Held aloft in her mother’s arms, Legacy Garner, the 15-month-old daughter of Eric Garner, opened a wooden bird cage Friday morning and released a white rock dove.

As a small crowd cheered, the bird flew above the sidewalk in Tompkinsville on Staten Island, where Mr. Garner pleaded for breath as he was held in a chokehold by a police officer exactly one year earlier.

Legacy, her diaper peeking out beneath a skirt stitched with “I can’t breathe,” stared at the concrete.

The ceremony began two days of anniversary rallies, protests and memorials for Mr. Garner, whose death on July 17, 2014, caused in part by the chokehold, set off nationwide protests. But for Legacy and her mother, Jewel Miller, who lived with Mr. Garner for several years, it was a moment of private reflection.