The African Burial Ground National Monument stands at Duane Street in the Civic center found in the lower section of Manhattan, New York City. This monument carries along rich historiography which most people to date do not understand and have no idea about. It is apparent that most New Yorkers have no idea that the monument has a significant historical background especially in relation to African American history. Further, the monument offers education to diverse visitors who care to visit the site. The very aspect of education outlined by the monument is with regard to some of the hardships which the African Americans had to endure in early America. Having visited the site, I have learned a lot with regard to the African American histories with keen consideration on what they faced to achieve the freedom currently enjoyed by the subsequent generations.
The experience at the site was quite intriguing. I have come to the realization that most Americans today and especially the New Yorkers do not have an idea that the period between seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, hundreds of African Americans were buried in a 6.6-acre cemetery which is located currently in the Lower Manhattan. The exact location of the cemetery is practically outside the current settlement of New Amsterdam (Blakey, 2010). To my amusement, about fifteen thousand Africans were buried in this place. However, through landfills and developments, this burial site was lost and forgotten only to be discovered later by construction workers at the time of excavation for the federal office building in the year 1991. From the discovery, the remains of about 419 men, women, and children excavated from the burial site offer a great insight into the kind of lifestyles assumed by the earliest African American settlers.
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I was made to understand that the memorial at the Manhattan National Monument is meant to honor the lives of these Africans. In addition, the monument is meant to recognize the African heritage as well as some of their contributions to the early development of New York City which later became the world’s financial capital. Basically, the discovery of this long lost cemetery uncovered some truth with regard to what the early Africans in America had to endure in their daily lives. Today, the site has been made into a spectacular national monument which includes commissioned artwork as well as a beautiful and respected exterior memorial. Further, the site acts as a place of offering tribute to the deceased and many other community events take place at the site.
Back in the day, the New York African population faced restrictions from burial in Trinity Church. The authorities at the time allowed New York African population to bury their deceased outside the city commons at a place which was assumed to be quite unappropriated and desolate. This place was to be later identified as African Burial Ground becoming one of the largest African administered institutions in New York City. The cemetery was meant to honor African burial traditions in as much as it faced constant harsh legal regulation up until its closure in the year 1794. Due to the pressures which were developing in the Lower Manhattan around the nineteenth century, the cemetery was covered and forgotten up until its rediscovery in 1991.
From what I learned from the visit, the monument was designed by AARIS Architects, Rodney Leon and Elizabeth Kennedy Landscape Architects then opened in 2007. The orientation of the monument is to true north and east lying centrally with three significant elements. There is the sunken Libation court, the circle of the diaspora and the ancestral chamber. There are native shadblow trees to the north signifying the early food source which frames the monument’s view from the Ted Weiss Federal Courthouse building. In addition, there are the symbolic seven earthen mounds which house the 419 skeletal remains carefully crafted at the front of the shadblow trees (Purnell, 2010). Further, the landscaping and designers of the monument introduced honey locust trees as a backdrop laying out the landscape in a manner to maximize the interpretation of the site.
The site offers rich information with regard to the slavery aspect evident in New York around this time. It was the Dutch of West India Company who introduced the aspect of slavery in New York City in 1626. Slavery in New York started with the arrival of Lewis Guinea, Ascento Angola, Jan Guinea, Simon Congo and Paul D’Angola alongside other six men; the names of these individuals strikingly denoting their places of origin. Two years later, three female slaves from Angola arrived in New York and that heralded the beginning of slavery in New York. Slavery actually continued for the next two hundred years with most people being born and dying in slavery. The Dutch rule however made it possible for some slaves to gain freedom or partial freedom.
In the year, 1643, Paul D’Angola alongside other slaves petitioned the Dutch rule demanding for their freedom. Their request was considered and as a result, they were given land ownership where they were able to build their houses and practice farming. By the mid-seventeenth century, the free blacks owned farms totaling to about one hundred and thirty acres at a place which is currently occupied by the Washington Square Park. Additionally, slaves who were still deep in bondage were offered certain rights as well as protections such as prohibited arbitral physical punishment like whipping.
In 1664 with the taking over the New Amsterdam by the English saw changing of the name to New York and further changes made to the rules concerning slaves and slavery in the colony. The English employed more punitive and harsh rules compared to the Dutch. This revoked a number of former slave’s rights and protections such as protection against physical punishment (Purnell, 2010). The Trinity church was given control of the burial grounds in New York City. The church later passed an ordinance to restrict blacks from being buried in the churchyards. Taking over the control of the municipal burial grounds saw the church barring Africans from being buried within the limits of the city. As a result, the Africans found a new burial ground to the northern boundary of the city. This today is a place located just beyond the Chambers street and became to be popularly referred to as the Negroes burial ground. Today, the place is demarcated by a monument well known as the African Burial Ground National Monument outlining a rich history of the lives of African American New Yorkers.
References
Blakey, M. L. (2010). African burial ground project: Paradigm for cooperation?. Museum International , 62 (1‐2), 61-68.
Purnell, B. (2010). The African Burial Ground National Monument. Journal of American History , 97 (3), 736–740. https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/97.3.736
