GSA’s African Burial Ground project began in 1991, when, during excavation work for a new federal office building, workers discovered the skeletal remains of the first of more than 400 men, women and children. Further investigation revealed that during the 17th and 18th centuries, free and enslaved Africans were buried in a 6.6 acre burial ground in lower Manhattan outside the boundaries of the settlement of New Amsterdam, which would become New York. Over the decades, the unmarked cemetery was covered over by development and landfill.
Managed by GSA, the overall project is a testimonial to a positive and collaborative partnership between many parties, including the Department of the Interior’s National Park Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, Howard University, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and the African American community.
Today the site is a National Monument featuring a distinctive memorial that commemorates and communicates the story of the African Burial Ground—the single-most important, historic urban archaeological project undertaken in the United States.
This website contains information on GSA’s African Burial Ground project, the memorial, artwork, interpretive center, reinterment ceremony, scientific reports and more.
The African Burial Ground National Monument, located at the corners of Duane and Elk Streets in lower Manhattan, is operated by the National Park Service. For directions to the site and more information, go to www.nps.gov/afbg
The memorial is open Monday through Sunday 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Day.
The African Burial Ground Visitor Center is located in the adjacent Ted Weiss Federal Building at 290 Broadway. The hours of operation are Monday thorough Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. except for federal holidays.
For more information please contact:
African Burial Ground National Monument
National Park Service
290 Broadway
New York, NY 10007
Phone 212-637-2019
For more information on the U.S. General Services Administration, please go to
www.gsa.gov
|
