A memorial service was held over the weekend near Donaldsonville for the 1,000 slaves whose unmarked graves were discovered on Shell property in 2013. Cofounder of the River Road African American Museum Darryl Hambrick says the ceremony paid respects to those whose freedom to choose their final rights was stolen.
The graves date back into the 1800s, but had gone undiscovered for hundreds of years until Shell surveyed the land as part of a planned expansion, and found two mass burial sites. Hambrick says the location was forgotten over time, and eventually built over.
Hambrick says he wants people to think about what these graves represent, and about the lives of those who were forced to work one of the nearly 100 plantations that were in operation around Ascension Parish.
More information can be found about this event and others at sfricanamericanmuseum.org