Pictures 21: African Burial Ground National Monument

This was one of the coolest National Monuments we have been to so far. The African Burial Ground National Monument is a memorial to all slaves - more specifically, those kept in Manhattan - more specifically still, those who were buried under the monument's location on Duane Street. The bodies were discovered in 1991, when construction of a federal office building uncovered hundreds of skeletons.

New York City (nee New Amsterdam) was mostly a farming community in the century-ish before the American Revolution. The slaves on those farms were allotted a space in the no-man's land just north of the city proper to bury their dead; the area is believed to span about seven acres in what is now Lower Manhattan, near City Hall. Between construction, the building of the subways and the building of roads, most of the grave sites were obliterated over the centuries.

When the skeletons were discovered in 1991, there was an uproar from the community about how to respectfully deal with the remains - not to mention an uproar from developers who wanted to build on the site. Eventually, a compromise was reached, which included designation of the site as a National Monument and the ceremonial re-burial of the recovered skeletons after archaeological review.

The monument is especially cool because it's so new, I think. The visitors' center is very cool, with tons of information about the history of slavery in New York City. An informational video is re-created with spookily realistic life-sized sculptures of the actors in the film. After studying African-American and post-colonial literature out the wazoo in college, it was really cool to visit this site and increase my knowledge.


i wuz heer.

Find 9 more images below the jump, including the visitors' center as well as the outdoor memorial.


Inside the visitors' center


These are the sculptures of the actors in the video.


They were way realistic. I expected them to move.


Cultural sensitivity FTW!


The burial mounds under which the skeletons were re-buried


The outdoor memorial


A spiral walkway and general spiral design represent a return to the origin, whether it be the burial ground, Africa, or something bigger.





One funny thing about entering this monument was the security screening. Patrick always carries his Leatherman pocket knife with him, and he had it on his belt when we got to the site. They have airport-style security, and we thought for sure they would take the knife. Indeed, they stopped Patrick as he went through the metal detector, but instead of asking him to remove the knife from his belt, they pulled a water bottle out of his backpack and asked him to drink from it to prove it was water. And they let us walk through with the knife!