• African Burial Ground National Memorial

    African Burial Ground

    National Monument New York

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A Sacred Space in Manhattan

From about the 1690s until 1794, both 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, later known as New York. Lost to history due to landfill and development, the grounds were rediscovered in 1991 as a consequence of the planned construction of a Federal office building.

Did You Know?

A map shows the African Burial Ground in relationship to the NYC street grid

The African Burial Ground, called the Negroes Burial Ground by the Dutch and English, was closed to make way for development and covered with landfill, concrete and buildings.