African Burial Ground National Monument

Happy Independence Day Trinidad and Tobago! On this day in 1962, Trinidad and Tobago gained independence from Great Britain. Dr. Eric Williams, the first Prime Minister of the Independent Nation of Trinidad and Tobago, gave the first Independence Day address on August 31, 1962. In it he said, "You are on your own in a big world, in which you are one of many nations, some small, some medium size, some large. You are nobody's boss and nobody is your boss. What use will you make of your independence? What will you transmit to your children five years from today?" Dr. Williams studied history at Oxford University, and he attained his doctorate in 1938. He published his doctoral work in Capitalism and Slavery. As Dr. Williams said, “Slavery was not born of racism; rather, racism was the consequence of slavery.”

Join us at the African Burial Ground National Monument on Monday, September 2, 2024, in Recognizing Black Labor Leaders on Labor Day. Come be inspired by Black labor leaders and learn about their important contributions to the labor movement. The African Burial Ground National Monument Visitor Center will be open on Labor Day from 10 am until 4 pm, and we'll feature a special activity in the visitor center throughout the day.

Image: A. Philip Randolph
Image Credit: Library of Congress

The outdoor memorial of the African Burial Ground has reopened. The outdoor memorial is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 am until 5 pm through September 2, 2024. Beginning on September 3, 2024, the outdoor memorial will be open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 am until 4 pm, weather permitting.

Attention Visitors: Please be advised that the monument area at African Burial Ground is temporarily closed until further notice, due to maintenance activities. However, the Visitor Center remains open to the public with a normal operating schedule. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Cadwallader Colden served as the governor of New York from 1760-1762 and from 1763-1765. He is often remembered as the governor in office at the time of the Stamp Act of 1765. What isn't usually talked about is that he was an enslaver.

In December of 1721, Cadwallader Colden placed an ad in the newspaper, as he was looking to purchase three enslaved Africans. He wanted to enslave an African girl about 13 years old to care for his children and sew. He also wanted two African men about 18 years old who were "strong and well-made for labor." Cadwallader Colden studied as a scientist and was a colonial governor. We'll never know what the three individuals of African descent might have accomplished, as they were never given the same opportunities.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons (donated as part of a project by the Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Happy Jamaica Independence Day! This year, Jamaica celebrates 62 years of independence.

We also recognize and remember the connection between Caribbean countries like Jamaica and the African Burial Ground in New York. By the mid-1800s, more than 11 million Africans had been kidnapped from their homelands and enslaved in the Americas and the Caribbean. Many of these Africans were sent first to the Caribbean before being transported against their will to New York.

Peter Williams, Sr. was a highly regarded sexton of the John Street United Methodist Church. He lived in New York prior to and during the Revolutionary War. Peter Williams, Sr. sided with the patriots, but his enslaver was a British loyalist. What choices do you think Peter Williams, Sr. was faced with during the Revolutionary War? You can learn more about Peter Williams, Sr. at the African Burial Ground National Monument. Our visitor center is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 am until 4:00 pm.

Today we honor Emmett Till, on what would have been his 83rd birthday.

In 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till traveled to Money, Mississippi, to visit relatives. He was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered after reportedly whistling at a white woman. His mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, insisted on an open-casket funeral near their hometown of Chicago. Her brave decision let the world see the racist violence inflicted upon her son and set the Civil Rights Movement into motion.

Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument (U.S. National Park Service) In 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till traveled to Money, Mississippi, to visit relatives. He was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered after reportedly whistling at a white woman. His mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, insisted on an open-casket funeral near their hometown of Chicago. Her brave decision let the worl...

The African Burial Ground National Monument is a result of community activism. To learn about the activism that created the African Burial Ground National Monument click below.

https://www.nps.gov/afbg/learn/historyculture/activism.htm

Image Credit: NPS

Interested in volunteering with the African Burial Ground National Monument? Visit volunteer.gov to apply for a volunteer position.

Today will be another hot one. Please remember to take care of yourself in the heat by drinking water, wearing sunblock, and seeking shade.

The African Burial Ground National Monument offers group tours! Visit recreation.gov to make your reservation.

