Remains of Colonial-Era Blacks Honored

[newyawker99]

Led by a procession of African drummers, the remains of hundreds of colonial-era blacks are making their final sojourn back to the graveyard where they were uncovered 12 years ago.

The remains of 419 slaves and free blacks were to be reinterred Saturday after a tribute ceremony featuring dancing, singing and other honors they could not have imagined in life.

David Dinkins, the city's first black mayor - and the mayor in office at the time the bones were discovered - pointed out during Friday ceremonies that the burial ground was located outside the limits of 18th-century New York City, evoking a kind of apartheid even in death.

"Two centuries ago, not only could African Americans not hope to govern New York City, they could not hope to be buried in the city limits," Dinkins said.

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