Ashes to Ashes | Homegoing for the Unburied

"Ashes to Ashes" are the final words in typical African American funeral services. Many of those who were murdered by the Klan to maintain the reign of white supremacy never received their "Ashes to Ashes". The goal of this project by Dr. Shirley Jackson Whitaker is to acknowledge and mourn the African Americans who were racially terrorized during the Jim Crow era after the Civil War and until this very day. Some endured lynching and other forms of brutalization and, therefore, they never received a proper burial. This is about to change on April 30, 2016! The Homegoing Celebration of thousands of African Americans is about to happen. Are you ready?

As Dr. John Bracey, Chairman of African American Studies at UMASS said, "what took us so long?"

The 1662 Book of Common Prayer/English Burial Service

"Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of our dear brother here departed, we therefore commit his body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust,"

Pre-funeral

The Awakening for Ashes to Ashes
It is the custom for most families to have a service called "A Wake" – the night before the funeral service. It is a time for visitation and commemoration of the dead. Because it will be impossible to remember the million ancestors one by one, the plan is to have a banners competition among area students with lists of some of the dead. We will work with the department of African American studies at UMASS to provide educational information to the schools to strengthen their understanding of the project and to foster more knowledge of the history of slavery in America and its aftermath. The program committee will work with the Director of the Augustus Savage gallery, Terry Jenoure, to have a juried show of national artists to be presented the night before the homegoing service. The Awakening will have a short program to announce the prizewinner for the banners and display the art works. After this service, 50 paper balloons will be released by supporters of A2A to represent the lives of the unburied.

Funeral

Ashes to Ashes | Homegoing for the Unburied
This service will be similar to a real funeral. It will consist of a wooden pine casket made by local students at Putnam High School Academy under the guidance of Mr. J. Stephen. His plan is to use tools from the turn of the century. History teachers will stress the educational components of the project and photography classes will document the making of the casket. There will be a funeral procession from STCC in Springfield to the St. John Legacy Church where the service will be held. The casket will be in a glass hearse pulled by two black draft horses. The hearse will be followed by the soldiers from the Massachusetts 54th regiment. Along the path of the procession, people will hold signs of the names of those that have been victims of racial terrorism in America. This is in keeping with the saying that "if you speak my name, I will live forever.  Once the casket enters the church, there will be a 25 member choir singing the Negro spiritual 'I've been bulked and I've been scorned". There will be a eulogy presented by a minister a list of songs. One musical piece has been composed by Mr. Avery Sharpe, an international Jazz Bassist, in remembrance of his uncle who was placed on a railroad tract by the KKK, because he was dating a white woman. Because there is little chance of an obituary for over 3 million people, there will be 4 short vignettes to represent a cross section of the many unburied. The exit of the casket from the church will be accompanied by a Louisiana funeral band made available by Dr. Willie Hills, Director of the UMASS Fine Art Department.

Film

Award Winning Documentary
Ashes to Ashes, the film directed by Taylor Rees, centered around the funeral service for lynched African Americans by Dr. Shirley Jackson Whitaker, with the life pain of Mr. Winfred Rembert, a survivor of a lynching attempt, has won the River Run International film festival. Because this film festival is a oscar-qualifying festival, Ashes to Ashes will be automatically submitted for an Academy Award! The film also recently got honorable mention at the Cleveland International film festival and is now one of 30 top documentary shorts in the world.

Book

Ashes to Ashes: Homegoing for the Unburied
Ashes to ashes is the inaugural enterprise of SAW Press, published in 2018. Shirley Ann Whitaker created the copperplate portraits. She wrote the eulogies for a 2016 service at the historic St. John's Congregational Church in Springfield, Massachusetts. These six testimonials of documented lynchings were dramatized to represent thousands of souls that were lost to lynching in the United States of America. Michael Kuch assisted with the book project and its design and printed the etchings at the Double Elephant Press in Northampton, Massachusetts. The type is Bell, which was cast by Michael and Winifred Bixler in Skaneateles, New York. Art Larson printed the letterpress in Hadley Masachusetts. The gray paper was made by Katie MacGregor in Whiting, Maine. Mark Tomlinson has bound the edition of fifty in Easthampton, Massachusetts. Copies one through seven have covers with a leather painting by artist Winfred Rembert, a lynching survivor"--Colophon.

Shirley Ann Whitaker created the image. Michael Kuch assisted with the design of the broadside & printed the intaglio edition. The letterpress is by Art Larson. Katie MacGregor made the paper. The polymer plate is by Boxcar Press. Mark Tuchman laid out the Bell digital type. The list of names was compiled by Amy Bailey, Stewart Tolnay & E.M. Beck"--Broadside colophon.

Limited edition of 50 copies; signed by the author. Broadside consists of a list of names of victims of lynching. Broadside housed in gray paper sleeve, with text: As long as you speak my name I will live forever. Broadside and volume issued in gray cloth clamshell box. Includes "Obituary : an overdue tribute to the unburied & terrorized" by Marisha Clinton & Dr. Shirley Whitaker.

Description: 1 volume (unpaged) : illustrations (some color), portraits ; 28 cm + 1 broadside (1 sheet : illustration ; 74 x 28 cm, folded to 18 x 28 cm)

Find a copy in the library; Washington University, Duke University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Miami, University of Virginia, Getty Research Institute, The Claremont Colleges, University of Delaware, Lafayette College, Smith College, Boston Athenaeum, Wellesley College, and the list continues to grow.