Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

The collection is without restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Papers of Jerome S. Handler, Relating to the African Burial Ground Committee, Accession # 11442, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

This collection, a gift to the Library from Dr. Jerome S. Handler, Senior Fellow, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy, Charlottesville, Virginia, November 5, 1998, bears no restrictions.

Biographical/Historical Information

In 1987 the U. S. General Services Administration (GSA) began planning to provide greater office space for Federal agencies and to provide additional courtrooms and support space for the adjacent U.S. courthouse in the Civic Center-Foley Square area of lower Manhattan. The burial ground ("Negros Burial Ground") and human remains were accidently unearthed in June 1991 on the proposed site for a new federal office building at 290 Broadway (between Broadway, Duane, Elk, and Reade Streets) leading to public and scholarly calls for a construction halt and full-scale archaeological excavation and testing. New York City Mayor David Dinkins established the Mayor's Task Force on the African Burial Ground in 1992, and members of this task force later formed the basis of the federal steering committee. Scholars believed the bodies found were of African and African-American slaves with earliest burials dating to the early eighteenth century.

By July 1992, workers had removed ca. 390 human remains to the Foley Square Archaeological Laboratory but the GSA announced its intention to excavate an additional 200 burials on a section of the site that was to become a four-story pavilion beside the office building. In response to opposition by Mayor Dinkins, the African-American community, and Congressman Augustus Savage (chairperson of the House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Buildings and Grounds) meetings were held that culminated in an agreement among the parties involved that a federal advisory committee of African-American community leaders and professionals be established to make recommendations to the GSA concerning the site.

The Federal Steering Committee for the African Burial Ground, New York City, New York, was chartered by the federal government in October 1992, and Congress passed Public Law 102-393 (signed by President George Bush) ordering the GSA to abandon construction on the pavilion site and approving a $3 million appropriation for the memorialization of the African Burial Ground site. The Committee included anthropologists, architects, attorneys, city, state and federal officials, clergy, concerned community members, historians, and museum professionals. It met at least ten times between July 1993 and August 1994 at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library, and was chaired by Dr. Howard Dodson, director of the Schomburg. Its mandate was to represent community interests and make recommendations regarding the Burial Ground, review proposals regarding the human remains on the Pavilion site, oversee preliminary analysis, curation and reinternment of remains removed from the African Burial Ground, and make formal proposals to the GSA and Congress regarding care of the remains and construction of a memorial on or near the site.

The Office of Public Education and Interpretation (OPEI), under the direction of Dr. Sherrill D. Wilson, an urban anthropologist, was established in May 1993 as the official information source to educate the public about the history of African Burial Ground and disseminate knowledge gained through research of the site, its human remains, and contemporary and historical activities associated with the site. OPEI also published Update: Newsletter of the African Burial Ground & Five Points Archaeological Project to provide current information about the site and its historical context and insights on African life in seventeenth and eighteenth century New York and information on other recently discovered black or slave cemeteries.

Approximately 427 remains were transferred (September-November 1993) to Howard University's Biological Anthropology Laboratory for cleaning, anthropometric and statistical analysis and designated the New York African Burial Ground Project with Dr. Michael L. Blakey as the scientific project director. The more than a million non-burial artifacts recovered at the site were retained at the Foley Square Archaeological Laboratory in New York City. [For preliminary reports and updates concerning these sites, see two Update articles by Dr. Warren R. Perry: "Analysis of the African Burial Ground Archaeological Materials," (February/March 1997): 3-5, 14 and "Archaeological Update From The Foley Square Laboratory," (Spring 1998): 3-5.]

The Committee submitted its recommendations report to Congress on August 6, 1993 and officially ended its existence on September 30, 1994 but ongoing research of the African Burial Ground Project, its site and the human remains, and designs for a memorial and interpretive center, continued with U. S. General Services Administration funding. Presently, there are plans to return the remains to a new memorial and interpretative center. The site, consisting of five acres in lower Manhattan, was designated a New York City Historic District (February 1993) and a National Historic Landmark (April 1993). A PBS science documentary, "Slavery's Buried Past: The New York African Burial Ground," was broadcast in December 1996.

For additional information, see Jennifer Royce (New-York Historical Society), "A Chronology of the Status of African Americans and Native Americans in Manhattan (1626-1841)" ; Appendix B, "Chronology of Events/Chronology-African Burial Ground Project" ; "Key Events Concerning Burial Ground-Foley Square Project" (December 11, 1987 to October 6, 1992); "African Burial Ground Chronology" (March 15, 1989 to November 17, 1997), and issues of Update.

