It was a history lesson that left its students tearful and speechless. And the emotional drama hit blacks and whites equally hard.

It came during a visit yesterday to unmarked graves of blacks who owned Tucker’s Town before being uprooted.

The controversy over that grim period in Bermuda’s history has long troubled the Bermuda psyche.

But time has added another insult — the gravesite is in the middle of a golf course. Inevitably balls lie about the area.

For some this amounted not only to the ravaging of a sacred spot, but also a ghastly symbol of the past.

Thirty-three-year-old Colwyn Burchall, who is black, believed reparations should be made.

“Here we have the ancestors of the people that once inhabited this area, in a graveyard in the middle of a driving range.

“These graves are basically being desecrated by a leisure-time activity that has historically been associated with whiteness. About 60 people took part in the two-hour visit as part of the second day of the Bermuda Race Relations Initiative (BRRI).

American facilitators Dr. Bernestine Singley and Professor Robert Jensen tagged along for the walkabout, hosted by representatives of the Tucker’s Town Historical Society. Premier Ewart Brown spearheaded the initiative with the support of the Cabinet Office and the Community for Unity and Racial Equality (CURE), with Rolfe Commissiong, consultant to the Premier, as the main organiser.

A history lesson was given on historical black landmarks that are now displaced or obscure, such as the Marsden Methodist Church and the Talbot School, originally built in 1898.

Midway through the visit, Prof. Jensen appeared in disbelief and told The Royal Gazette, he was “still trying to process the scene of the gravesite.”

Mr. Burchall, who teaches the African centred Ashay: Rites of Passage programme, at Dellwood Middle School, called on those who benefited from the land grabs — through a process called eminent domain — to provide reparations.

“The graves looked as if it was hastily tidied-up probably because the people at Tucker’s Town knew we were coming. Everything looks fresh and clean and the grass was recently cut.

“Would you hit golf balls onto your grandmother’s grave — in any cemetery?

“It begs the question on what sorts of human beings would do this in grave yard, period.

“I don’t think that any of the white males up there that was steadily swinging at golf balls would do the same thing by knocking balls onto the graves of their ancestors.

“If they wouldn’t do it with them, why do it with someone’s else’s?

“What are they saying about the humanity of black people if they’re willing to use a sacred sight as a place for entertainment?

“This situation is indicative of a larger injustice that was visited upon an independent, thriving, black community here at Tucker’s Town.

“This land has appreciated in value and was taken without just cause. We need to make this visible, problematic and move toward a solution of restitution and reparations.

“Reparations has the route of repairing something that is broken. We have a shattered community and nobody has ever paid for that.”

Schoolteacher Tina Nash, who is white, said she cried when she saw the gravesite, believing it a disgrace to blacks and whites, who are trying reconcile their differences.

She recalled: “I can’t speak for anyone else, but I was emotional and I’m not afraid to admit that I was crying and the woman next to me gave me a tissue.

“It was painfully obvious that someone was there last-minute, picking up golf balls and cleaning up.

“I was like ‘Wow, they couldn’t even pretend like this is an on-going mission to keep the site neat and respectful.’

“All day long, golfers are shooting golf balls all over these graves and that’s so symbolically dehumanising, destructive, patronising and filled with contempt.

“As we approached the graves, a grounds manager was quickly walking in front of us as another man was seen with a basket, quickly cleaning up.”

However, a Tucker’s Point Club employee, who would not be named, said the landscaping work that was done near the graves, was routine maintenance and denied allegations the grounds were neglected and disrespected.

Maxine Sounders, a retired teacher added: “I was a bit saddened because you can’t tell who is buried there or identify them.

“The stones where chipped and damaged from the golf-balls hitting them, even though there was a tree barrier that looked as if it was recently cut for our appearance for today.”

When asked if the race summits would have any positive effect regarding the issue of race, she explained: “I understand something like this happened 12 years ago but nothing ever materialised.

“But, I’m hoping that we can move forward and produce something that will be able to have the backing of the legislature so that we can make changes.”

After a lunch break on a beach below the Mid-Ocean Golf Club, Denny Richardson, 66, a Tucker’s Town descendant, reminded everyone on the importance of the visit.

“All the enjoyment you might have had during lunch doesn’t negate our purpose for being here.

“We’re here to witness and experience some things that would have never been revealed without honest and open discussions.”

Historian LeYoni Junos, read out a letter to the editor sent to The Royal Gazette that was written around 1898, in front of a gathering. Its author is only identified by the initials AO and repudiates the arguments of whites at the time, which believed Tucker’s Town’s black community was rife with immorality — a charge that blacks say was motivated by race. The trip was not without its annoyances, as there was confusion over whether previously planned property expositions would go ahead. They ultimately did not.

“Is our tour-guide lost?” asked one woman when half of the group wandered into the wrong directions — at least twice.

Despite this, organisers have hailed the third in the series of race talks a resounding success.

Unmarked graves are an emotional reminder of Bermuda’s racial divide