This morning in lower Manhattan there was the culmination of four day procession, vigil and final journey for the remains of the African-Americans from the African Burial Ground; remains discovered during the Federal Government's excavation for a new building around Foley Square.
The program notes handed out this morning during the final procession, public tribute and reinterment ceremony states: "New York's African Burial Ground is the nation's earliest known African-American cemetery. It has been called one of the most important archacological finds of our time." It was almost lost because of bureaucratic expediency, but due to the efforts of the African-American leaders in New York and throughout the country a compromise was reached with the General Services Administration and the site was archeologically excavated and the artifacts and remains were preserved.
The complete schedule of the "Rites of Ancestral Return - Commemorating The Colonial African Heritage" was:
September 30, 2003 - Washington, DC
October 1, 2003 - Baltimore, Maryland and Wilmington,Delaware
October 2, 2003 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvannia and Newark, New Jersey
October 3, 2003 - Jersey City/Liberty Island, New Jersey
October 3, 2003 - Flotilla from New Jersey to New York
October 4, 2003 - End of public vigil and reinterment, Foley Square
One of the custom made boxes containing the remains of the people buried in the African Burial Ground on the way to final re-interment.
9:25:52 PM 
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