Discovering Lower Manhattan’s African Burial Ground

Think slavery only took place on cotton plantations in the Deep South?  Think again!  Slavery, introduced by the Dutch in the early 1600s, was alive and well in NYC.

African Burial Ground National Monument

Africans were imported only as slaves, but some became half-free before New Amsterdam was captured by the British in 1664.  By the Revolutionary war, there were about 10,000 Africans in New York.  The skeletal remains of more than 400 African people were uncovered in 1991 while excavating the site of a new federal office building in lower Manhattan at the corner of Duane and Elk Streets.

From the 1690s through the 1790s, both free and enslaved Africans were buried in this spot, once a 6.6 acre burial pit outside the boundaries of what was once New Amsterdam. Over the decades, this unmarked cemetery was covered over by development and landfill.  Today it’s a National Monument that you could easily walk past but once inside, realize that you can’t miss!

The first feature you’ll notice is the ancestral re-interment grove, a path surrounded by burial mounds roughly silhouetting human bodies poking up from the green grass. They mark 7 large sarcophagi containing the remains of 419 African descendants re-interred in October 2003. In the center of these grounds is a smooth black granite chamber resembling a stone chapel or peaked tent open at each end.  Designed to reflect the spiritual essence of the African Diaspora, natural light shines in providing a sacred place for contemplation and reflection on the enormity of what happened here.  A circular black granite wall surrounding this chamber contain symbols of the different cultures involved in the Diaspora, especially Africa, Latin America and Caribbean.

Memorial is open daily 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Day. During winter, the memorial closes at 4 p.m.

By Subway: Take the R or W line to City Hall Station.  Walk 4 blocks up to Duane St., turn right and you can’t miss it.

photo courtesy of the National Park Service