Jerome Sidney Handler (b. 1933) is a native of New York. This cultural anthropologist, ethnohistorian and educator is an internationally renowned research expert on African-American history and culture, the African Diaspora, Caribbean slavery, West African societies, and historical anthropology and archaeology. He earned bachelor's (1956) and master's (1959) degrees at the University of California at Los Angeles and received a doctorate in anthropology from Brandeis University in 1965. Dr. Handler has had and continues a distinguished academic career; between 1962 and 1998 he was a faculty member or visiting scholar at various institutions of higher education including Harvard, UCLA, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Colgate University, the University of the West Indies (Jamaica) and University College (University of London). He has served in a variety of positions for such organizations as the American Anthropological Association, Cambridge University Press, the Library of Congress, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the Peace Corps.

The recipient of several prestigious fellowships and grants and a frequent symposia panelist, Dr. Handler has lived and worked in Africa, the Caribbean, France, Jamaica, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. He has delivered or published more than 140 papers, lectures, articles, and book chapters. His books include A Guide to Source Materials for the Study of Barbados History, 1627-1834 (1971), The Unappropriated People: Freedmen in the Slave Society of Barbados (1974), Plantation Society in Barbados: An Archaeological and Historical Investigation (1989), Searching for a Slave Cemetery in Barbados, West Indies: A Bioarchaeological and Ethnohistorical Investigation (1991), and, Supplement to A Guide to Source Materials for the Study of Barbados History, 1627-1834 (1991). Currently, he is a Senior Fellow, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy, Charlottesville, Virginia, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Black American Studies, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and a regular biographical subject in Who's Who in America.

Scope and Content Information

This collection, 1991-1998, ca. 300 items consists of brochures, correspondence, meeting agendas, memoranda, minutes, news clippings, newsletters and printed material, photographs, reports, slides and working papers of Dr. Jerome S. Handler (Southern Illinois University at Carbondale) as a member of the Federal Steering Committee on The African Burial Ground of New York City (also known as the Federal Advisory Committee for the African Burial Ground, New York City).

Archaeological and Anthropological Issue includes a November 23, 1992 letter of Dr. Michael L. Blakey, Howard University and Scientific Director, African Burial Ground/Foley Square Project, letters to Dr. Howard Dodson (b. 1939), Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library and chair, Federal Steering Committee on The African Burial Ground, and, Jennifer Royce (New-York Historical Society), "A Chronology of the Status of African Americans and Native Americans in Manhattan (1626-1841)."

Of special interest are the Blueprints containing "Perpetual Non-Exclusive Easement As Recited in Condemnation Documents of The Federal Government Dated October 13, 1990," Earl B. Lovell-S. P. Belcher, Inc. (survey map L-B 154), June 25, 1993, depicting construction fences, curbs, easements, sidewalks and tree pits at the site as flanked by Duane, Elk and Reade Streets, and, "African Burial Ground Interim Fence & Grading Plan," architectural firm of Hellmuth, Obata, Kassabaum (Number, 2 Type, Series C, Sequence 018), January 31, 1995. These are identified in the folder African Burial Ground: Memorial Design and Fabrication: A Project In Cultural Storytelling Through The Environment as attachments in Section J, page 78; according to Peggy King Jorde, Project Executive for the Memorialization of the African Burial Ground, these blueprints are amendments "part of the competition documents for the design of the exterior Memorial. The fence detail describes existing conditions of the site for purposes of providing the potential offeror sufficient info for a design proposal."

The Miscellaneous folder includes the Summer 1998 issue of VFH: The Newsletter of The Virginia Foundation For The Humanities and Public Policy which mentions Handler on pages 2 and 12, and, "Key Events Concerning Burial Ground-Foley Square Project (December 11, 1987 to October 6, 1992). The Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers: Foundation Investigation, African Burial Ground Site folder consists of an April 10, 1997 foundation investigation (see folder The African Burial Ground: Memorial Design and Fabrication: A Project In Cultural Storytelling Through The Environment as an attachment in Section J, page 78), a March 3, 1997 letter concerning John Milner Associates' assessment of the potential impact of memorial construction accompanied by 1993 color photocopies, and a March 3, 1993 letter of Dr. Michael L. Blakey (Howard University), Project and Scientific Director, New York African Burial Ground Project discussing a multi-disciplinary research proposal for the site and its remains with Howard University and John Milner Associates.

The Office of Public Education and Interpretation of the African Burial Ground (OPEI) folder (Box 3) contains newspaper clippings and miscellaneous official printed items including The African Burial Ground Project (a brochure) and an African Burial Ground Chronology (March 15, 1989 to November 17, 1997). Another OPEI publication, African Burial Ground Project: Classroom Study Guide and Glossary (Box 1), is a study guide for a broad overview of the African presence and the African Burial Ground in colonial New York.

