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Historical Perspectives of the African Burial Ground New York Blacks and the Diaspora
Medford, Edna G.
Medford, Edna G.
Abstract
The unearthing of the colonial cemetery known historically as the “Negroes Burying Ground” in Lower Manhattan in 1991 has given both scholars and the general public the opportunity to study and comprehend the broad dimensions of the African American experience. The African Burial Ground and the human remains contained within it provide a unique vantage point from which to view New York City’s Africans and their descendants over two centuries. As the final resting place for thousands of enslaved and free black people who lived and labored in the city from roughly 1627 until the end of the eighteenth century, the cemetery offers insight into physical stressors, ethnic identity, cultural continuities, and assimilation. Each burial in and of itself tells an individual story. When considered collectively, however, in combination with archival evidence, these burials enable us to reconstruct a forgotten community and reveal the centrality of a marginalized people.
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2009-01-01
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Howard University Press: in association with the General Services Administration
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Africana Studies