Image Caption: MTA employees visit the African Burial Ground National Monument on Juneteenth 2024.
Image Credit: NPS

Happy Birthday Mayor David Dinkins (1927-2020)

In 1989, Mayor David Dinkins was elected as New York City’s first African American mayor. Mayor Dinkins was responsible for convening the Mayor's African Burial Ground Committee. The committee advocated for the preservation of the African Burial Ground, one of the largest burial grounds of free and enslaved Africans. The committee would later become the Federal Steering Committee on the African Burial Ground in New York City. He said of the African Burial Ground:

“Millions of Americans celebrate Ellis Island as the symbol of their communal identity in this land. Others celebrate Plymouth Rock. Until a few years ago, African American New Yorkers had no site to call our own. There was no place which said, we were here, we contributed, we played a significant role in New York's history right from the beginning. . . Now we—their descendants—have the symbol of our heritage embodied in the lower Manhattan's African Burial Ground. The African Burial Ground is the irrefutable testimony to the contributions and suffering of our ancestors.”



Image Caption: Mayor David Dinkins
Image Credit: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

The African Burial Ground National Monument offers Jr. Ranger Books and Scavenger Hunts for kids to complete while visiting.

When did slavery end in New York and what does it have to do with Independence Day? Learn more by visiting the link below.

https://history.nycourts.gov/when-did-slavery-end-in-new-york/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR38c3bMWmVBwUR_ta7t54SDPM1JOcGiuLmlKGtTrpJedWfqM6K-_q5WwUs_aem__65sp2nsjCpw3ScWgjlAeg

When Did Slavery End in New York? - Historical Society of the New York Courts This article was written by Craig A. Landy, a partner at NYC firm Peckar & Abramson, PC. Mr. Landy talks more extensively about this … More When Did Slavery End in New York? »

What to the Slave is the 4th of July?

Taking the platform at Corinthian Hall, Frederick Douglass did not even know his age. Somewhere in his thirties, this titan of history was standing in Rochester, New York to do what he did best – use his words to craft America’s future. In 1852, Frederick Douglass was invited to offer a Fourth of July Address to a gathered audience. He had made quite the name for himself over recent years. Traveling across the United States, he had roused audiences far and wide. The roar of his voice called millions to action rather than complacency. The fire in his eyes left many awestruck, as one witness described him as “majestic in his wrath.” Now, he had risked his own life to publish the evils of enslavement. He gave names, dates, and locations. He spoke so much truth – many could not handle it and on the advice of allies, he fled internationally where he railed for nearly two years against America’s dastardly addiction to trafficking in human flesh. Back in America by the later 1840s, his newspaper The North Star was in operation and Frederick Douglass stood front and center as the dominant voice on the evils of slavery and the need for the United States of America to have a reckoning.

For this Fourth of July 1852, America’s most famous Black man was asked to do what he had done many times before: stand on the stage of Rochester’s Corinthian Hall and speak his mind. He agreed, but on one condition. He would speak on the fifth of July, not the fourth.

1852 was an election year. Most Presidents had failed Douglass’s test of humanity as they largely participated in, or at least tolerated, the powers of white supremacy that continued the enslavement of human beings. The 1850 Compromise was fresh in the rear-view mirror as well. This Compromise included a much strengthened so-called, Fugitive Slave Act. To appease enslavers, the Fugitive Slave Act increased the frequency, legality, and compulsion to hunt human beings seeking to control their own destiny. As Douglass railed with his pen and voice against these governmental evils, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” made its debut. Though a novel, it continued spreading themes mirroring those of which Douglass was speaking. Douglass knew about all this when the invitation to speak arrived.

Who did the invitation come from?
Douglass was invited by the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Sewing Society. These long-time allies of Douglass were deeply involved in his work. These women created the Society the summer before looking to re-ignite and unify scattered anti-slavery efforts in upstate New York. Their charter announced, “Slavery is an evil that ought not to exist and is a violation of the inalienable rights of man.” They sponsored many of Douglass’s speeches and were anxious to support his North Star newspaper. Mr. Douglass, currently having some financial struggles, was grateful for this partnership to continue this crucial anti-slavery weapon. Rochester Ladies Society’s earliest fundraising went straight to support Douglass’s work. Mr. Douglass’s top business partner, Julia Griffiths, was one of the Society’s first officers and he was a regular speaker at their events. They were great allies.

