A proper burial is a ceremony that many of us take for granted, but that was not the case for African Americans for a large portion of history in the U.S.

In the premiere of Ritual, Tank Ball explores the often overlooked history of Black burial in Louisiana. From a man honoring his duty as caretaker for his ancestors’ cemetery to a woman fighting to protect the sacred burial sites of her enslaved ancestors, we learn how one of the oldest rituals in history – taking care of the dead – became an act of resilience in the American South.