African Burial Ground

Thousands of Africans of colonial New York lie here, and the city forgot them for almost two hundred years

Local name: African Burial Ground National Monument

Collection: The Lower East Side and Chinatown · USA · Open in OpenStreetMap

The lawn over the old burial ground and a National Park Service sign · Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

The story

Before you is a surviving fragment of the African Burial Ground. In 1697 Trinity Church barred Africans from burial in its churchyard. So they were buried here, beyond the northern edge of the town of that time. Some of the dead were free, but most were enslaved. The rules were strict: no more than twelve people at a graveside, and no burials at night. The cemetery grew to cover about five of today’s city blocks. Some archaeologists believe as many as twenty thousand people were buried here. The cemetery was closed in 1794. The ravine was filled with earth, in places as much as 25 feet deep, and built over. The city forgot it was here. In 1991 construction began on a federal office building, and the graves were found. Archaeologists recovered the remains of four hundred and nineteen people. Almost half of them were children under twelve. They had been buried one by one, in wooden coffins, with their heads to the west, sometimes with coins, shells and beads. New Yorkers protested, and in 1992 Congress ordered construction stopped on this part of the site. For almost ten years the remains were studied at Howard University in Washington. On the fourth of October 2003 they were brought back here. Each was laid in a hand-carved wooden coffin made in Ghana. In 2006 President George W. Bush proclaimed the site a national monument.

Visiting

The outdoor memorial is at the corner of Duane Street and African Burial Ground Way. The visitor center is on the first floor of the federal building at 290 Broadway. Open Wednesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; closed Monday, Tuesday, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Admission is free. Flowers may be left only at the reinterment area, no more than two per person.