SOUND OF HEALING
Bells ring out in commemoration of arrival of first Africans in 1619
For four minutes Sunday, the crowd at Fort Monroe’s Centennial Park fell nearly silent, save for the ringing of hundreds of bells and the gentle rattle of shekere and other African percussion instruments.
A harpist joined in the music to strum the familiar strains of “Amazing Grace.”
“Don’t get tired,” advised Terry Brown, Superintendent of Fort Monroe National Monument. “Four hundred years was a long time.”
Each minute of ringing represented a century that has passed since the 1619 arrival of the first “20 and odd Africans” in English North America, just up the shore at Old Point Comfort.
Sunday’s commemoration was billed as a Healing Day and rounded out a weekend of commemorating that arrival and the four centuries of pain and progress, suffering and survival that followed.
It was a culmination of sorts, but officials, dignitaries and at
tendees made it clear throughout the weekend that the job of remembering, honoring, learning and correcting is ongoing.
As clouds rolled in to offer shade, Brown shouted, “Healing,” drawing an echo from the crowd.
He continued: “Excellence. Appreciation. Love. Intensity. Never again. Growth. Diversity. Acknowledgement. Youth.” The crowd echoed each word.
National park sites and churches across the country joined in the ringing of bells to remember and recognize the Africans brought over in bondage and the subsequent generations that “struggled, overcame and continue to strive for civil and social justice today,” said Acting Director of the National Park Service P. Daniel Smith, who grew emotional previewing that moment of solidarity at Saturday’s commemorative ceremony.
Ora McCoy, 76, of Appomattox, donated the free-standing bell that stood alongside Brown during the solemn four minutes.
“I am so happy my family is a part of this healing,” she said. Her great-grandparents, Daniel and Phoebe Scruggs, once lived as slaves on the Scruggs’ family farm and have owned the farm’s bell since the Civil War.
The bell has been used in other park service ceremonies, such as the anniversary at the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park to commemorate the end of the Civil War and the opening of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center in Maryland.
Once the bell stopped ringing, a cascade of biodegradable paper butterflies in pink, blue and pale green were released into air, and the crowd came together for a group photo via drone. Individuals posed with fists, peace signs, open palms and the sign for “I love you” pointed up to the drone carrying the camera.
After the group broke apart, Kim Marble wiped tears from her eyes.
“It’s such a combination of emotions. I’m so sad for the suffering,” said Marble, who lives in Chesterfield. “I am thankful that the focus at this moment is looking into the future — a hope and reconciliation of … being one nation and that, in and of itself, is healing.”
Her husband, Jeff Marble, was similarly choked up, but he managed to say, “This is real. … This is not spin. I hope someone other than the drone sees this.”
Speakers on Sunday charged the crowd to take an active role in healing.
Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax disputed the phrase “time heals all wounds,” saying it was not a passive process; it’s one that requires commitment and effort by many.
The weekend’s events and energy, he said, are an opportunity.
Sunday’s keynote speech from Rev. Michael Eric Dyson, an author and professor, signaled a dramatic — and warmly received — tonal shift among the weekend’s addresses. He spoke boldly and emphatically without hedging his opinions about current affairs and the ugly parts of America’s history.
He opened by bringing up Virginia’s racial scandal that broke out earlier this year.
Dyson said when he saw Ralph Northam, he told the governor, “Ain’t nothing better than a white boy who knows he messed up,” Dyson said, referring to the discovery of a photo of a pair of people in blackface and Ku Klux Klan robes on Northam’s medical school yearbook page. Dyson said it was better to have Northam stay in office and work on his mistakes rather than quitting.
“Welcome to Virginia,” he said, drawing a laugh.
In his speech, Dyson also ripped into President Donald J. Trump. He charged black people to have pride in their blackness, especially in the increasing boldness of white supremacy, quoting lyrics from rappers The Notorious B.I.G. and Jay-Z.
He closed with a demand to get out and vote.
Along with elected officials and other dignitaries, National Park Service staff embraced its role in healing, particularly through depicting history.
During a panel Sunday at Fort Monroe Theatre, Barbara Tagger, Superintendent of the Selma to Montgomery National Historic trail, led a virtual tour of Southern sites in Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi, tracing the steps of Civil Rights leaders.
Joy Kinard, Superintendent of the Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument in Ohio, spoke of those who protected national parks in their earliest years in a similar role as modern park rangers.
Lewis Rogers Jr., Superintendent of Petersburg National Battlefield, said the NPS took a rigid approach to history and gradually has embraced it as a complex journey that develops as context becomes more understood.
The history depicted at park sites is not always good or easy, but tough conversations help heal, Rogers said.
Weekend deemed successful
The weekend’s events drew about 5,000 people, according to Fort Monroe Authority staff.
About 7,000 attended Saturday’s concert by Common and Sounds of Blackness commemorating Landing Day at Hampton Coliseum, according to a report by entertainment writer Amy Poulter.
No major issues were reported. Parking was available for attendees in spaces by the theater and on some grass lots farther north on Fenwick Road near Outlook Beach and on lots near the ball fields.
Attendees parking on that section of the 565-acre property could use continuous shuttle service to the main event area at Continental Park. About 2,000 used the shuttles, staff said.
National Park Service incident command spokesman Jason Martz said there were roughly 30 park service employees, including dignitaries, park rangers and superintendents, in attendance.
NPS also gave out Distinguished Service Awards.