For more information: African Burial Ground Project, Office of Public Education & Interpretation of the African Burial Ground, 6 World Trade Center, Room 239, U.S. Customs House, New York, NY 10048. Telephone: (212) 432-5707, Fax: (212) 432-5920.

E-mail: NYABG@worldnet.att.net

African Burial Ground, corner of Duane and Elk Streets.
PHOTO: K.A. Donovan

This simple plot of land 200 yards from City Hall on the corner of Elk and Duane Streets may be the most important African burial grounds ever excavated in the history of the United States.

It is certainly the biggest. From the late 1600s to 1794, between 10,000 to 20,000 slaves and free people of African descent were buried here. In 1991, the burial grounds were uncovered.

Over 407 human remains have been analyzed. The remains of 200 people were re-interred immediately.