http://71.45.131.15/op/archives/890#.UVs2gaw2LTo
In class we watch a film "Speakers for the Dead" about a lost and forgotten Canadian-African cemetery in Ontario. There was a variety of comments and opinions surrounding what should be done with the cemetery. Ultimately it was decided that the area should be protected and preserved as a historical site.
The community who live there now are predominately of European descent and the fact that the first settlers of the area were of African descent was hushed up and locked away in the closet.
The tombstones had been picked up by the farmer who owned the land in the 1930's and reused as steppin stones, building tools and just thrown into a pile and left to decay. The land was turned into a potato filed and it was not until the 1980s that peole began to take an interest in locating the original cemetery and replacing the tombstones. The people involved were able to locate some of the tombstones with help from anonymous letters and able to display them at the original site.
It seems that this cemetery was forgotten based on racial prejudices of the day. The community didn't seem to want it to be known that there was a African cemetery there, or that some of the townsfolk may be related to them. There was no respect for those who were buried there until people began to ask questions. This is a sad display of what cultural blending and domination has done, and this is not the only case. There are probably many cemeteries that have been plowed over, cemented over and dug up to make room for the domminate and powerful culture.
Hopefully there will be more discuss with descendents and communities to find other long forgotten cemeteries from past people who originally lived in that area. As the title says, we can not forget the past or its people who helped to create the future.
Here is the link to the film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0fbINBjb6I
As I was looking through some news articles today I came across one that got my attention. It is in regards to research being done at Stonehenge led by Mike Parker Pearson whom I wrote about in a previous entry about his research into correlations between Stonehenge and Madagascar sites and reasons behind them. Although the article in itself was nothing people haven't brought up as a theory it was the comment by readers that got me questioning the way archaeologists and news reporters put together a story that is meant for the general public.
Some of the comments were silly, such as those pertaining to UFOs and burger joints, but some made me question what is really being told to the public. After reading the comments I read the article once more and realized that there was too much ambiguity, no detail or reasons given regarding some of the facts that were written about. In particular the last sentence on the 'beaker people' which was only quickly glossed over with no real comment placed on why they were included in the article except to allude to the possibilities that it was because of their migrating to the area that the building of Stonehenge ceased.
Other comments that raised flags for me me had more to do with the general education that people receive today. Perhaps it is just me but I would have thought that in elementary school Stonehenge and how it was built would have been a topic, because if the comments are to be believed people have no idea ho a "primitive" culture could have moved the large stones into place.
This is not the only instance were I have seen people confused or completely in the dark when it comes to past cultures. Perhaps I had teachers at a young age who preferred teaching their students about past cultures and their abilities to be just as technologically inclined as we are today. I can only hope that teachers will try to inspire and teach children that we can learn so much from the past and that we only got where we are today because people were innovated in the past.
News article: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/researchers-stonehenge-originated-giant-graveyard-elite-families-around-133820992.html