Another item of special interest is a blue three-ring notebook, Slides and Photographs, containing slides, photographs and photocopies prepared and used by Handler for his public lectures; the following numbered (usually circled in red) forty-nine slides are on five numbered "Slide Saver" sheets. Three black and white aerial site photographs (no slides of these), 1991-1992, by Bernstein Associates, Mount Vernon, New York, several pages of photocopies color-coded or marked by their representative slides or negative numbers, and two sheets of twelve negatives (chiefly extra negatives of slides retained by Dr. Handler) are also present in the notebook.

Correspondence in the folder Southern Illinois University at Carbondale includes an October 2, 1992 letter to Handler concerning the university's press release announcing his appointment to the African Burial Ground advisory committee; William J. Diamond, Regional Administrator, New York, to Dr. Benjamin Shepherd, Vice-President for Academic Affairs, Southern Illinois University, November 16, 1992, concerning Handler's appointment to the "General Services Administration Federal Advisory Committee: The Steering Committee for the African Burial Ground, New York," Handler's curriculum vitae, and miscellaneous notes.

Three folders, Steering Committee Agendas, 1992-1994, includes the October 5, 1992 minutes of the Mayor's Committee On The African Burial Ground, agendas and minutes of the federal Steering Committee meetings, letters, memoranda, notes, committee rules of procedure (December 1992), a March 22, 1993 meeting sign-in sheet (photocopy), and minutes of the final meeting of August 22, 1994. The official charter (September 23, 1992) identifying it as a General Services Administration committee designated "The Steering Committee for The African Burial Ground, New York, New York" and establishing its termination date "on or before September 1, 1994" is in the folder Steering Committee Charter and General Services Administration Guidelines. Ten folders, Steering Committee on The African Burial Ground of The City of New York (Minutes), 1993- 1994, contain bound typescript minutes; only half of the March 28, 1994 minutes were transcribed because one of the two tapes was misplaced. An overview of the Committee's history is available in Memorialization of The African Burial Ground/Federal Steering Committee: Recommendations Report to the U. S. Congress, blue draft pages 4 to 10 and Appendix B, "Chronology of Events/Chronology-African Burial Ground Project."

Several printed items are of interest: Memorialization Artwork and Design Competition brochures for Tomie Arai's mural Renewal, author-sculptor Barbara Chase-Riboud's (b. 1939) poem and sculpture Africa Rising, an African Burial Ground Design Competitions brochure, the first two issues of Ground Truth (published by Concerned Citizens for the Preservation of African-American Heritage), and, Update: Newsletter of the African Burial Ground & Five Points Archaeological Project, 1993-1998, published by the Office of Public Education and Interpretation of the African Burial Ground (OPEI).

Testimony before the Subcommittee on Public Buildings and Grounds, House Committee on Public Works and Transportation, U. S. House of Representatives concerns hearings chaired by Congressman Augustus "Gus" Savage (b. 1925), Democrat, Second District, Illinois, on September 24, 1992. Among those who testified were Richard G. Austin (b. 1948), administrator, General Services Administration; David N. Dinkins (b. 1927), mayor of New York City; Dr. Robert D. Bush (b. 1939), executive director, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, Washington, D.C., and Dr. Thomas K. Minter, dean of the Division of Professional Studies, Lehman College (The City University of New York, the Bronx).

Arrangement

Folders are arranged alphabetically by title.

Folders are arranged alphabetically by title, and most contain varied items of interest. Archeological and Anthropological Issues (Box 1) includes a November 23, 1992 letter of Dr. Michael L. Blakey, Howard University and Scientific Director, African Burial Ground/Foley Square Project, letters to Dr. Howard Dodson (b. 1939), Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library and chair, Federal Steering Committee on The African Burial Ground, and, Jennifer Royce (New-York Historical Society), "A Chronology of the Status of African Americans and Native Americans in Manhattan (1626-1841)."

Of special interest are the Blueprints (filed in Oversize Tray 15) containing "Perpetual Non-Exclusive Easement As Recited in Condemnation Documents of The Federal Government Dated October 13, 1990," Earl B. Lovell-S. P. Belcher, Inc. (survey map L-B 154), June 25, 1993, depicting construction fences, curbs, easements, sidewalks and tree pits at the site as flanked by Duane, Elk and Reade Streets, and, "African Burial Ground Interim Fence & Grading Plan," architectural firm of Hellmuth, Obata, Kassabaum (Number, 2 Type, Series C, Sequence 018), January 31, 1995. These are identified in the folder African Burial Ground: Memorial Design and Fabrication: A Project In Cultural Storytelling Through The Environment (Box 1) as attachments in Section J, page 78; according to Peggy King Jorde, Project Executive for the Memorialization of the African Burial Ground, these blueprints are amendments "part of the competition documents for the design of the exterior Memorial. The fence detail describes existing conditions of the site for purposes of providing the potential offeror sufficient info for a design proposal."

