York African Burial Ground Research Articles

Core issues, case studies, and the need for expanded Legacy African American genomics.

Introduction: Genomic studies of Legacy African Americans have a tangled and convoluted history in western science. In this review paper, core issues affecting African American genomic studies are addressed and two case studies, the New York African Burial Ground and the Gullah Geechee peoples, are presented to highlight the current status of genomic research among Africa Americans. Methods: To investigate our target population's core issues, a metadatabase derived from 22 publicly accessible databases were reviewed, evaluated, and synthesized to identify the core bioethical issues prevalent during the centuries of the African American presence in North America. The sequence of metadatabase development included 5 steps: identification of information, record screening and retention of topic relevant information, identification of eligibility via synthesis for concept identifications, and inclusion of studies used for conceptual summaries and studies used for genetic and genomic summaries. To these data we added our emic perspectives and specific insights from our case studies. Results: Overall, there is a paucity of existing research on underrepresent African American genomic diversity. In every category of genomic testing (i.e., diagnostic, clinical predictive, pharmacogenomic, direct-to-consumer, and tumor testing), African Americans are disproportionately underrepresented compared to European Americans. The first of our case studies is from the New York African Burial Ground Project where genomic studies of grave soil derived aDNA yields insights into the causes of death of 17th and 18th Century African Americans. In the second of our case studies, research among the Gullah Geechee people of the Carolina Lowcountry reveals a connection between genomic studies and health disparities. Discussion: African Americans have historically borne the brunt of the earliest biomedical studies used to generate and refine primitive concepts in genetics. As exploited victims these investigations, African American men, women, and children were subjected to an ethics-free western science. Now that bioethical safeguards have been added, underrepresented and marginalized people who were once the convenient targets of western science, are now excluded from its health-related benefits. Recommendations to enhance the inclusion of African Americans in global genomic databases and clinical trials should include the following: emphasis on the connection of inclusion to advances in precision medicine, emphasis on the relevance of inclusion to fundamental questions in human evolutionary biology, emphasis on the historical relevance of inclusion for Legacy African Americans, emphasis on the ability of inclusion to foster expanded scientific expertise in the target population, ethical engagement with their descendants, and increase the number of science researchers from these communities.

Historical overview, current research, and emerging bioethical guidelines in researching the New York African burial ground.

The issues addressed in this article are those related to the bioethical actions and decisions surrounding the excavation of the New York African Burial Ground (NYABG) in the 1990s, the significance of conducting research on historical African/African American remains, and the eminence of protecting newly discovered African American burial sites in the future for research purposes. Skeletal (n=419, at the time of excavation) and soil (n=92) remains of the 17th and 18th century New York African Burial Ground were used to discuss the necessity of research on historical African/African American remains. Studying the remains of enslaved Africans is critical to understanding the biological processes and existence of all people. Researching the NYABG site, the oldest and largest burial site of free and enslaved Africans, illuminates the necessity and significance of scientific research on other historical African/African American cemeteries throughout the nation. The results of future research will provide a more profound sense of identity for a group of people who were forcefully severed from their genetic and cultural origins. This research will increase the representation of African descended people in genomic, anthropological, and cultural research, and ultimately help researchers to learn more about the origins of all humans.

Identification of trace metals and potential anthropogenic influences on the historic New York African Burial Ground population: A pXRF technology approach

The New York African Burial Ground (NYABG) is the country’s oldest and largest burial site of free and enslaved Africans. Re-discovered in 1991, this site provided evidence of the biological and cultural existence of a 17th and 18th Century historic population viewing their skeletal remains. However, the skeletal remains were reburied in October 2003 and are unavailable for further investigation. The analysis of grave soil samples with modern technology allows for the assessment of trace metal presence. Portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometry provides a semi-quantitative and non-destructive method to identify trace metals of this population and in the surrounding environment. Sixty-five NYABG soil samples were analyzed on a handheld Bruker Tracer III- SD XRF with 40 kV of voltage and a 30μA current. Presence of As, Cu, and Zn can potentially decipher the influence of the local 18th Century pottery factories. Elevated levels of Sr validate the assumed heavy vegetative diets of poor and enslaved Africans of the time. Decreased levels of Ca may be due in part to the proximity of the Collect Pond, the existing water table until the early 19th Century, and Manhattan’s rising sea level causing an elevated water table washing away the leached Ca from human remains. These data help us reconstruct the lives of these early Americans in what became New York City.

