Maafa memorial service at Oberlin Juneteenth honors enslaved ancestors who died

OBERLIN — The somber and joyful mixed at Westwood Cemetery on Saturday night as celebrants took part in a Maafa ceremony to bring to a close the annual observation of the Juneteenth holiday. Maafa comes from the Kiswahili term meaning "terrible occurrence" or "great disaster," according to the program for Saturday's event. It references the "holocaust of enslavement" or "the Black holocaust, when millions of Africans died during the journey of captivity from the coasts of Africa to the shores of America, known as the Middle Passage," according to the program. Adenike Sharpley performed a Yoruba libation ceremony, offered in the tradition of Africans who died from the slave trade and slavery in the New World. "Though they did not live to experience freedom, we give thanks for the prayers and sacrifices of our ancestors that we, their descendants, might live free," according to the ceremonial program. The Rev. Laurence Nevels gave the invocation, praying that the names of those "too numerous to mention" who came before and died "for a cause larger than themselves" be remembered for their commitment and sacrifice of time and talent. Remembered this year was the late Linda Isabell, a longtime Oberlin Juneteenth committee member who died Jan. 13 after a long illness. Isabell lived in Oberlin for 67 years, graduating from Oberlin High School in 1966, attending Oberlin Business College in the late 1960s and working at the Oberlin Public Library for 30 years before she retired due to illness in December 2018, according to her obituary, which Nevels read on Saturday. Isabell "never designed acknowledgement or accolades," he said, spending time as a substitute aide in the Oberlin Schools in the mid to late 1980s and being a 20-year member of the Oberlin Juneteenth committee. "Linda's sole interest was to err on the side of equality for all in her contributions toward the betterment of Oberlin and the inclusion of its Black community," Nevels read from her obituary. Shirley Chambers led those present in "Walk Together Children," and a verse of "Lift Every Voice and Sing," the 1900 hymn by NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson that is also known as "The Black National Anthem." A candlelight vigil also was held, with candles lit to honor Harley Smith, director of the Oberlin Night School and founding vice president of the Oberlin chapter of the NAACP; Margaret R. Smith, founding president of the Oberlin chapter of the Negro Business and Professional Women's Club; Seymour Wooten, the last gasmaker at the Oberlin Roundhouse; and Anna Maria Wooten, his wife who "died under mysterious circumstances on the road to Wakeman," according to the program for Saturday's event. The ceremony capped off Juneteenth Oberlin 2023, titled "Marching through Station 99 to Freedom." The day included the grand opening of the Oberlin Underground Railroad Center, music, dance, storytelling and a cross-city parade at noon Saturday. Juneteenth has been recognized as an official "day of commemoration and celebration" by resolution of Oberlin City Council since 2004 and has been a federal holiday since 2021. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @DaveOBrienCT.