University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Theses (Historic Preservation) Graduate Program in Historic Preservation 1-1-2006 Redesigning Civic Memory: The African Burial Ground in Lower Manhattan Sarah R. Katz University of Pennsylvania Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses Part of the Historic Preservation and Conservation Commons Katz, Sarah R., "Redesigning Civic Memory: The African Burial Ground in Lower Manhattan" (2006). Theses (Historic Preservation). 10. https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/10 Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Historic Preservation 2006. Advisor: Randall F. Mason This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/10 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Redesigning Civic Memory: The African Burial Ground in Lower Manhattan Disciplines Historic Preservation and Conservation Comments Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Historic Preservation 2006. Advisor: Randall F. Mason This thesis or dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/10 REDESIGNING CIVIC MEMORY: THE AFRICAN BURIAL GROUND IN LOWER MANHATTAN Sarah Rachel Katz ATHESIS in Historic Preservation Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION 2006 Advisor Reader Randall F. Mason, John Dixon Hunt, Associate Professor of Architecture Professor of the History and Theory of Landscape Frank G. Matero, Professor of Architecture Program Chair Acknowledgements I would like to thank my advisors, Randall F. Mason and John Dixon Hunt, for their guidance and feedback during the thesis process and throughout graduate school. Dennis Montagna at the Northeast Regional Office of the National Park Service provided invaluable information about plans for administration, interpretation, and memorialization at the African Burial Ground. A tremendous thanks to my parents, Edda and Michael Katz, for their support and advice not only this year, but throughout my master’s studies—and all the years leading up them. And finally, to my classmates, thank you for your insight, wisdom, support, and friendship. It wouldn’t have been the same without you. ii ….[T]he life of memory exists primarily in historical time: in the activity that brings monuments into being, and in the ongoing exchange between people and their historical markers, and finally, in the concrete actions we take in light of a memorialized past. —James E. Young (1992) iii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES......................................................................................................vi INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................1 CHAPTER ONE: SLAVERY IN NEW YORK CITY, 1621-1848..............................3 1.1 INTRODUCTION....................................................................................3 1.2 SLAVERY IN NEW AMSTERDAM: 1621-1664.........................................5 1.3 SLAVERY IN NEW YORK: 1664 TO THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION ..........9 1.4 SLAVERY AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: 1775-1783 ...................16 1.5 SLAVERY AND FREEDOM AFTER THE REVOLUTION: 1783-1848 ..........18 CHAPTER TWO: THE PRE-HISTORY OF THE AFRICAN BURIAL GROUND, 1653-1987..........................................................................................................21 2.1 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................21 2.2 THE COMMONS OF COLONIAL NEW YORK..........................................22 2.3 LANDSCAPE HISTORY OF THE AFRICAN BURIAL GROUND, 1697-1796 25 2.4 THE DEVELOPMENT OF LOWER MANHATTAN, 1797-1987 ..................31 CHAPTER THREE: FROM DISCOVERY TO DESIGNATION, 1987-1993 .........36 3.1 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................36 3.2 ACQUISITION AND POLICY FRAMEWORK, 1987-1990..........................36 3.3 EXCAVATION BEGINS,MAY-DECEMBER 1991....................................40 3.4 CONTROVERSY AND ACTIVISM, 1991-1992........................................44 3.5 FEDERAL POWER,JULY-OCTOBER 1992.............................................52 3.6 DESIGNATION,DIRECTION, AND VALUE,SEPTEMBER 1992- OCTOBER 1993............................................................................55 CHAPTER FOUR: CONTESTED TERRAIN: VALUES & RESEARCH METHODS, 1991-2003....................................................................................62 4.1 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................62 4.2 THE DEBATE BEGINS,OCTOBER 1991-SEPTEMBER 1992....................63 4.3 THE QUESTION OF RACE:DEVELOPING