Africans created their own sacred space that was unknown until accidentally discovered and investigated over two centuries later. This is by far the largest excavated African burial ground-by several hundred identifiable persons. These discoveries sparked considerable interdisciplinary research that led to the establishment of a visitor center and museum with persuasive exhibits that demonstrate the site’s contribution to history. This site provided anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians with new evidence about the funeral practices, nutrition, disease, physical stress, injury, and various occupations within the African community. Little was known about the African community in New York in the 18th century until the discovery of the burial ground. Today the burial ground is in downtown Manhattan. Forced to establish their own burial ground, Africans created their sacred space in what was at the time the “Commons” area away from the bustle of the city. Scholars believe that this ban was the reason Africans used the burial ground today recognized as the African Burial Ground National Monument. In 1697, Africans were not allowed to bury their dead in what had become New York’s primary burial ground.
Settling themselves outside of town, roughly a mile from the tip of Manhattan, the African community developed a distinct culture.
This action would serve as the impetus for the creation of an African community in New York. In the 1640s, the Dutch granted conditional freedom to a group of African men and women.
The discoveries demonstrate the power of collaboration between anthropology, archaeology, and history. Both the deceased and their possessions help piece together a more complete history of New York City in the 17th and 18th centuries and what life was like for Africans in the city. Considered one of the most important archeological finds of the 20th century, the African Burial Ground is of national significance because of what it can tell us about the lives of Africans and African Americans in an urban context. Excavations at the site revealed the remains of 419 Africans and over 500 individual artifacts. The burial ground was then lost under years of urban development and landfill, until workers rediscovered the burial ground in 1991 during an excavation of the land for a Federal Government office building. For a century, from the 1690s to the 1790s, a small plot of land in Lower Manhattan became the final resting place for over 15,000 free and enslaved Africans.
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