THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 21, 1994 TAG: 9408210074
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHARLISE LYLES, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: JAMESTOWN LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines
The descendants of the first Africans born in North America sported T-shirts boasting the family lineage, posed for video cameras, hugged and fraternized.
A gospel choir belted out the spiritual, ``God Is a Wonder to My Soul,'' leaving a hush on the shores of the James River.
In colorful African kente cloth, dancers jumped and swirled in celebration.
But Osei Sababu tasted more bitter than sweet on Saturday at the Jamestown Settlement's 375th anniversary commemoration of the arrival of Africans in North America.
``What is there to celebrate?'' asked the 45-year-old Hampton groundskeeper, whose drum ensemble, Watu Kwa Maji, which means ``people of the water,'' pounded out African tunes as part of the festivities.
``Look what has happened over 400 years,'' said Sababu, decked in a dashiki and leather medallion. ``Look at the African people on this continent. They have been literally killed. We are not really telling the truth here today about all the history.''
``But,'' interrupted Sababu's fellow drummer Kurt Patterson, ``when have you ever seen so many African Americans at Jamestown?''
Patterson and Sababu were among hundreds of people, mostly African Americans, who came from as far away as New York City to honor an unknown ancestry.
Many were filled with emotions ranging from jubilation over a people's will to survive to unspoken anguish over history unknown.
The historical record contains only a skimpy reference to ``some 20 odd'' Africans arriving at Jamestown in late August 1619 and being sold to Gov. George Yeardley.
Following a symbolic ship-landing Saturday morning, community leaders including state Sen. Louise L. Lucas, D-Portsmouth, and LyndaBird Robb, wife of Sen. Charles S. Robb, praised what little is known: They were black, arrived that year and contributed greatly to the wealth of the nation.
``The serious should outweigh the festive,'' said Joyce Hobson, the first black to serve as a trustee on the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation board, which planned the day's events.
She told the crowd under a sweltering sun: ``African Americans are still struggling to have their contributions to the Virginia colony and this nation acknowledged.'' There is no museum or institute which ``documents American apartheid or our own Holocaust.''
To honor their heritage truly, African Americans must rebuild their families, said Dr. Carolynn Reid-Wallace, vice president for education at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
``If we can't wipe out drugs and make a way for our children, I don't know that we have a right to say we are honoring the slaves.''
All day, drums, jazz rhythms, fiddles and banjos graced the grounds where Englishmen and Africans first worked the earth that became this country.
Many visitors came dressed in dazzling African outfits stitched in yellow, black, green, red, white and blue patterns.
Across a field of craft vendors, the sound of people seeking a long-lost heritage could be heard in new-found African names like Somi Hiers, Tamu Khalifah, Woza, Najmah Richardson.
Simone Stroble and her 5-year-old daughter, Jalissa, of Hampton wanted less celebration and more history.
``What is this?'' said Stroble, standing beside the sparse slavery exhibit inside the dim, air-conditioned museum. ``You would think they would have something like a slave's quarters to show the children. I'm highly upset.''
There were only indenture papers, an antique history book on Africa and a 17th century African crucifix.
Outside at the stage, nobody complained about the celebration put on by the World Ensemble youth troupe of Richmond.
Schoolboys beat drums. Girls wrapped in yellow and red cloth shook hips and stomped feet, their braids in orbit around baby-doll faces.
Nana Anan Otutuwoc sprung from the crowd of clapping, swaying onlookers and danced her way to the stage. She called out in a high-pitched whooping song she learned from a visit to Ghana.
``Celebration is the right way to go,'' said Otutuwoc, who came from New York City with several friends.
``We have never really been the kind of people who wallow in our misfortune and misery.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
JOSEPH JOHN KOTLOWSKI/Staff
Andrew Morrison of the Bronx, N.Y., takes in the surroundings at the
celebration of the 375th anniversary of the arrival of Africans in
Jamestown. Morrison made a special trip for Saturday's festival,
which included singing, dancing and crafts. Behind him is a replica
of the ship that brought the first Africans to Jamestown.
Photo
JOSEPH JOHN KOTLOWSKI/Staff
Members of the World Ensemble dance group perform African dances and
chants during the commemoration of the 375th anniversary of the
arrival of Africans in Jamestown. Hundreds of people, mostly African
Americans, attended the ceremony.
by CNB