A RESEARCH DESIGN, OCTOBER 1992............................................................................65 4.4 DEVELOPING AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN RESEARCH PRACTICE, FALL 1992-SPRING 1993..............................................................67 4.5 REWRITING HISTORY.........................................................................69 4.6 COLLECTIVE POWER AND COMMUNITY CONTROL ..............................71 4.7 IDENTITY AND CULTURE....................................................................72 4.8 SPIRITUALITY....................................................................................73 4.9 RESEARCH PROCEEDS, 1993-1996 .....................................................75 4.10 CONTROVERSY BEGINS,MAY 1998-DECEMBER 2000.......................77 iv 4.11 INFORMATION AND RESPECT,JANUARY 1999-SEPTEMBER 2001 .......79 4.12 TOWARD A RESOLUTION,JANUARY 2002-AUGUST 2003 ..................84 4.13 REINTERMENT,OCTOBER 2003........................................................86 CHAPTER FIVE: FINDING A VISUAL VOCABULARY: DESIGN AND MEMORIALIZATION, 1993- 2005................................................................88 5.1 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................88 5.2 MONUMENTS AND COUNTER-MONUMENTS:THE AFRICAN BURIAL GROUND COALITION COMPETITION, 1993-1994 ...........................89 5.3 FEDERAL ART-IN-ARCHITECTURE PROGRAM, 1992-2003...................92 5.4 LORENZO PACE, 1992-2000...............................................................95 5.5 DESIGN COMPETITIONS BEGIN, 1997 .................................................98 5.6 THE INTERPRETIVE CENTER, 1997-2000 ............................................99 5.7 THE MEMORIAL COMPETITION, 1998...............................................102 5.8 PROJECT DELAYS, 1998-2003..........................................................103 5.8 MEMORIAL DESIGN PROPOSALS, 2002-2003 ....................................104 5.10 DESIGN DISPUTES, 2003-2004 .......................................................108 5.11 MEMORIAL SELECTION AND COMMISSION, 2005 ............................112 CONCLUSION: “LOOKING TO THE PAST TO GUIDE THE FUTURE,” 1991-2006........................................................................................................115 BIBLIOGRAPHY .....................................................................................................121 APPENDIX A: FIGURES.........................................................................................135 INDEX .......................................................................................................................172 v LIST OF FIGURES FIG.1: THE AFRICAN BURIAL GROUND AT DUANE AND ELK STREETS IN LOWER MANHATTAN ..................................................................................136 FIG.2: LOOKING ACROSS DUANE STREET TO THE AFRICAN BURIAL GROUND ..........137 FIG.3: BUILDINGS SURROUNDING THE AFRICAN BURIAL GROUND ..........................138 FIG.4: THE CURRENT 15,000 SQUARE FOOT SITE AS COMPARED TO THE ORIGINAL SEVEN-ACRE AFRICAN BURIAL GROUND......................................................139 FIG.5: PLAN OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK IN 1735-1737 BY MRS.BUCHNERD (ANNOTATED) ............................................................................................140 FIG.6: DETAIL FROM DAVID GRIM'S MAP OF NEW YORK CITY IN 1742-44 AS RECOLLECTED IN 1819 ...............................................................................141 FIG.7: DETAIL FROM THE MAERSCHALK PLAN, 1754 (ANNOTATED) .......................142 FIG.8: DETAIL FROM A 1787 SURVEY MAP ............................................................143 FIG.9: DETAIL FROM THE RATZER MAP, 1767 (ANNOTATED) .................................144 FIG. 10: DETAIL FROM A 1795 SURVEY MAP ............................................................145 FIG. 11: DETAIL FROM THE TAYLOR-ROBERTS PLAN, 1797 (ANNOTATED).................146 FIG. 12: DETAIL FROM ROBINSON AND PIDGEON ATLAS, 1893 (ANNOTATED)............147 FIG. 13: SANBORN MAP (MANHATTAN LAND BOOK 1984-85)...................................148 FIG. 14: DETAIL OF SANBORN MAP (MANHATTAN LAND BOOK 1984-85) BLOCK 154 ................................................................................................149 FIG. 15: AN EXCAVATED BURIAL AND RECORDED DATA ............................................150 FIG. 16: THE AFRICAN BURIAL GROUND AND COMMONS HISTORIC DISTRICT (ANNOTATED) .............................................................................................151