When he confirmed his willingness to come on July 5th – the 25th anniversary of New York state’s full abolition – Douglass had a lot on his mind. The Society sent out invitations: “On Monday, July 5th, at 10 oClock, A.M., The friends of Freedom will Assemble in Corinthian Hall, For the purpose of Commemorating the Glorious Declaration of 1776, Made and signed by the Immortal Band of Hero Patriots, Who for the Maintenance of the Principles set forth in that Declaration, pledged Without Compromise their Lives, their fortunes, and their Sacred Honor. After the reading of the Declaration of Independence, an Oration will be delivered by Frederick Douglass, Once a Slave, but now a firm supporter of the principles of the Declaration. NB. Refreshments may be obtained in the room below the Hall.”

The mighty Douglass – self emancipated husband, father, and world-renowned activist - arose confident, committed, and collected. As he pondered the meaning of the Fourth of July to America, he spoke not only to that audience in Corinthian Hall on July 5, 1852. He spoke across time and space, to generations he would never see. He spoke to the future.

Image Caption: A daguerreotype of Frederick Douglass from August 1852, one month after he delivered the speech, "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?"
Image Credit: PUBLIC DOMAIN

We're open for Independence Day! The Visitor Center will be open from 10 am-4 pm and the Outdoor Monument will be open from 10 am-5 pm on July 4th, 2024.

Congratulations to all the M139 Stephen T. Mather Building Arts & Craftsmanship High School 2024 graduates! Alyssa (pictured) is one of the grads who interned with the this past spring. Congratulations Alyssa!

Thank you, Black Comic Books Express Bookstore, for hosting a table at this year's Juneteenth Celebration!

Image Caption: Black Comic Books Express Bookstore representatives host a Juneteenth table.
Image Credit: NPS/ELIZABETH LaROCHELLE

Please enjoy our photo from Juneteenth of a dancer from TORCH Dance Theatre.

Image Caption: A dancer performs in front of the Outdoor Memorial.
Image Credit: NPS/ELIZABETH LaROCHELLE

Happy Juneteenth from the ! We are celebrating from 11 am-3:30 pm today at the Outdoor Memorial on Duane Street.

11 am- Opening Remarks with Supervisory Ranger Ramon Mangual

11:05 am- Libation with Cyril Innis Jr.

11:20 am- Singing of "Lift Every Voice and Sing"

11:30 am- Juneteenth Program presented by Professor Laurie Woodard

12 noon- Musical Performance by Sammulous

1 pm- "Listen"- An afro-futurist collaborative performance piece
fusing poetry, dance, instrumental music, and vocals. This work embodies ancestral memory, propelling momentum of a shape shifting world only we can create. Challenging the audience to envision a world of possibilities outside of the current torturous cycle of racism. Performed by Bridges: A Pan-Afrikan ARTS Movement.

1:30 pm- Juneteenth Game Show presented by Bridges: A Pan-Afrikan ARTS Movement. Come with us back and forward through time as we remember and recognize ourselves in our ancestors. This is a hands-on Black History Game for the entire family. Laugh, learn, and play with history, culture, and community changemakers. Wield the power of true liberation.

2 pm- Dance Performance by TORCH Dance Theatre

2:30 pm- Outdoor Memorial Tour with Ranger Emily Welch

3 pm- Orientation Tour with Ranger Emily Welch

Tables:
Comic Book Table
INTACT Agricultural Initiative
Bridges: A Pan-Afrikan ARTS Movement
NYC Civic Engagement

Juneteenth is almost here! Please join us tomorrow, Wednesday, June 19th, for our annual Juneteenth Celebration at the Outdoor Monument on Duane Street. Please remember to stay safe in the heat and bring water and sunblock with you to the event. Water fountains, bathrooms, and air conditioning will be available inside the Visitor Center at 290 Broadway.

11 am- Opening Remarks with Supervisory Ranger Ramon Mangual

11:05 am- Libation with Cyril Innis Jr.

11:20 am- Singing of "Lift Every Voice and Sing"

11:30 am- Juneteenth Program presented by Professor Laurie Woodard

12 noon- Musical Performance by Sammulous

1 pm- "Listen"- An afro-futurist collaborative performance piece fusing poetry, dance, instrumental music, and vocals. This work embodies ancestral memory, propelling momentum of a shape shifting world only we can create. Challenging the audience to envision a world of possibilities outside of the current torturous cycle of racism. Performed by Bridges: A Pan-Afrikan ARTS Movement.

