Schomburg Center: Preparation To Begin
For October Reburial Ceremonies At African Burial Ground
NEW YORK CITY–
September 10, 2003 -- The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
announced that beginning today, workers would begin excavation
activities at the New York African Burial Ground site in Lower Manhattan
for what is likely the most significant reburial ceremony in New York
City history to be held in early October.
The African Burial Ground Memorial Site will be the final resting place
for over 400 coffins containing the human remains of enslaved Africans
unearthed from the 290 Broadway site in 1991. Approximately 20,000 human
remains are still located 25 feet below street level and will not be
disturbed during the preparation of the site.
The U.S. General Services Administration partnered with the Schomburg
Center to develop and conduct a series of reinterment ceremonies. A
press conference to announce the complete schedule of events for the
“Rites of Ancestral Return, Commemorating the Colonial African Heritage”
will be held September 22 at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black
Culture, 515 Malcolm X Boulevard in Harlem.
The African Burial Ground is designated a National Historic Landmark.
Archeologists exhumed human remains and scores of artifacts for study at
the W. Montague Cobb Laboratory at Howard University. Howard
University's examination of the remains and artifacts is complete, thus
allowing reinterment to proceed. GSA is also developing an exterior
memorial and interpretative center at the Burial Ground site - both of
which are scheduled for completion in 2005.
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The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is one
of four research centers of the New York Public Library. It is an
international research center devoted to collecting preserving and
providing access to resources documenting the experiences of peoples of
African descent throughout the world. Today, the Schomburg Center
contains over 5,000,000 items and provides services and programs for
constituents from the United States and abroad.
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