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The African Burial Ground in Lower Manhattan, New York
From the late 1600s to 1794, a 6.6-acre plot in Lower Manhattan served as the final resting place for over 15,000 African people. Both free and enslaved Africans were buried in this ground outside the boundaries of New Amsterdam, the Dutch settlement that became New York.
Their stories stayed hidden beneath layers of city growth until 1991. This burial ground is now recognized as the largest and oldest known cemetery for African Americans from the colonial era.
Wikimedia Commons/United States. National Park Service
When New York Banned Africans from City Burial Grounds
In 1697, New York officials banned Africans from using the city’s main burial ground. This forced the growing African community to create their own cemetery…