PRESS RELEASE: Manumissions of St. Eustatius 1836-1862 now available in genealogical database Wiewaswie

The St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance has worked together with CBG Center for Family History to add the manumissions of St. Eustatius for the period 1836-1862 to the WieWasWie genealogical database.

Manumission means the conferment or self-purchase of freedom of enslaved Afrikans by their enslavers before the abolishment of the chattel slavery system. The official date for the abolishment of slavery in the former Dutch colonies was July 1,1863 but many of the enslaved Afrikans acquired or bought their freedom before that time.

"The motives for manumission were complicated and diverse, and have to be studied in more detail for St. Eustatius", explains Alliance president Kenneth Cuvalay. “We’ve asked the CBG Center for Family History if they would work with us to make the manumissions available to the descendent community. They immediately agreed and together with volunteers the manumissions have been indexed and are now findable via the Wiewaswie database, freely available to everyone. This makes further research possible and it adds another source for family history for people with Afrikan roots in St. Eustatius.”

The data set contains the names of 121 people. Some names occur multiple times such as Daus, Landman, Newell, and Boswijk. You can search for both the name of the freed person and the name of the former enslaver. It is also possible to view the whole data set. To do this, use “Extensive search” and enter “Sint Eustatius” as place name, and then filter on document type “Slavery Source”. The original documents and online scans are available in the Dutch National Archive.

Writing the untold stories of our ancestors

Indexing the manumissions is part of the project "Remember Statia: Tracing Our Origins" now running on St. Eustatius with participants joining from not only St. Eustatius, but from St. Maarten, Curaçao, the Netherlands, USA, and even Australia. Target group are persons of Afrikan ancestry with roots in St. Eustatius.

After a three-part workshop “Searching the Archives” last week by two researchers of the CBG Center for Family History, the two-part workshop "Writing Your Family History" will start tomorrow. Presenter of the two workshops is writer and educator Marvin Hokstam, owner of Afro Magazine and Broos Institute for AfroEuropean Studies and Research. The Dutch Slavery Memorial Year grant of the Mondriaan Culture Fund partially funds the project.

The project is a result of the protests against the archaeological excavations in 2021 when the remains of 69 ancestors of the inhabitants of St. Eustatius were exhumed from the former Golden Rock plantation Afrikan burial ground. It is a community project in which the inhabitants of St. Eustatius write the untold stories of their ancestors.

The WieWasWie genealogical database (Dutch for Who Was Who) presents millions of records aggregated from a large number of Dutch archive organizations, like civil registration records, population registers, church registers and more. Website: https://www.wiewaswie.nl/en/

Photo: Attached is an example of the manumission act of Camilla Goudsteen and her daughter Ann Rebecca on January 3rd, 1848 by Raapzaat Heyliger Moore, the last enslaver of the plantation Golden Rock, St. Eustatius.

 

PERSBERICHT: St. Eustatius onderzoekt eigen verborgen verleden | Aftrap voorouderproject op 26 maart

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

De St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance organiseert op dinsdag 26 maart 19:00 uur plaatselijke tijd de kick-off van het project "Remember Statia: Tracing Our Origins" in de openbare bibliotheek op Sint Eustatius. Het is een openbaar evenement waar mensen binnen kunnen lopen en vragen kunnen stellen over het project. Ook wordt de vorig jaar bij 2Doc.nl en het Movies That Matter Filmfestival bekroonde documentaire "A Story of Bones" vertoond. 

Op 2, 3 en 4 april verzorgen twee medewerkers van het CBG Centrum voor Familiegeschiedenis een workshop op het eiland over relevante archiefbronnen voor de Bovenwinden en hoe te zoeken in de archieven. Op 10 en 17 april geeft educator en schrijver Marvin Hokstam, die lange tijd als journalist op buureiland Sint Maarten heeft gewerkt, twee workshops over hoe je een persoonlijk verhaal kunt schrijven met de informatie die je over je voorouders hebt gevonden. 

