The NY African Burial Ground *Special Event

"Unearthed" by Frank Bender

     The African Burial Ground was discovered in lower Manhattan in 1991, when during excavation work for a new federal office building at 290 Broadway, workers discovered the skeletal remains of the first of 419 men, women and children (41% were children, indicative of the hardships endured by child slaves). During the 17th and 18th centuries, free and enslaved Africans were buried in a 6.6 acre burial ground outside the then-current boundaries of the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam (which later became New York under British rule). Over the centuries, the unmarked cemetery was covered over by development and landfill (although I am skeptical that no other developers found skeletal remains previously--seems more likely to be numerous cover ups to me). 

    Did you know that the children of freed Africans were born into slavery?  Or did you know that NY state had more slaves than any other state other than South Carolina?  I had generally thought of the North as populated by abolitionists, but I suppose that was in the later part of the 1800s, and it seems to me that history books seem to completely omit this earlier American history. The visitor's center showed us a 20 minute film that tells of the discovery of the African Burial Ground and the incredible hardships that were endured by millions of Africans and African Americans. 

The picture above is a burial reenactment of a funeral of a child and adult slaves.