Key West's Kwanzaa celebrations

An oceanfront site believed to be the only African refugee cemetery in the United States is to be the setting for a highlight of Key West’s Kwanzaa celebrations.

The observance is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 28, at the 1860 African Burial Ground on Higgs Beach, Atlantic Boulevard and White Street. The event is intended to showcase recent enhancements to a memorial honoring African refugees buried at the cemetery and to present ways people can support the project’s next phases.

Experts believe the burial ground contains the graves of Africans who died in 1860 after being freed by the U.S. Navy from three American-owned slave ships captured near the Cuban coast.

More than 1,400 African men, women and children were transported to Key West for sanctuary, housed and cared for after being rescued from the slave vessels. Most eventually were returned to Africa, but 295 died in Key West, probably from illnesses resulting from the brutal conditions aboard the slave ships. They were buried in unmarked graves along the island’s southern shore.

Shortly afterward, construction began on a Martello tower that encompassed part of the cemetery site, and the Africans’ story was virtually forgotten until historical research and a 2002 ground-penetrating radar analysis revealed the presence of graves.

As well as the memorial project, the Dec. 28 event is to observe the third day of Kwanzaa, a weeklong holiday encouraging African-Americans to honor the traditions of their ancestors, plan for the upcoming year and strive to improve themselves and their community. Kwanzaa’s third day traditionally focuses on collective work and responsibility.

Presenters are to include Nigerian-born artist Johnson Odibi, who will explain the significance of some of the artwork and African symbols recently installed on the memorial. Local historian Jeff Stotts is to interpret the events of 1860 using a large-scale inlaid map that is one of the site’s focal points.

Plans also call for performances by ceremonial drummers and a storyteller.

For more information, call (305) 304-6765.