Owned in Life, No Longer Owned in Death: Remembering the Ancestors at the Pine Street African Burial Ground

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Community Engaged Bioarchaeology: Centering Descendants" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Established in 1750 on the outskirts of Kingston, NY, the Pine Street African Burial Ground was consumed in the process of urban expansion by the mid-1850s and now sits in the backyard of a residential neighborhood. Despite the importance of Kingston in the history of New York, relatively little is known about the African American experience in the city. In this presentation, we will briefly summarize what is currently known regarding the early history of the burial ground before highlighting recent efforts to preserve the site, including the purchase and stewardship of the land by Harambee, a Kingston-based, African American–run community group. Harambee has implemented a multiyear, multifaceted plan for the Burial Ground including: development of an on-site community center and museum, design and creation of a public memorial, and a program of educational outreach pertaining to the history and centrality of African Americans in Kingston and the Hudson Valley more broadly. We will then discuss how bioarchaeological research connects and contributes to these overarching goals of Harambee, presenting results based on two seasons of excavation.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Community Engaged Bioarchaeology: Centering Descendants   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 40137.0