Boston Globe - Saturday, October 4, 2003

COLONIAL AFRICAN-AMERICANS' REMAINS SET FOR REBURIAL

By: Tatsha Robertson, Globe Staff

NEW YORK - Anthropologists and archeologists determined that one grave contained a young woman who had twisted, snapped wrists and a bullet lodged in her ribs. In another was a man laid to rest with coins on his eyes, an African custom. A third gravesite at the Colonial-era burial ground for slaves and freed blacks in lower Manhattan belonged to a woman holding a child in her arms.

The remains of 419 African-Americans who three centuries ago worked and lived in the area will be reburied today in the same spot near Wall Street where they were accidentally unearthed 12 years ago by federal workers constructing an office building. A thousand people gathered in Wall Street yesterday and followed five horse-drawn carriages that carried dozens of coffins to the burial site at 290 Broadway.

Extensive research on that burial ground, what one federal agency called "the most important urban archeological undertaking in the nation," has provided a unique peek into the lives of enslaved African-Americans in the Colonial North and challenged traditional thinking about slavery in cities like Boston and New York.

Researchers have learned that the burial ground, which closed in 1794, is part of a larger one that stretches five blocks and is encircled by the State Supreme Court, the federal Courthouse, and City Hall. A total of 20,000 Africans or African-Americans are believed to be buried there, a finding historians say proves that a much larger black population lived in New York during the 18th century than previously believed.

"I was raised in New York, and, of course, my understanding of African captivity in the North was there wasn't any," said Warren Perry, archeological director of the African Burial Ground project. "It just didn't happen here. This was the free, white North, and Africans were treated like family.

"Well, the remains indicate they were not treated like family. These skeletons have all kinds of trauma."

After the remains are lowered into the ground today at the end of a weeklong commemoration in Washington, D.C., Delaware, and New Jersey, DNA, photographs of the remains, and scores of artifacts found in the coffins - waist beads, cowry shells, necklaces, and bracelets - will be examined for years to come. A team of the nation's top anthropologists and archeologists are reviewing an unreleased report by Howard University, which conducted bio-skeletal research of the site.

"I have been in this field for 32 years as a historical archeologist, and I don't know of any archeological site more important to the United States," said Michael Trimble, archeological director for the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Several blocks away, Perry, a professor at Central Connecticut State University, and a small team of archeologists, were cataloging small pieces of pottery found at the burial ground. Perry, who is African-American, became involved with the project in 1991 when he was a graduate student. Then, there were only two black archeologists with doctorates in the nation. (He said there are currently six.) Community leaders knocked on his door in the middle of the night to ask for his help.

Back then, the federal government and the black community clashed. The US General Services Administration, the organization overseeing the project, temporarily stopped the construction of the office building after the remains were discovered. Some African-American leaders contended that GSA should have built the office building elsewhere. They pressured GSA to conduct research, and also accused the organization of leaving them out of important decisions and the research. In recent years, the relationship has improved, and nearly every
Scientist involved with the project has knowledge of the African diaspora.

During the ceremony yesterday, David Dinkins, who was mayor at the time of the discovery, said that in the 18th century, the burial site was not considered part of New York City.

"Two centuries ago, not only could African-Americans not hope to govern New York City, they could not hope to be buried in city limits," said Dinkins, the city's first black mayor.

Specialists said the findings demonstrate how Africans evolved into the African-Americans of today.

Anthropologists and archeologists now believe many of those buried in the gravesite were born in Africa rather than North America. Perry said scientists have matched DNA samples of people from Ghana and the Ivory Coast to some of the remains. Some of the dead suffered from tropical diseases they could have contracted only in the Caribbean or in other warmer climates. At least 18 of the skeletal remains contained teeth that had been filed in the same designs seen only in Africa, said Perry.

During the ceremony yesterday, Michael Blakey, the African Burial Ground director, said the slaves had come from across Africa. They lived in poverty, eating cornmeal and porridge, bread and lard. Most of them are believed to have worked for fur traders and farmers. Historians believed they helped build a protective wall in the area now known as Wall Street.

Perry emphasized that many were treated brutally. The face of the woman with a bullet lodged in her side had been smashed. Perry said at least 70 percent of the adults suffered a condition where the muscles along the neck area are detached. He said the condition is usually seen in weight lifters or people who consistently carry loads too heavy for them.

"We have lived and worked with these bones," Perry said. "I can't tell you how many times we cried as we stood over them."

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