February's Sojourn!

On February 22, 2025 we had a Sankofa Sojourn to the African Burial Ground in New York City. The African Burial Ground is a National Monument that commemorates the role of Africans and African Americans in colonial and federal New York City, and in United States history.

In May of 1991, the federal government started construction on a new office building to house various federal agencies. On October 8, 1991, the federal General Services Administration(GSA) announced the discovery of 8 intact burials during an archaeological survey and excavation. After the discovery of the first intact burials became publicly known, the African-American historians made it known that the remains found belonged to Africans and African-Americans and that the land was part of a burial ground for thousands of deceased free and captive Africans.

The activists in the African-American community began to spread the word and protest. I recall the rallying cry of that movement "Some of them bones is mine!" In 1992, GSA paused the construction to do further exploration. It turns out that this section of lower Manhattan had been designated as a "Negro Burial Ground, in about 1697 when Trinity Church banned the burial of anyone of African descent in the "city cemetery".

The area of the burial ground was in a shallow valley surrounded by low hills on the east, south and west. The burial ground was outside the wall marking the northern boundary of the city. For New Yorkers, the boundary wall in this area ran northeast from the present-day corner of Broadway and Chambers Street to Foley Square after it had expanded northward, similar in form and function to the former stockade on Wall Street.

Interesting Wiki fact: The revelation that physicians and medical students were illegally digging up bodies for dissection from this burial ground precipitated the 1788 Doctors' Riot.

So many people were buried there, that the GSA decided it would be too costly and time-consuming to move the remains and bury them respectfully, elsewhere. So, a compromise was reached and 419 remains were brought up, to be studied and given a new burial with honor. The remains were sent to Howard University for culturally appropriate study, by African American students and archaeological experts. In 1993, the African Burial Ground was proclaimed a national landmark. But the building went up and sits atop the remains of thousands of Africans and African Americans.

After the Howard University studies were completed, the 419 skeletons were placed in the Ancestral Reinterment Grove at the African Burial Ground on October 4, 2003, in a ceremony including the "Rites of Ancestral Return". They were placed in hand-carved wooden coffins made in Ghana & lined with Kente cloth, which were placed in 7 sarcophagi & buried in 7 burial mounds with the heads facing west. In 2010, a visitor center was opened on the site and it is free for all to visit.

I encourage everyone in the NYC area, or visiting NYC to make a pilgrimage to the African Burial Ground. The visitor center is striking and beautiful, but also incredibly informative. They also have a short film that explains the history of the site and how it came to be a national monument.

As I Sankofa the experience, the sadness of the site and the lack of respect for the thousands buried there always astounds me. Being there reminds me of the importance of knowing our history. History, is living in our lives every day. As we look to the past, we can chart our path forward. It also gives me hope in the fact that our past may get buried, but if enough of us keep our history alive, it will again rise to the surface.