On Monday November 11, the St. Eustatius Afrikan Burual Ground Alliance will launch the special print edition of AFRO Magazine with the title “Remember Statia”. It contains articles by people from the Caribbean island of St. Eustatius, relating to the island’s slavery past. The event that will take place at the Lions Den in St. Eustatius, will also feature the unveiling of artwork created by artist Fre Calmes from the stories that are published in the magazine.
The stories, the artwork and the magazine all form part of the heritage project Remember Statia project, that the St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance carried out in 2023 and 2024 together with Netherlands -based foundation Bigi Bon – the parent foundation of AFRO Magazine.
Bigi Bon foundation received subsidy for Remember Statia in 2023 from the slavery abolition commemoration funds managed by the Mondriaan Fund. The foundation partnered with the St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance, which had at that time opposed disrespectful research by European archaeologists on 18th century African burial grounds that had been found on the island.
The Remember Statia project spanned 2023 and 2024; about 15 people had registered to take part, mostly from St. Eustatius, but also people living in the Netherlands, St. Maarten and Curacao, one from the US and even one all the way from Australia, who had traced her ancestry to the island.
A soft launch was held on October 13 in Weesp [READ MORE]