They Tried To Luxury Buildings On Top Of A Black Burial Ground

map of the area of excavation of the african burial ground
Briona Lamback
June 16, 2022

Some of New York’s most luxurious real estate sat atop thousands of Black bodies, hidden for centuries. We may have never known the truth – but when they discovered it, then tried to disregard history, our people stepped in.

20,000 people were buried between the 17th and 18th centuries in NYC’s African Burial Ground. Until the 90s, real estate developers hid the truth – but workers unearthed their remains while assembling a new federal building.  

This construction job wouldn’t go as planned.

We couldn’t just stand by and watch; our people raised Hell! The protests stopped construction and prompted a redesign that accommodated the burial ground instead of building over it. 

Once construction resumed, the community stuck around monitoring the building process, and pushed back when they mishandled the remains. What our people did next was truly remarkable.

They fought to turn the project over to a Black building team, and Haitian-American architect Rodney Leon designed the “Door Of Return” monument.

The skeletal remains already dug up were sent to Howard University for study before returning to their final resting place – in caskets handmade in Ghana.

White supremacy continues to abuse our bodies, even in death. We must resist all the ways white supremacy continues trying to bury us and our history!

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