 Er kunnen maximaal 35 mensen deelnemen aan het programma, op locatie in St. Eustatius of online. 

Onderzoek naar en herinterpretatie gemarginaliseerde geschiedenis 

Marvin Hokstam, die in 2022 het vergelijkbare project Memre uitvoerde met de Surinaamse gemeenschap: "De zwarte gemeenschap heeft een schat aan niet vertelde verhalen. Naast slavernij, marginalisatie en ontbering zit onze geschiedenis vol met grootse verhalen, van heldendom, liefde en ondernemerschap. Zwarte mensen hebben ook een geschiedenis van voor de slavernij en van na de slavernij, met verhalen die voortleven in de mondelinge overlevering van de gemeenschap. Deze verhalen zijn eeuwenlang genegeerd door de Eurocentrische geschiedschrijving. 

Veel zwarte mensen zijn zich niet bewust van de rijkdom aan materiaal in archieven die wachten om ontdekt te worden en omgezet te worden in boeiende verhalen over onze voorouders." 

Onze geschiedenis heroveren en herschrijven

Projectleider op St. Eustatius en voorzitter van de Alliance Kenneth Cuvalay: "Het is belangrijk om de namen van onze voorouders uit archiefbronnen te halen en ze bekend te maken om zo het narratief om te draaien. Onze voorouders waren niet alleen ''slaven'', het waren mensen; mensen met een naam, een gezicht, een beroep, een verhaal. Ze kwamen uit verschillende landen van het Afrikaanse continent, ze hadden kennis, waarden en tradities. Ze overleefden de misdaden en gruwelen van de Middle Passage; onze voorouders leven virtueel in ons. Er bestond ook een grote vrije zwarte gemeenschap in St. Eustatius waar we weinig over weten. 

We moeten onze voorouders uit de vergetelheid halen. Eeuwenlang waren zij anoniem, cijfers in documenten, figuranten in de geschiedenis van de kolonisator, terwijl het in feite onze voorouders waren die voor een groot deel de Amerika's opbouwden. 

"Deelnemers hoeven niet per se hun hele stamboom eeuwen terug te onderzoeken," legt Cuvalay uit. "Je kunt bijvoorbeeld je verhaal schrijven over iemand die heel inspirerend voor je is geweest." De Alliantie kijkt erg uit naar de resultaten van het project en vertrouwt erop dat de verhalen het hart en de ziel van het wilskrachtige Statiaanse volk zullen vastleggen, met heldhaftige walvisjagers, meester-kleermakers, timmerlieden, vroedvrouwen, kunstenaars, muzikanten, genezers, leraren en wat dies meer zij. 

De Alliantie bereidt zelf een speciaal eerbetoon voor aan Statia's eigen "Congo Man", de heer Eric Henriquez, die in november 2023 is overleden." 

Over het project 

De Mondriaan Cultuurfonds Open Oproep van het Nederlands Slavernij Herdenkingsjaar financiert het project gedeeltelijk. Als je wortels hebt in Sint Eustatius en afkomstig bent uit de Afrikaanse (diaspora) gemeenschap, ben je welkom om mee te doen. 

Opgeven kan via https://bit.ly/statia-ancestors of via de website http://www.steustatiusafrikanburialground.org. 

Alle verzamelde verhalen worden gepubliceerd en daarnaast via een kunstvorm herverteld.

PRESS RELEASE: Alliance kicks off family heritage project with community gathering and screening of ‘A Story of Bones’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ST. EUSTATIUS / 24 March 2024 / -- St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance

The St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance kicks off the family heritage project “Remember Statia: Tracing Our Origins” on Tuesday evening March 26 at 7 pm in the public library on St. Eustatius. It is a public event where people can walk in, ask questions about the project and watch the documentary “A Story of Bones”.

After this introduction meeting, on April 2, 3, and 4, the Center for Family History from the Netherlands will give three workshops on relevant archival sources and how to search in the archives. On April 10 and 17, educator and writer Marvin Hokstam who has long worked in St. Maarten as a journalist, will host two workshops on how to craft a personal story with the information found about our ancestors. A maximum of 35 people can join the program, whether on location in St. Eustatius or online.

