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The African Burial Ground in Lower Manhattan represents the important role and major contribution that enslaved African men, women, and children made to the economy, development, and culture of America, both in the South and North.
The Rites of Ancestral Return commemorative ceremony, which began with an Evening Departure Ceremony at Howard University, documented and celebrated the contribution of African Americans as the ancestral remains from the African Burial Ground
were returned from Washington, D.C., to New York City.
The remains were given a permanent resting-place at the African Burial Ground Memorial Site on October 4, 2003.
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In 1991, during the construction of a
Federal office building at 290 Broadway in Lower Manhattan, excavators
unearthed the largest colonial-era cemetery for enslaved Africans in
America. For the previous 200 years, other parts of the five-acre burial
ground, where approximately 20,000 Africans were buried, had been
disregarded while buildings, streets and parking lots were constructed
over the site.
The scientific and historical studies of the remains exhumed in 1991 have
documented the important stories of the life, culture and heritage of
these enslaved Africans whose labor contributed to the building of New
York and other American cities. In accordance with the rich
traditions of African culture, the ceremonies for the Rites of Ancestral
Return were conducted concluding with the solemn reinterment at the
African Burial Ground.
The commemorative ceremony was inclusive and international in scope, and
was organized by GSA and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black
Culture. Thousands of interested individuals and dignitaries were in
attendance.
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"A round-trip three centuries in the making
ended triumphantly in Lower Manhattan on Saturday October 4, 2003 for the
remains of 419 colonial-era enslaved and free African Americans.
Under the backdrop of a gray Manhattan sky, with thousands of New Yorkers
looking on, the remains were ceremonially lowered into the newly dedicated
African Burial Ground, the same place they were discovered a dozen years
ago as the federal government prepared to build an office tower.
The re-interment ceremony, solemn and celebratory, was the culmination of
six days of tribute and celebration that began earlier in the week in
Washington D.C."
Read the full story of An African American Homecoming
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African Burial Ground Reinterment Tribute - October 3rd and 4th, 2003
Detailed Schedule of Events
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