JDizzle's African Burial Ground Essay

In 1991, the construction site found more than 400 men, women and children. The unlikely discovery turned out to be the largest black colonial grave-yard ever dug up in the United
States. Today, it is now known as the African Burial Ground Memorial. Located in lower Man-
hattan at Duane Street and Elk street, the memorial, which is also a national monument it
honors the memeories of the 15,000-20,000 free and enslaved Africans who were buried at
this African cemetry during the 17th and 18th centuries.

The Burial Ground, in an area known by historians as ''Little Africa'', offers proof that those free and enslaved Africans played a major role in the development of New Amsterdam, now known as New York City. The first Africans came to New Amsterdam in 1626 because The West India Company wanted to build up the colony but wanted to use cheap labor to do it. The male slaves
that came from the West Indies were taught to be artisans, craftsmen and skilled laborers
associated with shipping, construction and other trades in addition to being servants. They built
buildings, roads and walls [ including the Wall which Wall Street is named] but they also tended
flock and unload cargo ships. The females mainly did housework, things that were more involved in the house, like cleaning and cooking. Even though they were far away from home, the African
slaves still kept some of their rituals that they practiced back in Africa to deal with the pressure
of being slaves in New Amsterdam.

While the African slaves were here, some slaves, under Dutch rule, became half-free, with some freedom to do things like white people before New Amsterdam was captured by the British in 1664. At the time, New Amsterdam had the second highest population of enslaved slaves in the
United States. In 1827, New York abolished slavery but the burial ground remained until its dosure in 1812. Records of births and deaths were kept by churches, not by the colonial and early state governments but most church records were destroyed and some Africans were not church members, which is why it's hard for scientists and historians to figure out who those Africans are.

Out of the more than 400 that were found, 99% were infants and 40% of them were under the age of 12 which means the kids were worked to death. There are around 200 remains at the site that are not disturbed. The burial site takes up about 6.6 acres [ around 6 city blocks in those days]. It has been called one of the most important archaeological fins of our time.