2 Sessions: 5:30pm or 6:30pm

Join us for a reflective journey honoring the Enslaved African Burial Ground and Indigenous history within Van Cortlandt Park. This community walk begins at the burial ground with a ceremonial call and response featuring tobacco, sage, and libation grounding us in ancestral presence and the healing elements of nature.

Participants will walk a guided path through four significant historic and natural locations, each offering a chance to connect with the land, history, and collective memory. The walk will invite deep reflection on the park’s layered history from Indigenous stewardship to the erasure and resilience of enslaved African lives. The journey culminates back at the Enslaved African Burial Ground with an offering of sunflowers and messages written to the ancestors, which will be placed at the gates as a gesture of honor and remembrance.

We conclude with an on-site art-making workshop to memorialize the moment through drawing, collage, or message-making, ending with a circle of silence and intention. Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of the sacredness of the land and their place in its continuing story.

Workshops start at Enslaved African & Kingsbridge Burial Grounds in Van Cortlandt Park (use Baobab Tree of Life directions in Google Maps)

Space is limited. Advanced registration required.

The Reimagining the Enslaved African Burial Ground at Van Cortlandt project is hosting a series of community engagement events to gather local input on the future of a new memorial space honoring past, present, and future communities.