“I know that we must reclaim those bones in the Atlantic Ocean … All those African bodies in the briny deep. All those people who tried to figure a way to steer, to navigate the sharks. We don’t call upon that power. We don’t call upon those spirits…those are our ancestors and they mattered…we don’t tap into the ancestral presence in the waters.” (Bambara, 1987)
In 1987, author and activist, the l
ate Toni Cade Bambara spoke these prophetic words during a Black Story Tellers Conference at Medgar Evers College. Bambara’s sentiments ignited the flame for the 1st “Tribute to the Ancestors” ceremony at Coney Island Beach, New York in 1989. Spearheaded by the late Dr. Mary Umolo of Medgar Evers College and Brother Tony Akeem of the People of the Sun-Middle Passage Collective, the New York descendant community has continued this tradition of tapping “into the ancestral presence in the waters” for the past twenty three years. Fifteen years ago, Deborah Wright and Osei Chandler, along with others of the African descendant community in Charleston, South Carolina sought to “reclaim those bones.” They decided to continue the legacy, started in New York, in South Carolina. Thus, a Remembrance ceremony to the ancestors on Sullivan’s Island was born. Annually, on the second Saturday in June, descendants of “those Africans in the briny deep” gather at the water to drum, dance, sing, pray, educate, recite poetry and pay homage to their ancestors. The number of Remembrance ceremonies has grown since that first tribute in New York and today, ceremonies are held in Ghana, Panama, the Virgin Islands, in California, Florida, South Carolina, and Washington. Simultaneously, at 12:00 noon, a libation is performed at each ceremony. by Chadra Pittman Walke
