re: Auburn and the curse of Hickory Ground

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Auburn is actually cursed

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In the fall of 2023, I was invited to Auburn University by the Southern Humanities Review on behalf of the Witness Prize, a prize I juried. I requested a meeting with the NAGPRA officer of the university in charge of the Hickory Ground and other remains held on campus from other digs. When we met in his office on campus, he informed me that because of the appeal he could not speak directly about the Hickory Ground case. We spoke generally about NAGPRA. He offered to allow me into the room where the remains and items were being held on campus along with remains from other digs. I had been properly cautioned about going into the presence of the remains, which I took seriously. What I have been taught by elders is that our remains carry memory. Each cell contains a spiral of stories that belong to ancestors and to descendants. What is buried is meant to remain buried. There is no word or concept in the Mvskoke language for what the Poarch Band did when they unearthed that which was never be returned to the surface. When I went into the room in which our relatives’ bones were stored, I turned immediately to flee. I almost couldn’t breathe. I paused though because I wanted to be a witness to help tell the story. I heard the roar of disturbance, the voices of the ancestors, and understood how they needed to be reinterred, for harmony. When graves are disturbed, there can be widespread disturbance that can cause illness, societal upset, and other disruption. I promised I would help them return home, to restore harmony by telling the story.

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When I went into the room in which our relatives’ bones were stored, I turned immediately to flee. I almost couldn’t breathe. I paused though because I wanted to be a witness to help tell the story. I heard the roar of disturbance, the voices of the ancestors, and understood how they needed to be reinterred, for harmony. When graves are disturbed, there can be widespread disturbance that can cause illness, societal upset, and other disruption. I promised I would help them return home, to restore harmony by telling the story.

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