African Burial Ground National Monument

From the 1690s until the 1790s, both free and enslaved Africans were buried in a 6.6 acre burial ground in Lower Manhattan, outside the boundaries of the settlement of New Amsterdam, later known as New York. Lost to history due to landfill and development, the grounds were rediscovered in 1991 as a consequence of the planned construction of a Federal office building. A memorial at the African Burial Ground National Monument stands in honor of the memories of the estimated 15,000 Africans buried at the site.