UPDATE: HARLEM AFRICAN BURIAL GROUNDS 2019

Harlem Bespoke:  It has now been a decade since the remains of the earliest black citizens of Harlem were found at a former African Burial Ground located under the East 126th Street Bus Depot by 1st Avenue but has anything really happened since?  When Harlem was mostly countryside villages in the 1600s, the Elemendorf Reformed church owned the land which would be the final resting spot for the colored community, free and enslaved.  Historians have known for years that the burial ground existed since it is clearly indicated on older maps and there are actually church records of who is buried on the grounds.


A task force was formed in 2011 that was headed up by the original church which still has a presence on the east side at a different location and is the oldest house of worship in Harlem.  Plans for a memorial site came together which also included affordable housing with 730 units and the city approved the zoning in 2017 but not much news has happened since.  We checked the DOB website today and no permits have been issued for well over a decade.  An initial planned groundbreaking set for 2020 is around the corner but only preliminary design renderings of the memorial have been released: LINK

HarlemBespoke.com 2019