The Miscellaneous folder (Box 2) includes the Summer 1998 issue of VFH: The Newsletter of The Virginia Foundation For The Humanities and Public Policy which mentions Handler on pages 2 and 12, and, "Key Events Concerning Burial Ground- Foley Square Project (December 11, 1987 to October 6, 1992). The Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers: Foundation Investigation, African Burial Ground Site folder (Box 2) consists of an April 10, 1997 foundation investigation (see Box 1, folder The African Burial Ground: Memorial Design and Fabrication: A Project In Cultural Storytelling Through The Environment as an attachment in Section J, page 78), a March 3, 1997 letter concerning John Milner Associates' assessment of the potential impact of memorial construction accompanied by 1993 color photocopies, and a March 3, 1993 letter of Dr. Michael L. Blakey (Howard University), Project and Scientific Director, New York African Burial Ground Project discussing a multi-disciplinary research proposal for the site and its remains with Howard University and John Milner Associates.

The Office of Public Education and Interpretation of the African Burial Ground (OPEI) folder (Box 3) contains newspaper clippings and miscellaneous official printed items including The African Burial Ground Project (a brochure) and an African Burial Ground Chronology (March 15, 1989 to November 17, 1997). Another OPEI publication, African Burial Ground Project: Classroom Study Guide and Glossary (Box 1), is a study guide for a broad overview of the African presence and the African Burial Ground in colonial New York.

Another item of special interest is a blue three-ring notebook, Slides and Photographs (Box 3), containing slides, photographs and photocopies prepared and used by Handler for his public lectures; the following numbered (usually circled in red) forty-nine slides are on five numbered "Slide Saver" sheets: 2, 4, 5, 6, 11, 13, 14, 17, 19, 20, 22, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 40, 42, 45, 46, 48, 50, 51, 52, 53, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 66, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 82, and 83. Three black and white aerial site photographs (no slides of these), 1991- 1992, by Bernstein Associates, Mount Vernon, New York, several pages of photocopies color-coded or marked by their representative slides or negative numbers, and two sheets of twelve negatives (chiefly extra negatives of slides retained by Dr. Handler) are also present in the notebook.

Correspondence in the folder Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (Box 3) includes an October 2, 1992 letter to Handler concerning the university's press release announcing his appointment to the African Burial Ground advisory committee; William J. Diamond, Regional Administrator, New York, to Dr. Benjamin Shepherd, Vice- President for Academic Affairs, Southern Illinois University, November 16, 1992, concerning Handler's appointment to the "General Services Administration Federal Advisory Committee: The Steering Committee for the African Burial Ground, New York," Handler's curriculum vitae, and miscellaneous notes.

Three folders, Steering Committee Agendas, 1992-1994 (Box 3), includes the October 5, 1992 minutes of the Mayor's Committee On The African Burial Ground, agendas and minutes of the federal Steering Committee meetings, letters, memoranda, notes, committee rules of procedure (December 1992), a March 22, 1993 meeting sign-in sheet (photocopy), and minutes of the final meeting of August 22, 1994. The official charter (September 23, 1992) identifying it as a General Services Administration committee designated "The Steering Committee for The African Burial Ground, New York, New York" and establishing its termination date "on or before September 1, 1994" is in the folder Steering Committee Charter and General Services Administration Guidelines (Box 3). Ten folders, Steering Committee on The African Burial Ground of The City of New York (Minutes), 1993-1994 (Boxes 3 and 4), contain bound typescript minutes; only half of the March 28, 1994 minutes were transcribed because one of the two tapes was misplaced. An overview of the Committee's history is available in Memorialization of The African Burial Ground/Federal Steering Committee: Recommendations Report to the U. S. Congress (Box 2), blue draft pages 4 to 10 and Appendix B, "Chronology of Events/Chronology-African Burial Ground Project."

Several printed items are of interest: Memorialization Artwork and Design Competition brochures (Box 2) for Tomie Arai's mural Renewal, author-sculptor Barbara Chase-Riboud's (b. 1939) poem and sculpture Africa Rising, an African Burial Ground Design Competitions brochure, the first two issues (Box 2) of Ground Truth (published by Concerned Citizens for the Preservation of African-American Heritage), and, Update: Newsletter of the African Burial Ground & Five Points Archaeological Project, 1993-1998 (Box 5), published by the Office of Public Education and Interpretation of the African Burial Ground (OPEI).

Testimony before the Subcommittee on Public Buildings and Grounds, House Committee on Public Works and Transportation, U. S. House of Representatives (Box 5) concerns hearings chaired by Congressman Augustus "Gus" Savage (b. 1925), Democrat, Second District, Illinois, on September 24, 1992. Among those who testified were Richard G. Austin (b. 1948), administrator, General Services Administration; David N. Dinkins (b. 1927), mayor of New York City; Dr. Robert D. Bush (b. 1939), executive director, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, Washington, D.C., and Dr. Thomas K. Minter, dean of the Division of Professional Studies, Lehman College (The City University of New York, the Bronx).