1:30 pm- Juneteenth Game Show presented by Bridges: A Pan-Afrikan ARTS Movement. Come with us back and forward through time as we remember and recognize ourselves in our ancestors. This is a hands-on Black History Game for the entire family. Laugh, learn, and play with history, culture, and community changemakers. Wield the power of true liberation.

2 pm- Dance Performance by TORCH Dance Theatre

2:30 pm- Outdoor Memorial Tour with Ranger Emily Welch

3 pm- Orientation Tour with Ranger Emily Welch

Tables:
Comic Book Table
INTACT Agricultural Initiative
Bridges: A Pan-Afrikan ARTS Movement
NYC Civic Engagement

is four days away! Rangers are getting the site ready for our big celebration on Wednesday, June 19, 2024!

11 am- Opening Remarks with Supervisory Ranger Ramon Mangual

11:05 am- Libation with Cyril Innis Jr.

11:20 am- Singing of "Lift Every Voice and Sing"

11:30 am- Juneteenth Program presented by Professor Laurie Woodard

12 noon- Musical Performance by Sammulous

1 pm- "Listen"- An afro-futurist collaborative performance piece fusing poetry, dance, instrumental music, and vocals. This work embodies ancestral memory, propelling momentum of a shape shifting world only we can create. Challenging the audience to envision a world of possibilities outside of the current torturous cycle of racism. Performed by Bridges: A Pan-Afrikan ARTS Movement.

1:30 pm- Juneteenth Game Show presented by Bridges: A Pan-Afrikan ARTS Movement. Come with us back and forward through time as we remember and recognize ourselves in our ancestors. This is a hands-on Black History Game for the entire family. Laugh, learn, and play with history, culture, and community changemakers. Wield the power of true liberation.

2 pm- Dance Performance by TORCH Dance Theatre

2:30 pm- Outdoor Memorial Tour with Ranger Emily Welch

3 pm- Orientation Tour with Ranger Emily Welch

Tables:
Comic Book Table
INTACT Agricultural Initiative
Bridges: A Pan-Afrikan ARTS Movement
Kinfolk
NYC Civic Engagement

in 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson Nominates Thurgood Marshall to the US Supreme Court

Thurgood Marshall led a life in the pursuit of equality and was on a path destined to lead him to the US Supreme Court. As chief council for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), he helped to lay the groundwork that led to the Brown v. Board of Education decision. As a US Supreme Court justice, he devoted his life to obtaining equal rights for all.

When Marshall enrolled at Howard University Law School in Washington D.C., his life forever changed. This is where he met Charles Hamilton Houston, the assistant dean of the law school and his mentor. Students were being groomed in civil rights law, and many would go on to be leaders in the field. As a top student, Marshall was able to work in the law library, giving him an opportunity to do more research, and to work personally with Houston. This would not be the last time that Marshall would work with and learn from Charles Hamilton Houston.

In 1949, Marshall, as a representative of the NAACP, met with Black residents of Clarendon County, South Carolina, and determined that if enough plaintiffs could be found, they would use this as a test case for ending segregation in schools. While it would have been easy to say that the schools were not equal, this was one of the first cases that used the NAACP’s new strategy to attack the segregation itself. By using social sciences, they were going to demonstrate that segregation had a detrimental effect on the students. Separate facilities cannot be equal. Marhsall once said “Equal means getting the same thing, at the same time and in the same place.” This is what Marshall was hoping to achieve. In the courtroom, he took the offensive, and had a sense of control while arguing the Briggs case. On May 17, 1954, the unanimous US Supreme Court decision was read that ended legal segregation in public schools.

Although Marshall gained fame through the Brown decision, his career was far from over. On October 2, 1967, Thurgood Marshall climbed the stairs to the highest court in our country, put on the majestic black robe, and walked into the court room to become the first African American justice on the US Supreme Court. During his 23 years on the court, he continued to speak for the rights of every American by looking at constitutional rights for all citizens.

Image Caption: Thurgood Marshall
Image Credit: Thurgood Marshall was the U.S. Supreme Court's 96th justice and the first African American justice.
From Library of Congress, prints and photographs division (LC-DIG-ds-11820)

Celebrating Pride Month: Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde was born in New York City in 1934. She is the author of 12 poetry collections, including Coal (1976), The Black Unicorn (1978), and The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde (1997). She is also the author of five volumes of prose, including The Cancer Journals (1980), which won the 1982 Gay Caucus Book of the Year award; and A Burst of Light (1988), which won a National Book Award. Lorde received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Creative Artists Public Service Program, as well as the Broadside Poets Award from Broadside Press, the Borough of Manhattan President’s Award for literary excellence, and the New York State Walt Whitman Citation of Merit. From 1961-1968, Lorde was a librarian in New York public schools. She served as a writer-in-residence at Tougaloo College in Mississippi and taught at John Jay College and Hunter College. Lorde was a co-founder of Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press and a founding member of Sisters in Support of Sisters in South Africa. Audre Lorde died in 1992.

