Memorial
In consultation with stakeholders, GSA ran a design competition for the site memorial, which attracted 61 proposals. The winning memorial design by Rodney Leon in partnership with Nicole Hollant-Denis, AARRIS Architects, was chosen in June 2004. The work was completed and dedicated on October 5, 2007.
The memorial design for the 25-foot (7.6 m) granite monument features a map of the Atlantic area within the "Circle of Diaspora" in reference to the Middle Passage, by which slaves were transported from Africa to North America. It is built of stone of South Africa and of North America, to symbolize the two worlds coming together. The Door of Return, refers to "The Door of No Return", a name given to slave ports on the coast of West Africa, from which so many people were transported, never to see their homeland again. The memorial is designed to reconnect ethnic African Americans to their ancestors' origins.
On February 27, 2006, President George W. Bush signed a proclamation designating the burial site as the 123rd National Monument. It was transferred to the operating jurisdiction of the National Park Service as its 390th unit. The NPS runs the visitors center built in 2010 and arranges for various cultural exhibitions and events at the site throughout the year. The memorial was dedicated in 2007 in a ceremony presided by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the poet Maya Angelou. As part of the dedication ceremonies, the city officially renamed Elk Street as African Burial Ground Way.
Read more about this topic: African Burial Ground National Monument
Famous quotes containing the word memorial:
“When I received this [coronation] ring I solemnly bound myself in marriage to the realm; and it will be quite sufficient for the memorial of my name and for my glory, if, when I die, an inscription be engraved on a marble tomb, saying, “Here lieth Elizabeth, which reigned a virgin, and died a virgin.””
—Elizabeth I (1533–1603)
“When I received this [coronation] ring I solemnly bound myself in marriage to the realm; and it will be quite sufficient for the memorial of my name and for my glory, if, when I die, an inscription be engraved on a marble tomb, saying, “Here lieth Elizabeth, which reigned a virgin, and died a virgin.””
—Elizabeth I (1533–1603)
“I hope there will be no effort to put up a shaft or any monument of that sort in memory of me or of the other women who have given themselves to our work. The best kind of a memorial would be a school where girls could be taught everything useful that would help them to earn an honorable livelihood; where they could learn to do anything they were capable of, just as boys can. I would like to have lived to see such a school as that in every great city of the United States.”
—Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906)