SCHOMBURG CENTER SETS SCHEDULE FOR
“RITES OF ANCESTRAL RETURN”
Ceremonies in Five Cities Precede Flotilla to Wall Street Waterfront, Vigil, and Reburial of Over 400 Skeletal Remains in African Burial Ground

NEW YORK CITY, September 22, 2003 -- The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture announced the schedule of events for the “Rites of Ancestral Return: Commemorating the Colonial African Heritage” in a noon press conference today. The weeklong Rites of Ancestral Return is a series of commemorative events organized by The Schomburg Center in conjunction with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). These events will culminate with re-burial ceremonies for the human skeletal remains of over 400 enslaved Africans of the colonial era in the African Burial Ground Memorial Site.
 
“The African Burial Ground represents the important role and major contribution that enslaved African men, women, and children made to the development of the colonies, economy, and culture of America,” said Schomburg Center Director Howard Dodson. “This is a historic and crucial link in America’s story not just in the North and Dutch New Amsterdam, but in the South. With the Rites of Ancestral Return, we celebrate the contributions of our ancestors.”
 
Events marking the return of the human skeletal remains from Howard University in Washington, D. C., to their final resting place in New York City will begin in Washington, D.C. on September 30, and culminate with reburial ceremonies on the African Burial Ground Memorial Site in New York City on October 4. Commemorative events will also be held in Baltimore, Maryland; Wilmington, Delaware; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Newark, New Jersey as the coffins of the last four remains (one adult male, one adult female, one male child, and one female child) pass through these cities in route to New York.
 
A flotilla carrying the coffins of the final four human skeletal remains will arrive from New Jersey on October 3, at the Wall Street pier site of New York’s colonial slave market where they will be joined by City, State, and Federal officials along with other dignitaries. A procession will form and additional ancestors, all in coffins handmade in Ghana, West Africa, will be added to the procession for a final journey up through New York City’s “Canyon of Heroes” on Lower Broadway. The procession will end at The African Burial Ground Memorial Site at Duane and Elk Streets where viewing and a 20-hour vigil will be held before the October 4 re-burial of the more than 400 colonial African ancestors.
 
GSA Administrator Stephen A. Perry, New York Secretary of State Randy Daniels, Mayor Bloomberg, former Mayor David Dinkins, International Chair for the event, poet Maya Angelou, National Chair for the event, the New York Host Committee, and a host of other dignitaries and celebrities are expected at the New York Rites of Ancestral Return ceremonies on October 3 and 4.
 
“The return of the African ancestors to their original burial place in New York City is a historic moment, and through the excellent work of the Schomburg Center, GSA, and our project partners, the African American community is assured a week of ceremonies that is dignified, respectful and internationally recognized, “said GSA Administrator Stephen A. Perry.
 
The African Burial Ground was uncovered in 1991 during construction of a federal office building at Broadway and Duane Street. Archeologists exhumed human skeletal remains and scores of artifacts for study at the W. Montague Cobb Laboratory at Howard University. In 1993, the African Burial Ground Memorial Site was designated a National Historic Landmark. The colonial African Burial Ground is one of the oldest and largest African descendent cemeteries excavated in North America to date. Estimates are that up to 20,000 people of African descent were buried in this 18th Century cemetery.
 

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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.