African Burial Ground National Monument

The African Burial Ground National Monument is a monument in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Located at Duane Street and African Burial Ground Way (Elk Street), it preserves the burial site of some 400 African Americans from the 17th and 18th centuries.

The monument is a 25-foot (7.6 m) granite monument titled The Door of Return, in reference to slave ports on the coasts of West Africa. It was designed by Haitian-American architect Rodney Leon and was dedicated in a ceremony presided by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and poet Maya Angelou.

African Burial Ground National Monument
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WTM3_PAT_M_IN_NYC_0027.jpg
Author: PAT M IN NYC


The history of slavery in the New York City area can be traced back to the Dutch when they established New Netherland in the early 1600s. Africans were imported only as slaves, but some became half-free during Dutch times, before New Amsterdam was captured by the British in 1664. Perth Amboy in New Jersey was a busy duty-free center for the importation of slaves. During the Revolutionary war, there were about 10,000 Africans in New York.

New York abolished slavery in 1827; New Jersey abolished slavery only gradually, substituting indentureship for slavery in 1804, and at the time of the American Civil War there were former slaves who were still "indentured for life" in New Jersey.

The remains of the Africans were found in 1991 when the Foley Square Federal Office Building was being constructed. This resulted in a stop work order to properly preserve the remains. The building had to be redesigned to provide room for a memorial. On April 19, 1993, the site was designated a National Historic Landmark.

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