Excavating an African Burial Ground: Lack of Funding Could Mean Loss o

Excavating an African Burial Ground Lack of Funding Could Mean Loss of Information ForeverAs children growing up in the United States, educated through our public schools, we learned about the institution of slavery, which was an integral part of life in our country for nearly 300 years. We do not usually question the historical facts we learned about slavery or ask how we know so much about the history of these commonwealth (the enslaved Africans in America) who left behind so little written record. In the classroom, archeologists do not receive much credit, but it is largely through their hold and research that we have been able to learn about Americas diverse ethnic heritage (Singleton 155). In the 1960s, excavations of slave cabins inspired a bleak area of research. Todays field of African-American Archaeology was born from these first digs, only three decades ago. Archaeologists carefully and skillfully collect artifacts, which are substantial material remains and by-produc ts of behavior (Singleton 156). Through historical and ethnographic analysis and interpretation, archeologists are able to put together pieces of the daily lives and living conditions of the first African-Americans. nonpareil such African-American archaeological dig, called the African Burial Ground Project, is currently taking place in New York City. In 1991, the construction crew for a new, $276 million federal office building stumbled across the skeletons of what are now known to be early African slaves. The United States General Services judicatory (GSA), the government agency that handles the funding and administration of all federal property, began further exploration of the site. Today we know that this plot of land is just a divide of the 18th ... ...es 21 Mar. 1999 Sec. 14, pg. 6.Gaines, Patrice. Bones of Forebears Howard U. Study Stirs Ghanaian Chiefs to Honor Ages-Old Link to U.S. Blacks. The Washington Post 3 Aug. 1995 B01. LaFee, Scott. Grave Injustice Archaeologist s are Beginning to hollow the Buried, Tragic Secrets of Americas First Slaves. The San Diego Union-Tribune 15 Sep. 1999 E-1.New Chief of African Burial Ground Project. The New York Beacon 16 June 1999 12.Satchell, Michael. Only consider Us. U.S. News & World Report 28 July 1997 51-52. Singleton, Theresa A. The Archaeology of Slave Life. Before Freedom Came African-American Life I the Antebellum South. Ed. Edward D.C. Campbell, Jr. and Kym S. Rice. Charlottesville The University Press of Virginia, 1991. 155-175.Staples, Brent. Manhattans African Dead. Editorial. The New York Times 22 May 1995 A14.