African Burial Ground National Monument

New York, New York

African Burial Ground Monument, Manhattan, New York

Most important urban archeological project in the US.

African Burial Ground National Monument and African Burial Ground Way preserves a site originally known as the "Negroes Burial Ground.”  From about the 1690’s until 1794, both free and enslaved Africans were buried in a 6.6-acre burial ground in Lower Manhattan, outside the boundaries of the Dutch settlement of what was called New Amsterdam.  By the American Revolution, slaves constituted nearly a quarter of the population in the city, the second largest number of slaves in the nation after Charleston, South Carolina.

Lost to history, the grounds were rediscovered in 1991 and represent the largest colonial-era cemetery for people – 15,000 to 20,000 – of African descent.  The site's excavation was called "the most important historic urban archeological project in the U.S.” and today preserves the remains of more than 400 Africans.

In 2010, a visitor’s center was opened in the Ted Weiss Federal Building at 290 Broadway, which was built over part of the archaeological site.  The center includes a permanent exhibit, “Reclaiming Our History,” outlining the significance of the burial site.

Also in Manhattan is the Audubon Theater/Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Education Center where Malcom X was assassinated.  A prominent figure in the Nation of Islam, who articulated concepts of race pride and Black Nationalism in the early 1960s, Malcolm X split from the Nation of Islam in 1964.  After the firebombing of his home on Valentine's Day in 1965, X spoke at the Audubon Theatre a week later.  During his speech, three gunmen and members of The Nation of Islam stormed the stage, shooting him dead at close range.

The Center features a 63-foot mural depicting the life of Malcolm X and visitors can stand on the very spot where he was assassinated in 1965.  For more Black history and culture, visit the Studio Museum in Harlem or learn about the life of poet Langston Hughes at his Harlem home.