Researching and reinterpreting marginalized histories

Marvin Hokstam who did a similar program with the Surinamese community: “The Black community has a wealth of untold stories. Beyond enslavement, marginalization and hardship, our history is full of great stories, of heroism, of love, of entrepreneurship. Black people have a pre- and post-slavery history as well with stories that live on in the oral tradition of families, but have been conveniently ignored by Eurocentric historiography. Many Black people are unaware of the wealth of rich material in archives waiting to be uncovered and turned into engaging ancestor stories.”

Retaking our history, rewriting our narrative

Getting the names of our ancestors from archival sources and making them known is important to change the narrative. Our ancestors were not just enslaved, they were people with a name, a face, a profession, a story. They came from different countries of the continent of Afrika, they had knowledge, values, and traditions. They survived the crimes and horrors of the Middle Passage; our ancestors virtually live in us. There was also a large free Black community in St. Eustatius that we know little about. We have to get ancestors out of oblivion, where they were at best extras in the history of the colonizers, while it was them who actually built the Americas.

“Participants do not necessarily have to research their whole family tree going back centuries," Cuvalay explains. “You can write your story about someone who has been very inspirational to you, for example.” The Alliance is very much looking forward to the results of the project, and it trusts the stories will capture the heart and soul of the strong-willed Statia people, with heroic whaler captains, highly skilled tailors, carpenters, midwives, artists, musicians, healers, teachers, and what have you. The Alliance is preparing a special tribute to Statia’s very own Congo man, Mr. Eric Henriquez, who passed away in November 2023.”

About the project

The Dutch Slavery Memorial Year's Mondriaan Culture Fund Open Call partially funds the project. It is still possible to register for the project. If you have roots in St. Eustatius and are from the Afrikan (diaspora) community, you are welcome to join via https://bit.ly/statia-ancestors. All stories collected will be published.

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Information for the Editor

Contact: Kenneth Cuvalay, President of the “St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance”

-        Phone/WhatsApp St. Eustatius: +599 3194975

-        WhatsApp Netherlands +31 6 29014308

-        Email: steustatiusafrikanburialground@gmail.com

-        Website http://steustatiusafrikanburialground.org/ (or: https://afrikanhistoryandconsciousness.blogspot.com/ for older content)

-        Facebook www.facebook.com/groups/steustatiusafrikanburialgroundalliance/

-        Instagram @steustatiusafrikanburialground

-        X https://x.com/SE_ABG_Alliance

About the St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance (SE-ABG Alliance)

The SE-ABG Alliance came about as a result of the protests against the excavations on the 18th-century burial ground of enslaved Afrikans Golden Rock that were started by a team of international archaeologists in June 2021 in St. Eustatius (see https://www.change.org/LeaveOurAncestorsInPeace). The protests were initially led by the political party Ubuntu Connected Front Caribbean. Located in St. Eustatius and with allies around the world, the St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance broadened the scope of the struggle focusing on other Afrikan burial grounds in St. Eustatius such as the Afrikan Burial Ground Godet Plantation St. Eustatius (Godet/Fort Amsterdam). One of the aims is to further broaden the scope of our struggle to the Pan-Afrikanist level, connecting with and working with Afrikan-centered organizations and movements that are also fighting for the preservation of our ancestors’ endangered Afrikan burial grounds around the world and taking control of our narrative that has been distorted. Among them are Annina van Neel, CEO of the Tiekie Box Project, and protagonist of the awarded documentary “A Story of Bones,” and Peggy King Jorde, consultant and defender of marginalized histories and Afrikan burial grounds.

About BIgi Bon Foundation

The projects of Bigi Bon foundation's focus on inclusion. Bigi Bon means Big Tree in the Sranan language, which refers to its philosophy that Big Trees provide much Shade;

The foundation aims to improve the position of immigrant communities in general and especially the Afrikan diaspora communities, through knowledge generation through media related activities and providing learning support. Also: increasing the opportunities of people, especially young people from the aforementioned communities.

