African Burial Ground Memorial Dedication, October 5th thru 6th, 2007, Lower Manhattan, NYC

African Burial Ground site: africanburialground.gov
National Park Services site: nps.gov

The 15,000 square-foot plot where the memorial is situated is but a small remnant of an expansive burial ground that served as the final resting place for enslaved and free Africans from the 1690s to the 1790s. As many 15,000 are buried in what is considered the largest colonial-era cemetery for blacks in the United States. The remains of 419 men, women and children that were excavated were reinterred in 2003 in seven carved wooden crypts. All the bodies were discovered with their heads to the west and their feet to the east, so the memorial itself is oriented along an east-west axis, off the Manhattan grid.

Schedule of Events:
Friday, October 5, 2007
1 p.m.
Grand Opening of the African Burial Ground National Monument Memorial
Duane Street between Broadway & African Burial Ground Way (Elk Street).

6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Greet the Torch
Castle Clinton & Battery Park
Drummers and a mass choir greet the ceremonial torch as it arrives from the Statue of Liberty.

8 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Candlelight Procession
Battery Park to Foley Square
Honor the Africans who helped build the city of New York by marching in a candlelight procession from Battery Park to the African Burial Ground Monument. Performances to follow at Foley Square.

Saturday, October 6, 2007
11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
International Tribute Concert
Foley Square
Performers from Africa and the African Diaspora celebrate the ancestors of the African Burial Ground.

October 8 - 12, 2007
Youth Week
African Burial Ground National Monument
Educational programs for youth. For class or group reservations, call the African Burial Ground National Monument at (212) 637-2019.


Rodney Leon is the heart and mind behind the design chosen for New York’s $3 million African Burial Ground Memorial. He is also president and co-founder of AARRIS Architects, an African-American firm specializing in residential, commercial and institutional design. Leon has accumulated more than a decade of experience in architectural design in the United States and abroad. He has a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the Pratt Institute School of Architecture and a master’s degree of architecture from Yale. A pan-Africanist at heart, he continues to “look for ways to incorporate cultural forms into architecture.”