— St. Augustine Catholic Church, New Orleans —
On this October 30, 2004, we, the faith community of St. Augustine Catholic Church, dedicate this shrine consisting of grave crosses, chains and shackles to the memory of the nameless, faceless, turfless Africans who met an untimely death in Faubourg Trem?. The Tomb of the Unknown Slave is commemorated here in this garden plot of St. Augustine Church, the only parish in the United States whose Free People of Color bought two outer rows of pews exclusively for slaves to use for worship. This St. Augustine/Trem? shrine honors all slaves buried throughout the United States and those slaves in particular who lie beneath the ground of Trem? in unmarked, unknown graves. There is no doubt that the campus of St. Augustine Church sits astride the blood, sweat, tears and some of the mortal remains of unknown slaves from Africa and local American Indian slaves who either met with fatal treachery, and were therefore buried quickly and secretly, or were buried hastily and at random because of yellow fever and other plagues. Even now, some Trem? locals have childhood memories of salvage/restoration workers unearthing various human bones, sometimes in concentrated areas such as wells. In other words, the Tomb of the Unknown Slave is a constant reminder that we are walking on Holy ground. Thus, we cannot consecrate this tomb, because it is already consecrated by many slaves' inglorious deaths bereft of any acknowledgment, dignity or respect, ultimately glorious by their blood, sweat, tears, faith, prayers and deep worship of our Creator.| HM Number | HMNG0 |
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| Tags | |
| Year Placed | 2004 |
| Placed By | The Faith Community of St. Augustine Catholic Church |
| Marker Condition | No reports yet |
| Date Added | Sunday, October 26th, 2014 at 3:16pm PDT -07:00 |
| UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 15R E 783120 N 3318564 |
|---|---|
| Decimal Degrees | 29.96531667, -90.06618333 |
| Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 29° 57.919', W 90° 3.971' |
| Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 29° 57' 55.14" N, 90° 3' 58.26" W |
| Driving Directions | Google Maps |
| Area Code(s) | 504 |
| Closest Postal Address | At or near 1210 Governor Nicholls St, New Orleans LA 70116, US |
| Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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