LARGEST -- Excavated African Cemetery - New York, NY - Superlatives on Waymarking.com

The plaque says, "The African Burial Ground was active until 1794. With an area of not quite six acres, perhaps as many as 20,000 people were interred, mostly free or enslaved Africans. During the 18th century, one in ten residents of New York was African descent, and slavery was widespread in and near the city. The institution of slavery was officially abolished in New York on July 4th, 1827, which was celebrated the next day, July 5th by a parade through the city of hundreds of African-Americans. However, enslaved persons were in fact held in New York beyond that date.

Though old city maps show an African Burial Ground near Broadway and Chambers Street, it was not until 1991 that anyone realized thousands of burials still existed 20 feet below street level. Further investigation confirmed that this was one of New York City's major Colonial-era sites: an African burial ground dating back to the 19th and possibly even 17th century, it is one of the very few surviving anywhere in the Americas, and now the largest known excavated African cemetery in the world. The burials were discovered by archeologists digging in advance of construction of a new Federal office building. When bulldozers moved in, protests and congressional heads led to an Act of Congress that stopped the desecration. Now designated as a city, state, and national landmark, the African Burial Ground testifies to the centuries-old history of African American New York. The ancestral remains of 419 African men, women, and children were ceremonially reinterred on October 4, 2003"

Type of documentation of superlative status: Plaque Location of coordinates: Plaque Web Site: Not listed

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