MAAFA
“…tethered souls don’t know how to breathe deep and auction blocks do not lend to comfortability… there is something about suffering that makes some men mad and makes others money…”
- Sunni Patterson, Author & Poet
MAAFA is a racial healing commemoration of the ancestors, known and unknown, from the Transatlantic & Domestic Slave Trades.
Photo: Shannon Atkins
MAAFA is a Kiswahili word that means “great tragedy” or “horrific tragedy”, referring to the period called the Middle Passage or TransAtlantic Slave Trade. During that time, millions of captives from the continent of Africa were taken captive, persecuted, beaten, separated from their families and forced into enslavement and free labor.
The MAAFA commemoration offers an opportunity for the entire community to pause and reflect on that horrific transgression against humanity, and how to personally, as a community, agree to distance ourselves institutionally in word and deed from its legacy and the evolved practice of racism in our civic, social, spiritual and personal lives.
THE PROCESSION
Drummers, dancers, healers, artists, activists and musicians lead a procession from the sacred space of Congo Square, through historic Tremé, with a brief stop at St. Augustine Catholic Church, the site of the Tomb of the Unknown Slave. From there, the procession continues through the French Quarter with pauses at historical sites, including those where slave auctions regularly took place.
The procession ends at the Mississippi River with drumming, dancing, singing, and praying. Ancestors are honored by name, those affected by the TransAtlantic Slave Trade, individuals who were victims of tragic events and senseless acts of vilence, as well as all those who were, so that we might be.
THE HISTORY
In the year 2000, Ashé Cultural Art Center’s founders Carol Bebelle and Douglas Redd, engaged by Leia Lewis who coordinated the first MAAFA celebration, joined with other similar celebrations around the country. The vision for the MAAFA Commemoration was influenced by the work of St. Paul Community Baptist Church in Brooklyn, which was then led by New Orleans-born Rev. Johnie Ray Youngblood. There, an annual month-long series of activities from the MAAFA Remembrance. The word MAAFA is the concept of Dr. Marimba Ani, African-American scholar and author, and has been adopted in contemporary scholarship. Watch the video below to learn more.