Founder and President Marvin Hokstam is also an educator, writer, journalist, and founder of Afro Magazine. His latest initiative is the Broos Institute, which offers various studies up to academic level from an Afro-centric worldview. Website https://broos.institute/

Project Memre: https://afromagazine.nl/nieuws/project-memre-met-afro-magazine-op-jacht-naar-verhalen-die-de-geschiedenisles-negeerde

For the Alliance is Afrika spelled with a “k” instead of a “c” based on the following insights:

• It is a Pan-Afrikan spelling which relates both to the Afrikan continent and to the Diaspora;
• It reflects the spelling of “Afrika” in all Afrikan languages;
• It includes the concept of “ka,” the vital energy which both sustains and creates.
  

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Kenneth Cuvalay.
 
President St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance/President Monuments foundation St. Eustatius/Primary founder Mental Health Caribbean (MHC) for psychiatry and addiction care on St. Eustatius and Saba.

Facebook www.facebook.com/groups/steustatiusafrikanburialgroundalliance

Instagram @steustatiusafrikanburialground

Twitter https://twitter.com/SE_ABG_Alliance

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@SE_ABG

Blog https://afrikanhistoryandconsciousness.blogspot.com/2021/12/st-eustatius-african-burial-ground.html

 

One attachment • Scanned by Gmail

Help us index the manumissions collection St. Eustatius

Open Call for People from Afrikan Descent from St. Eustatius

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who wants to help index the manumissions of Sint Eustatius of the years 1836 to 1846 and 1861 to 1862?

Manumissions are the acts of freeing persons from slavery. Indexing these manumissions makes it possible to search your ancestors by name in the Whowaswho archive (https://www.wiewaswie.nl/en/) and is part of our project “Remember Statia: Tracing Our Origins”.

The Center for Family History in The Hague, the Netherlands, who we invited to give workshops on the island in the first week of April 2024, will assist us during this process.

For more information please contact us:

• Email steustatiusafrikanburialground/at/gmail.com
• Facebook www.facebook.com/groups/steustatiusafrikanburialgroundalliance
• Instagram @steustatiusafrikanburialground 
• Whatsapp   (+599) 319 4975 or (+31)06-29014308 

Requirements

You need a laptop/desktop or tablet and it is necessary that you can read Dutch (even if only a little) and sometimes decipher old handwriting. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is an example of the manumission act of Camilla Goudsteen and her daughter Ann Rebecca on January 3rd, 1848 by Raapzaat Heyliger Moore, the last owner of the plantation Golden Rock.

 

 

Alliance reveals names of Afrikan Ancestors Golden Rock plantation St. Eustatius

 

The St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance reveals the name, age, profession, and religious belief of 96 ancestors who were once connected to the Golden Rock plantation on St. Eustatius. This is part of the project "Remember Statia: Tracing Our Origins" that encourages the St. Eustatius community to make the Afrikan history of the island more visible and more personal. The names are available in this online document: https://bit.ly/ancestors-goldenrock

Colonial archives: emancipation registers

The names in the document are taken from the emancipation registers of St. Eustatius. They provide the name, surname, age, gender, profession, and religion of the people of the Golden Rock plantation who were ‘freed’ in 1863. For St. Eustatius, it was a total of 1,075 people who became ‘free’. (It is important to note that these are not the names of the 69 ancestors whose remains were excavated in 2021).

Kenneth Cuvalay, project leader for St. Eustatius: “Getting the names of our ancestors from archival sources and making them known is important to change the narrative. Our ancestors were not just enslaved, they were people with a name, a face, a profession, a story. They came from different countries of the continent of Afrika, they had knowledge, values, and traditions. They survived the crimes and horrors of the Middle Passage; our ancestors virtually live in us."

