State and city officials, community activists, and historians came together on the Park Slope/Gowanus border yesterday to advocate for a thorough investigation into the possibility that a lot on 193 9th Street was once a burial ground for enslaved Africans.
State Senator Jesse Hamilton (D-Central Brooklyn) and Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon (D-Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus, Boerum Hill) met with preservationists and advocates to make clear their support for a full and fair investigation into the space. They said the lot also contained the remains of 256 Maryland soldiers who died during battle in the Revolutionary War.
“We believe very strongly that there are remains here at this site, both of the Marylanders and of people who were enslaved to owners here in Brooklyn,” said Simon. “It is so critically important for ourselves, our society, our history, and our schoolchildren, to know what lies beneath here.”
The group insisted that before any plans for the construction of a school on the site should be carried out, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation must dig deeper into the possibility of historic remains.
According to Wikipedia, enslavement of overwhelmingly African people in the United States, began in New York as part of the Dutch slave trade, and the Dutch West India Company imported 11 African slaves to New Amsterdam (New York City) in 1626. The last slaves in New York were freed on July 4, 1827.
“We cannot have a school built on a foundation of ignorance. We can’t teach our children history, if we do not understand history ourselves,” said Hamilton. “Our history, even though it may be painful, cannot be overlooked. It cannot be buried, and the burial sites cannot be desecrated.”
Speakers argued that the idea of a burial ground was not unprecedented, and said that the office must explore all historical evidence, such as the diary of Adriance Van Brunt, a member of a 19th century Brooklyn slaveholding family. They added that though there had been a dig in July, future archeological digging must go deeper, as the land of Park Slope had been leveled out in recent history.
“This is not a new discovery,” said Bob Furman, President of the Brooklyn Preservation Council, citing work as early as the 1860s that referenced the lot as a burial ground for Marylanders and enslaved Africans. “There have been people working on this since they began to develop a city here in the 1850s.”
The Maryland 400 was a group of soldiers who fought during the Battle of Brooklyn in 1776, making it possible for General George Washington to retreat to Manhattan.
The speakers said they were confident that 193 9th Street had been the location of a mass grave for 256 soldiers. In 2015, Hamilton and Simon brought legislation meant to preserve the site and acknowledge its historical importance.
The group insisted that above all, it was crucial to acknowledge Brooklyn’s historical part in both the Revolutionary War and the slave trade.
“This city is just so full of untapped history, that it’s time for us to start dialoging,” said Shawne’ Lee, Director of Friends of 227 Abolitionist Place Museum Heritage Center in Downtown Brooklyn. “It’s time to just try to heal some of the wounds, don’t cover them up. It’s going to hurt, but we really have to take initiative to come together and just start talking.”
“Our nation’s history is intricately linked with the abhorrent practice of slavery,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams in reference to the press conference. “At a time when the country is so bitterly divided on the appropriate approach to righting this historical wrong, it is imperative that New York stands for preserving history and protecting truth.”
The group also cited concerns that AKRF, the firm tasked with investigating the historical significance of the site, was not motivated to preserve or protect the potential remains. They referenced an AKRF report for the city’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) discrediting the possibility that buildings scheduled for demolition in downtown Brooklyn had been connected to the Underground Railroad.
“We remain highly critical of AKRF, since their report of the Abolitionist history of Downtown Brooklyn contained some glaring problems,” said Lee. “We do not believe this company has the capacity or the motivation to properly investigate Brooklyn’s connection to enslaved Africans.”
Hamilton emphasized the importance of understanding and preserving the complex, and often difficult to swallow, history of New York as well as the greater United States. He referenced recent protests and violence in Charlottesville, sparked by the removal of a statue of General Robert E. Lee.
“This country is at a flashpoint, because people are fighting to preserve the legacy of General Lee and the confederates, but at the same time when it comes to people who were enslaved, brutalized and tortured, we want to overlook that point and say okay that really never happened,” said Hamilton. “People don’t want to admit that this country was built on the slave trade.”