Audre Lorde Audre LordeAudre Lorde was born in New York City in 1934. She is the author of 12 poetry collections, including Coal (1976), The Black Unicorn (1978), and The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde (1997). She is also the author of five volumes of prose, including The Cancer Journals (1980), which won the 1...

We're open! You can visit the Visitor Center from 10 am to 4 pm today (6/8/24). The Outside Monument is open from 10 am to 5 pm. Rangers are offering tours throughout the day!

Celebrating Pride Month: James Baldwin

James Baldwin made important and lasting contributions to American literature and social history. As a gay Black author, civil rights activist, and social commentator, he shaped discussions about race and sexuality. He was active in literary, political, and social circles, influencing all of them. His biographer called him “the most prominent writer to chronicle and critique the US Civil Rights movement.”

James Baldwin was born in Harlem in 1924. From childhood through the late 1940s, he lived in several apartments in Harlem and Greenwich Village. From these apartments, he published his first novels. Due to racial tensions in the United States, and especially to his personal experiences, Baldwin moved to France. He described himself as a “transatlantic commuter,” traveling often between the United States and France. His work continued to focus on America’s ongoing struggles with race. In 1965, he bought a building in New York City. From here, he wrote and spoke extensively about the Civil Rights movement and the reality of Black lives in America.

More than thirty years after his death, James Baldwin’s work and commentary continue to be relevant. They are often referenced in discussions about marginalized community.



Image Caption: James Baldwin photographed by Carl Van Vechten, September 13, 1955.
Image Credit: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

in 1921, Greenwood African American community of Tulsa, Oklahoma was destroyed by a racist mob. The riot began after an alleged assault by a young African American man on a white female, although many newly discovered accounts suggest the incident was little more than an accidental step on the woman's toes. White law enforcement officials deputized an additional 500 white men to enter into the Greenwood district of Tulsa, an all-African American middle-class neighborhood, and burnt it to the ground. By the time federal troops arrived to put down the uprising, over 300 African Americans were dead and over 1,200 homes were destroyed.

The aftermath of the Tulsa Race Riot found African Americans with rejected insurance claims against burned homes and redacted newspaper accounts in archival collections. The state and local governments made extensive efforts to suppress widespread reporting of the riot or removed records of it in historical accounts. African American attorneys like Elisha Scott of Topeka worked to resolve petitions by African Americans who lost homes and relatives to the riot.
https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/nnps/tulsa_riot.pdf

The will offer a full day of programming on Juneteenth (Wednesday, June 19th)!

11 am- Opening Remarks with Supervisory Ranger Ramon Mangual

11:05 am- Libation with Cyril Innis Jr.

11:20 am- Singing of "Lift Every Voice and Sing"

11:30 am- Juneteenth Program presented by Professor Laurie Woodard

12 noon- Musical Performance by Sammulous

1 pm- "Listen"- An afro-futurist collaborative performance piece fusing poetry, dance, instrumental music, and vocals. This work embodies ancestral memory, propelling momentum of a shape shifting world only we can create. Challenging the audience to envision a world of possibilities outside of the current torturous cycle of racism. Performed by Bridges: A Pan-Afrikan ARTS Movement.

1:30 pm- Juneteenth Game Show presented by Bridges: A Pan-Afrikan ARTS Movement. Come with us back and forward through time as we remember and recognize ourselves in our ancestors. This is a hands-on Black History Game for the entire family. Laugh, learn, and play with history, culture, and community changemakers. Wield the power of true liberation.

2 pm- Dance Performance by TORCH Dance Theatre

2:30 pm- Outdoor Memorial Tour with Ranger Emily Welch

3 pm- Orientation Tour with Ranger Emily Welch

Tables:

Comic Book Table
INTACT Agricultural Initiative
Bridges: A Pan-Afrikan ARTS Movement
Kinfolk
NYC Civic Engagement