Changing the narrative: researching and reinterpreting our marginalized history

“Black communities have long been marginalized and isolated with no means to adequately protect or
commemorate our ancestors with the respect they deserve. It's time to change that. We need to tell their story; the past is never really past. Our ancestors were "emancipated" in 1863, but they were given no land to live on and were in no way compensated for hundreds of years of abuse, violence, and exploitation. That is important to realize to understand our current situation. In fact, St. Eustatius is still being colonized by the Netherlands and the African community is still being enslaved in other ways, such as socioeconomically and by the destruction of our historical cultural heritage,'' Cuvalay said. “Preservation is power and in St. Eustatius it is clear whose heritage is being preserved. It is not our heritage; it is that of the colonial powers.”

Participation is still possible

The goal of the project “Remember Statia: Tracing Our Origins.” is not only to support the community to explore its rich African-Caribbean cultural history, but also and especially to narrate the stories of the heroes and heroines, many of whom are buried on plantation The Golden Rock, from oblivion and give them a distinct place in today's St. Eustatius.

It is still possible to participate in the project. If you have roots in St. Eustatius and interested to explore that further, then you are welcome to write a motivation or inspiration of up to 100 words and send it to the project team via website https://bit.ly/statia-ancestors All stories collected will be published.

The names of our Ancestors are available in this online document (Excel sheet): https://bit.ly/ancestors-goldenrock

PRESS RELEASE: Heritage project St. Eustatius connects residents with their ancestors

 

For Program and Registration please go to the project page:

 Remember Statia: Tracing Our Origins

 

 

Heritage project on St. Eustatius connects residents with their ancestors from Afrika

The St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance will start registration of candidates for its new initiative "Remember Statia: Tracing Our Origins" on Friday, November 10, 2023. It is a community project in which the inhabitants of St. Eustatius write their own history. This will be accomplished by searching for ancestral heroes and heroines and ancestors in general. The initiative includes training for searching archival materials, writing instruction, and an art project.

Heroes and heroines from our slavery past

The project aims to raise awareness for the importance of preserving Afrikan cultural heritage on St. Eustatius. In addition, the heroes of slavery-many of whom are buried on the former Golden Rock plantation-are to be rescued from oblivion.

The project will run from November 2023 to October 2024, with funds provided by the Mondriaan Fund's Open Call for the Dutch Slavery Memorial Year. The initiative arose from demonstrations over the Golden Rock excavations in 2021 and is being carried out in collaboration with the St. Eustatius Historical foundation, the St. Eustatius Monuments foundation, and journalist Marvin Hokstam's Bigi Bon foundation. Bigi Bon created a similar initiative for the Surinamese community in the Netherlands called Memre.

 

The rich and diverse culture of St. Eustatius

Project leader Kenneth Cuvalay: "With this project, we want to discover and record our own story for ourselves and future generations. Our ancestors, who survived the Middle Passage, gave new life to Afrikan themes, characters, and stories in their homes and communities. We hope that the project participants will make our ancestors' stories known; that they will give them a name and a face. It is about decolonizing our history and rewriting the narrative for the future.”

The stories of the participants will be published in a book. A project closing event will be held on St. Eustatius in October 2024 where all the stories and artworks will be presented to the general public.

 

Registration for participants and artists is open

The Alliance is looking for 12 candidates with ancestors from our slavery past who are committed to telling and connecting their story with a work of art. Furthermore, the Alliance is searching for artists to mentor the candidates as they shape their artwork. The trainings are provided at no costs to participants. Artists will be compensated for their mentoring.

