 
A:It has been decided already that the remains and artifacts should not be
disturbed again. They should go back into the ground.

The final due date is March 12 (1998).

Q: I agree that the museum has to be nationally or internationally minded.
As a member of the Caribbean community, I see that there are related
structures and spaces, how can we make a broader memorial , like the
Vietnam Memorial, not like the Holocaust Memorial? Something more has to
come out of it than just a design project. 

Statement made by Dr. Campbell, referring to the background discussion
where Ebony every few minutes or so shouts out her opinion (Africans only
project).  I am not here to rubber stamp anything, but this project will
have to be by, for and with Africans. Otherwise there will be a tremendous
outcry from this community. I know how I would feel. This is not to insult
or minimize anyone's intent or talent. But we must recognize the
political, emotional and social reality of this project. It is highly
charged and we cannot get away from this.

Q: Is subcontracting appropriate?
A: No

Q: Does everyone remember when Spike Lee got the rights for Malcolm X?
Regardless, of what you thought about the film, it was important that he
make the film, not someone else. This chance is the greatest gift. The
spirit of the women (indicating the sentinels) is incredible.  Whatever
happens we have to have the same spirit of the Vietnam Memorial, which
ended up being the antithesis of what we thought a war memorial was
supposed to be. Response: Remember what Malcolm X said: The best thing the
white man can do for the black man os to teach him everything he can and
then step aside. 

Response form Dorothy : This is a government contest. It must be open. We
are numbered. This doesn't prevent each one of you from getting your
colleagues involved. It does require a complete, thoughtful, sensitive
collaborative process. 

Mrs Diggs: No! Only Africans, like Marcus Garvey said: Africa for the
Africans. You (Dorothy)  are but one person from one community of many
communities. We will endorse no one but Africans involved in this project.
We were fighting when you were sleeping and we will continue to fight
while you are sleeping. 

Q: Is this advisory board carved in stone? I am graphic designer. I was
part of the Montgomery Bus Protest. I had to get out of the design field
because I was tired of people saying to me that black people can't create
for anyone other than other black people. We put together the first
exhibition of black graphic designers and showed them that all of their
commercials with happy white people were made by black people. There is
somebody else out there who could really assist us. 

Response from someone in the audience: Take Amistad and Sankopa. Amistad
received major support and Sankopa received no support and no backing.

Peggy closes the Q & A session and ends the meeting with her father's
epitaph which begins: 

Let what good there has been in the lives we lived be a model to those
that came after...