Flowers lined the shoreline at Outlook Beach at Fort Monroe National Monument Saturday as the Sankofa Projects hosted its 15th Annual International Day of Remembrance. It was a spiritual ceremony honoring the millions of African men, women, and children who died during the Middle Passage of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
The United Nations has described the Transatlantic Slave Trade as the largest forced migration in history and one of the most inhumane acts ever committed. The U.N. recently acknowledged it as the gravest crime against humanity, though the United States voted against that designation.
Chadra Pittman, founder and executive director of the Sankofa Projects, brought the Remembrance ceremony to Hampton in 2012, following a tradition initiated by activist and scholar Toni Cade Bambara in 1989. Pittman said the flowers placed along the water’s edge carry deep meaning…