Candidate participants and artists can register via:

• Email steustatiusafrikanburialground/at/gmail.com
• Facebook messenger www.facebook.com/groups/steustatiusafrikanburialgroundalliance
• Instagram @steustatiusafrikanburialground
• Whatsapp (+599) 319 4975 or Whatsapp (+31)06-2901 4308

More information is available at this website https://bit.ly/statia-ancestors

 

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Information for the Editor

Contact: Kenneth Cuvalay, President of the “St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance”

-         Phone/WhatsApp St. Eustatius: +599 3194975

-         WhatsApp Netherlands +31 6 29014308

-         Email: steustatiusafrikanburialground@gmail.com

-         Website: https://afrikanhistoryandconsciousness.blogspot.com/

-         Facebook www.facebook.com/groups/steustatiusafrikanburialgroundalliance/

-         Instagram @steustatiusafrikanburialground

-         Twitter https://twitter.com/SE_ABG_Alliance

 

About the St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance (SE-ABG Alliance)

The SE-ABG Alliance came about as a result of the protests against the excavations on an 18th-century burial ground of enslaved Afrikans that were started by a team of international archaeologists in June 2021 in St. Eustatius (see https://www.change.org/LeaveOurAncestorsInPeace). The protests were initially led by the political party Ubuntu Connected Front Caribbean. Located in St. Eustatius and with allies around the world, the St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance broadened the scope of the struggle focusing on other Afrikan burial grounds in St. Eustatius such as the Afrikan Burial Ground Godet Plantation St. Eustatius (Godet/Fort Amsterdam). One of the aims is to further broaden the scope of our struggle to the Pan-Afrikanism level, connecting with and working with Afrikan-centered organizations and movements that are also fighting for the preservation of our ancestors’ endangered Afrikan burial grounds around the world and taking control of our narrative that has been distorted. Among them are Annina van Neel, CEO of the Tiekie Box Project and protagonist of the awarded documentary “A Story of Bones”, and Peggy King Jorde, consultant and defender of marginalized histories and Afrikan burial grounds.

 

About BIgi Bon Foundation

The projects of Bigi Bon foundation's focus on inclusion. Bigi Bon means Big Tree in the Sranan language, which refers to its philosophy that Big Trees provide much Shade; Big trees provide shelter, protection, housing and nourishment to other beings in the forest, just as adults should provide protection to children. Our generation lives under the watchful eye of the previous and we are tasked with keeping a watchful eye on the next generations.

 

The foundation aims to improve the position of immigrant communities in general and especially the Afrikan diaspora communities, through knowledge generation through media related activities and providing learning support. Also: increasing the opportunities of people, especially young people from the aforementioned communities.

 

Project Memre: https://afromagazine.nl/nieuws/project-memre-met-afro-magazine-op-jacht-naar-verhalen-die-de-geschiedenisles-negeerde

 

For the Alliance is Afrika spelled with a “k” instead of a “c” based on the following insights:

-         It is a Pan-Afrikan spelling which relates both to the Afrikan continent and to the Diaspora;

-         It reflects the spelling of “Afrika” in all Afrikan languages;

-         It includes the concept of “ka”, the vital energy which both sustains and creates.

 

In response to the protests against the Golden Rock plantation, we published a scientific article in January 2022 “A Future That Does Not Forget: Collaborative Archeology in the Colonial Context of Sint Eustatius (Dutch Caribbean)”.by our archaeologist marjolijn kok. We also published the “Manifesto: What the FARO Convention means for St. Eustatius”. 

 

 

PRESS RELEASE: Village of enslaved Afrikan people on St. Eustatius severely destroyed during excavations

 Archaeological center SECAR fails once more

 

Earlier this week the news came out that around July 18 construction company Statia Roads & Construction severely destroyed the archaeological site associated with what is believed to be the enslaved Afrikan village area of the former Golden Rock plantation on St. Eustatius. The board of the St. Eustatius Center for Archaeological Research (SECAR) on the island granted permission to the building contractors to continue digging after the Airport Boulevard project manager had concerns while the contractors were testing the soil. However, none of the board members is qualified to take this decision. SECAR’s director and archaeologist Mr.Budsberg was off-island at that time.

According to Budsberg approximately one third of the area was irrevocably destroyed. The loss of knowledge for the descendant community of their ancestral heritage is indescribable. The SECAR board denies that they gave permission. The Culture Department of St. Eustatius government halted the digging and is investigating the events.

