Minstrel Banjo

For enthusiasts of early banjo

Remains of 14 New York slaves given honorable re-burial

This was about an hour from where I live.  I wish I had known about it beforehand-

The remains of 14 slaves from the late 1700s were discovered during sewer excavation work in 2005, in unmarked graves on the family farm of revolutionary general Philip Schuyler (1733-1804) in Albany NY.  General Schuyler's daughter married Alexander Hamilton. 

After careful excavation and DNA analysis to obtain as much geneological information possible and piece together clues about their lives, the slaves' remains were reburied this week in St. Agnes Cemetery, in graceful wooden ossuaries-  small scale coffins decorated with African symbols and motifs created by volunteers that included woodworkers, local artists and fourth-graders.  There was an all day memorial service, ceremonies to honor their lives, and educational programs at the Schuyler Mansion where the remains lay in state in the mansion's formal Hall before reburial.

These three articles are all slightly different and have different photos:

article 1

article 2

article 3

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I missed it too

I like your post Miss Strumelia.  Very interesting and good to see. And, I also like the fact that it indicates that the majority of us on this "ning" are not a bunch of racists.  That is always "the elephant" in the room.  

Rather we are people who enjoy American history and Early American Music, and as such we do not edit anything out.  And, contrary to what a great many of the modern public think, many of the original Minstrel Artists of the antibellum period were abolishionists and not racists.  Of course many were racist . . . but certainly a great many were not as many of the lyrics indicate.  Many of the songs are in the same spirit and vein as Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" which lit the fire for the abolishionist movement.

OK . . . starting to digress . . . I liked it!  Best Wishes, Tom  :-)

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