Samana College Research Center

The dedication of the Samana College site took place in February 2007, following the completion of the Samana (AZS) International Airport.

Frank Minaya y Willmore (left) and New York State Assemblyman, Keith L. T. Wright, co-author of the Amistad Law, hold Proclamation recognizing the migration of 6,000 free American slaves to the island of Hispaniola.

In addition to implementing meaningful African-American and Slavery curriculum into Public Schools in the United States, under the Amistad law, New York Amistad Commission member and Samana College Co-Founder, Frank Minaya y Willmore, along with numerous organizations, will introduce the meaningful African-American and Slavery curriculum into Samana College and eventually all Caribbean countries.

New York African American Burial Ground &
Samana African American Descendents Burial Ground

 Please click here to view the official African Burial Ground website.

  Please click here to view photos from the African Burial Ground Reinterment Ceremony in New York.

Please click here to view a Photo Gallery of the Reinterment Ceremony.

Tribute to African-Americans in Samana

A group of Dominican-Americans traveled to Samana to honor and pay tribute to the descendants of the African-American community living in Samana, on the country's northeastern coast. 

In 1824, at least 6,000 African-Americans who were freed from slavery migrated from the United States to Samana, Dominican Republic. Today, it is estimated that 80% of the population in Samana is of African-American descent.

The event took place on 22 February 2006 in the city of Samana. Hostos Community College of the City University of New York, the Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo and the Association of Dominican American Supervisors and Administrators (ADASA) organized the visit. 

The trip was organized as a result of the US documentary film "Dominican Identity & Migration To Hispaniola," produced by Nestor Montilla, associate director of international programs for Hostos Community College and a board member of the Dominican American National Roundtable. Ana Garcia-Reyes, vice president of Hostos Community College, commissioned the film. Both attended the ceremony. 

Also attending were Hugo Morales, CUNY trustee; Wilson Forshue, governor of Samana; Irma Nicasio, sociology professor from UASD; Adriano Espaillat, New York State Assemblyman from Washington Heights section of Manhattan; Jose Peralta, New York State assemblyman from Queens, NY; Cid Wilson, president of the Dominican-American National Roundtable (DANR) in Washington, D.C., Jeanne Mulgrave, Commissioner for the City of New York's Department of Youth & Family Services; Robert Mercedes, president of ADASA, Carlos Sierra of the CUNY student senate; Fred Price, dean of public relations for Medgar Evers College. 

The delegation honored Martha Willmore Kelly, Reverend Benito Jones of the AME Episcopal Church, Reverend Nemiah Willmore, and Franklyn Willmore for their leadership in preserving the culture of the African American community in Samana. An estimated 200 guests took part in the recognition ceremony. The timing of the event was significant was February is Black History Month as well as Dominican Heritage Month in the United States.

Above Photo: Frank Minaya (center) flanked on right by Dr. Ramona Hernandez, Director of CUNY Dominican Studies Institute, and on left by Dominican student, Johanny.

The CUNY Dominican Studies Institute's Dominican Archives is the only archive in the U.S that specializes in the collection and preservation of documents pertaining to the Dominican people in the U.S.

Founded in 2003, it is the most recent unit of the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute at The City College. Its main goal is to document the experience and contributions of Dominican-Americans in the United States. To this end, the Dominican Archive surveys, collects, classifies, processes, preserves, and makes available for research original archival materials generated by the Dominican communities and individuals residing in the United States.

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