Damaging outcome research report on controversial excavations 2021

The report of the Statia Heritage Research Commission (SHRC) that was published in January 2022 revealed that SECAR deliberately misinformed the descendants and broader communities of St. Eustatius of the excavations of the ancestral remains of the former Golden Rock plantation burial ground. The SHRC report concluded that the director of SECAR, Mr. Stelten, “did not see the far more significant issues of emotional attachment and affinity for the human remains of St. Eustatius's ancestors, nor did they see the vital role that ancestors have for the surviving population of St. Eustatius today.”

The excavations of 69 human remains of enslaved Afrikans at the Golden Rock Afrikan burial ground in 2021 made headlines throughout the world with a deceptive public relations campaign. After the publication of the damaging report on SECAR’s role in these excavations, the director Ruud Stelten left. However, SECAR's board continued business as usual and claimed it was not to blame for what happened.

SECAR’s shady reputation

The SECAR board consists of seven people: four Americans, two Dutch, and only one Statian from the island. Three board members, including the President, have served on the board since 2008. SECAR has a reputation for marginalizing descendants and the broader Statian community where it concerns making accessible information about the findings of archaeological excavations and sites. Additionally, artifacts retrieved from excavations are rendered inaccessible, and are stored in unknown locations and unknown conditions. On an island full of archaeological sites, this is a deeply disturbing state of affairs, particularly in light of SECAR's questionable practices in the ethical treatment of Afrikan cultural heritage resources and descendant community engagement. To add insult to injury, in a recent television documentary, SECAR's President Soutekouw makes offensive and derogatory statements about the Statian people.

Lack of political will to protect marginalized Afrikan cultural heritage

The area under excavation is part of St. Eustatius' multi-million dollar airport boulevard redevelopment and is believed to be the former village for enslaved Afrikan people associated with the Golden Rock Plantation. While many St. Eustatius residents hail the new boulevard as progress, others remain skeptical. Alliance President Kenneth Cuvalay belongs to the group of skeptics: “Why would we need these big roundabouts where more cows pass than cars? Poverty is high on St. Eustatius and there is still no social minimum. Nevertheless, the Dutch government decides to invest heavily in infrastructure, let people live in poverty, and by lacking appropriate legislation makes the destruction of our cultural heritage incredibly simple.”

Slavery apologies by Dutch state: put the money where the mouth is

Cuvalay: “I was shocked to hear about the destruction of what is probably an excavated village of my ancestors, to learn about the treatment of our Afrikan ancestors' sacred burial grounds and cultural heritages that continue to be looted, destroyed and displaced worldwide by colonial powers within the industry of archaeology and in many other ways, without respect, without dignity and bypassing the Afrikan descendants communities. Not everyone on the island can or dare to speak out so we will be their voice as well.”

“Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and the Dutch government leadership have fallen short where it concerns implementing critical measures for cultural heritage protection and repair, despite publically acknowledging the Dutch State’s role in global slavery, atrocities and crimes against the Afrikan people as a "crime against humanity". Today, the treatment of our cultural heritage and black cultural identity through the destruction of our Afrikan historical cultural heritages, is a continuation of that crime."

Alliance file complaints and wants dissolvement of SECAR

SECAR should be dissolved, according to the St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground. It is a monster of the colonial past, a symbol of exploitation, and marginalization of Afrikan cultural heritage. There should be a new archaeological organization, a new board, and a new -more tailored- government mandate. The Alliance will file a complaint to the local government, the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (in Dutch: OCW), UNESCO, and the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent.

Cuvalay urges everyone to send a protest message to SECAR (secarstatia@gmail.com) and calls on the SECAR board to finally step down if they have any sense of moral and ethics.

