Harlem African Burial Ground
historic place
Here in Manhattan, you are at the Harlem African Burial Ground. This historic place served as a segregated cemetery for enslaved and freed Africans in the Dutch colony of Harlem. It was established in 1668 and maintained by the Elmendorf Reformed Church until 1858. For centuries, this burial ground was largely forgotten. Its existence became widely known in the late 1990s during planning for the Willis Avenue Bridge reconstruction. Archaeological surveys confirmed the site, which had been covered by later developments. In 2003, the ancestral remains of 410 individuals were ceremonially reinterred here. Now a designated city, state, and national landmark, the Harlem African Burial Ground connects us to early African American history in New York City.