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Text: Sacred Ground
Transcript
TEXT: Sacred Ground
From 1626 through the late 1700s, Africans and African descendants gathered when they could to bury their loved ones. The original “Negros Buriel Ground,” as it was labeled on a 1755 map, covered 6.6 acres and included the area that is today’s African Burial Ground National Monument. For most of the colonial era and even beyond, this was the only cemetery for some 15,000 Africans and African descendants.No accounts survive from the people who buried friends and loved ones here, but we know quite a bit about the cemetery’s history. A 1697 British law banned African burials in New York City’s public cemetery, so the African burial ground lay north of the city limits near a ravine. In 1745 the city expanded northward, and a new defensive wall — the “palisade” — bisected the sacred burial ground.Colonial laws prohibited enslaved Africans from gathering in groups of 12 or more or holding burials after sunset. Although these laws made funerals essentially illegal, Africans managed to adhere to their traditions. They buried their dead individually in coffins, heads toward the west, so as to face east when they arose in the afterlife. Straight pins secured the burial shrouds; coins covered closed eyes. Some burials also included reflective objects, buttons, jewelry, and shells. One young child wore a silver pendant around the neck. A woman with front teeth filed in an hourglass shape had beads placed around her waist. A man’s coffin lid had a heart-shaped pattern—perhaps a Sankofa — created with brass tacks and nails.The city closed the African burial ground in the 1790s and divided the land into lots for sale. Over the next two centuries, the growth of New York City obscured the graves. Layers of buildings and fill material covered and protected the human remains until the burial ground’s rediscovery in 1991.
Description
TEXT: Sacred Ground From 1626 through the late 1700s, Africans and African descendants gathered when they could to bury their loved ones. The original “Negros Buriel Ground,” as it was labeled on a 1755 map, covered 6.6 acres and included the area that is today’s African Burial Ground National Monument. For most of the colonial era and even beyond, this was the only cemetery for some 15,000 Africans and African descendants.No accounts survive from the people who buried friends and loved ones here, but we know quite a bit about the cemetery’s history. A 1697 British law banned African burials in New York City’s public cemetery, so the African burial ground lay north of the city limits near a ravine. In 1745 the city expanded northward, and a new defensive wall — the “palisade” — bisected the sacred burial ground.Colonial laws prohibited enslaved Africans from gathering in groups of 12 or more or holding burials after sunset. Although these laws made funerals essentially illegal, Africans managed to adhere to their traditions. They buried their dead individually in coffins, heads toward the west, so as to face east when they arose in the afterlife. Straight pins secured the burial shrouds; coins covered closed eyes. Some burials also included reflective objects, buttons, jewelry, and shells. One young child wore a silver pendant around the neck. A woman with front teeth filed in an hourglass shape had beads placed around her waist. A man’s coffin lid had a heart-shaped pattern—perhaps a Sankofa — created with brass tacks and nails.The city closed the African burial ground in the 1790s and divided the land into lots for sale. Over the next two centuries, the growth of New York City obscured the graves. Layers of buildings and fill material covered and protected the human remains until the burial ground’s rediscovery in 1991.
Duration
2 minutes, 7 seconds
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