 

 

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Information for the Editor

Photo: archaeological site associated with what is believed to be the enslaved Afrikan village area of the former Golden Rock plantation on St. Eustatius (see attachment)

Contact: Kenneth Cuvalay, President of the “St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance”/President St. Eustatius Monuments Foundation

• Email: steustatiusafrikanburialground/at/gmail.com
• Website: https://afrikanhistoryandconsciousness.blogspot.com/ or http://steustatiusafrikanburialground.org/ (as of December 2023)
• Facebook www.facebook.com/groups/steustatiusafrikanburialgroundalliance/
• Instagram @steustatiusafrikanburialground
• YouTube http://www.youtube.com/@SE_ABG
• Twitter https://twitter.com/SE_ABG_Alliance

Sources:

• Report of the Statia Heritage Research Commission (SHRC) for the Government of St. Eustatius, Netherlands Caribbean. January 28, 2022: https://www.statiagovernment.com/documents/media-articles/2022/01/28/report-of-the-statia-heritage-research-commission-shrc-for-the-government-of-st.-eustatius-netherlands-caribbean

• Quote SECAR’s board director Ms. Soutekouw: "People here who are native people, who are descendants from the slaves, are never taught their own history. Here's a way we can help them understand the lifestyle, what the people, what their ancestors ate, what they did, how they lived.” Documentary of Dutch broadcaster NOS called “Slavery and us” (in Dutch: “Slavernij en wij’) and can be viewed via NPO Start: https://www.npostart.nl/slavernij-en-wij/29-06-2023/VPWON_1349550 The said fragment starts at 8'17''.

• Board members Sint Eustatius Center for Archaeological Research Foundation according to excerpt from the Sint Eustatius and Saba Commercial Register (registration #489 retrieved August 21, 2023).

 

About the St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance

The St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance came about as a result of the protests against the excavations on an 18th-century burial ground of enslaved Afrikans that were started by a team of international archaeologists in June 2021 in St. Eustatius (see https://www.change.org/LeaveOurAncestorsInPeace). The protests were initially led by the political party Ubuntu Connected Front Caribbean. Located in St. Eustatius and with allies around the world, the St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance broadened the scope of the struggle focusing on other Afrikan burial grounds in St. Eustatius such as the Afrikan Burial Ground Godet Plantation St. Eustatius (Godet/Fort Amsterdam). 

One of the aims is to further broaden the scope of our struggle to the Pan-Afrikanism level, connecting with and working with Afrikan-centered organizations and movements that are also fighting for the preservation of our ancestors’ endangered Afrikan burial grounds around the world and taking control of our narrative that has been distorted. Among them are Annina van Neel, CEO of the Tiekie Box Project and protagonist of the awarded documentary “A Story of Bones”, and Peggy King Jorde, consultant of King Jorde Culturals and defender of marginalized histories and Afrikan burial grounds.

About St. Eustatius' slavery past

In the second half of the eighteenth century St. Eustatius became known as the ‘Golden Rock’. It served as a massive trading center and was made a ‘free port’ where duties and taxes were not levied. The trading included captured Afrikans to fulfill the demand for labor on the plantations in the region. St. Eustatius was, at one point, the center of the Dutch slave trade in the Northern Caribbean. Captured Afrikan people who were brought to St. Eustatius were temporarily housed at the Waterfort (or Fort Amsterdam) at the south east coast of the island until they were sold to plantation owners on St. Eustatius or neighboring islands. The former Godet Plantation and Burial Ground is located very near to that location. The former Golden Rock Plantation and Burial Ground is located at the Culture Plain near the present airport.

Spelling of Afrika

Afrika is spelled with a “k” instead of a “c” based on the following insights:

• It is a Pan-Afrikan spelling which relates both to the Afrikan continent and to the Diaspora;
• It reflects the spelling of “Afrika” in all Afrikan languages;
• It includes the concept of “ka”, the vital energy which both sustains and creates.

Academic article and cultural heritage Manifesto

In response to the protests, we published a scientific article in January 2022 “A Future That Does Not Forget: Collaborative Archeology in the Colonial Context of Sint Eustatius (Dutch Caribbean)”. We also published the “Manifesto: What the FARO Convention means for St. Eustatius”