New York City: African Burial Ground

On a hot June day Don and I took the PATH train into New York City with the intention of riding the ferry since we still had our ferry ticket from April when we were on Roosevelt Island looking for a creative way to get to the theater district when someone suggested taking the ferry to the 34th Street dock, and didn't make the next ferry. As we tend to go into New York every few weeks we figured we would have another chance to use it, so we kept the ticket.

On June 11 we had tickets to see Mariska Hargitay in the one person Broadway play Every Brilliant Thing. Though the day was hot, we figured we would take the PATH to the World Trade Center station and walk over to the Wall Street dock to take the ferry. As we walked there, Don commented that the New York City REI Store in SOHO is slated to be closed in a few weeks. He expressed an interest in seeing it one last time.

Change in plans. 

As we walked up Broadway towards SOHO we noticed the African Burial Ground. Run by the National Park Services, the African Burial Ground honors the early Africans who lived in New York City from 1626 through the late 1700s when Africans and African descendants gathered to bury their loved ones.

We looked at each other debating whether or not we should go inside when a guard opened the door to invite us inside. She said "we have a 20 minute movie, there is air conditioning, and rest rooms." 

We went inside. The movie covered the history of the area from when people were buried to when the site was rediscovered during a construction project in 1991. The big question at the time was what to do?

There was immediate controversy over whether or not the remains were being taken care of with respect. After protests and a petition seemed to go nowhere, a 24-hour vigil started in 1992. Congress stopped construction and had the building plans adjusted resulting in an archaeological dig set up. 

Now you really have my attention. 

The dig resulted in a learning a lot about the life and death of Africans in colonial New York. A decade later (in October 2003), all 419 remains were placed in hand-carved mahogany coffins from Ghana that were lined with Kente clothe. Over  six days they traveled from Washington, DC (where they had been studied at Howard University) to New York City through Baltimore, Wilmington, Philadelphia, Newark (NJ), and Jersey City being given the Rites of Ancestral Return. They were reinterred near where they were originally found. They estimate over 15,000 people were buried on the site.

The museum was opened in February 2010. I'm sorry to say this was the first time I heard about it. The museum is free to visit. Behind the museum is the outdoor memorial with mounds showing where they were reinterred, and the Circle of the Diaspora reminding visitors of the wide variety of African cultures represented in the United States. 

Something I learned at this site that will stick with me is no African-American person can trace their lineage to the exact country where their ancestors were from. It makes sense, but as a white American I can do my genealogy and trace my family tree to its non-United States origins. I'm sorry I never appreciated that so many others do not have that luxury.

One funny story about our visit. The museum highlights a few of their more exciting finds. A ring. A buckle. They show both the metal item as it came out of the ground and a picture of what it would look like cleaned up. Don was enamored by this. He called me over to show me, thinking as someone who is an avocational archaeologist, I would enjoy seeing that display. Instead my reaction was one of disbelief. Every week I come home from digging and show him the finds, I even recently showed him a picture of a ring and a buckle found at Red Bank. Okay, I didn't show him what they would look like cleaned up, but what they looked like moments after coming out of the earth.

If you are in New York visit. Even if you are not in need of air conditioning or a bathroom.