"The Heartbeats of the Past with the Pulse of the Present": Elegiac Activism and Reinterment at New York's African Burial Ground

"The Heartbeats of the Past with the Pulse of the Present": Elegiac Activism and Reinterment at New York's African Burial Ground

Dental Health of Free Blacks in New York State during the Mid‐19th Century

ABSTRACTThe current research will examine the frequency of carious teeth, periapical abscesses and ante‐mortem tooth loss in the Newburgh Colored Burial Ground (1830–1870), a free black cemetery in Newburgh, New York. The Newburgh material is compared with skeletal samples from the New York African Burial Ground, New York State almshouses, a free black cemetery from Philadelphia and middle‐class/upper‐class European cemeteries. Although previous research suggests that dental health became worse throughout the 19th century, there is no consistent pattern between the 17th‐century and 18th‐century skeletal sample of enslaved blacks from New York City and 19th‐century free blacks from Newburgh and Philadelphia. The frequency of dental caries does increase through time but the other indicators change little (equal or fewer ante‐mortem tooth loss) or suggest an improvement in dental health (fewer periapical abscesses) through time. Relative to contemporaneous populations, the individuals from Newburgh appear much more similar in terms of dental health to upper‐class and middle‐class European groups than to the other marginalised groups considered in this research. The impact of the economic, political and social changes that accompanied the Industrial Revolution and their potential impact on dental health are considered. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Review: Place, Race, and Story: Essays on the Past and Future of Historic Preservation by Ned Kaufman; Our Unprotected Heritage: Whitewashing the Destruction of Our Cultural and Natural Environment by Thomas F. King

Ned Kaufman Place, Race, and Story: Essays on the Past and Future of Historic Preservation . New York: Routledge, 2009, xi + 421 pp., 50 b/w illus. $39.95, ISBN 9780415965408 Thomas F. King Our Unprotected Heritage: Whitewashing the Destruction of Our Cultural and Natural Environment . Walnut Creek, Calif.: Left Coast Press, 2009, 200 pp., no illus. $24.95 (paper), ISBN 1598743813 Place, Race, and Story presents essays on historic preservation's past and future that are intellectually provocative, culturally incisive, and politically astute. At its core this book challenges the twentieth-century alliance, or confusion, between the practices of architectural history and historic preservation. That alliance often tended to define historic preservation as a curatorial pursuit, committed to preserving a three-dimensional encyclopedia of the objects of historians’ desire, aesthetically and stylistically considered. This framing of historic preservation drastically narrowed its social and cultural possibilities. Ned Kaufman points the way toward a more relevant, expansive, and vital historic preservation movement; a movement committed to social equity, steeped in ethnography and politics and guided less by the imperatives of architectural history practice and more by sensitivity to the human values manifested in everyday attachments to place. Some historic preservation practitioners have used the criteria and models of architectural history to insulate their work from social claims of various stakeholders and communities. Kaufman argues, “It is hard to understand how separating heritage from society's most pressing concerns can enhance the cause of conservation.” He challenges the tendency of many not-for-profit preservation organizations that allocate “resources to protect a historic site admired by architectural historians” (9) while making no effort to discover and help protect sites that are meaningful to a much broader array of neighborhood and community groups. Kaufman does not stand alone. Retiring in 2010 as president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Richard Moe reflected on the field; he wrote, “Historic preservation has evolved into something much more than just saving historic buildings. Today it is about people and the places that they care about—where they live, work, shop, worship, and celebrate. We need historic places to help ground us in our past, but also in our future, as …

Contesting “Nation” Through the Local: The New York African Burial Ground in 2005

Contesting “Nation” Through the Local: The New York African Burial Ground in 2005

Inductively coupled plasma-mass (ICP-MS) and atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES): Versatile analytical techniques to identify the archived elemental information in human teeth

Human dental enamel is composed of sequentially calcifying growth layers that can provide an archival record of temporal changes such as past pollution events and changes in elemental nutrition. Human teeth and bones alike are mainly made out of calcium and a phosphorous rich crystalline building block called hydroxyapatite [Ca 10(PO 4) 6(OH) 2]. Divalent cations such as Zn 2+, Pb 2+, Sr 2+, and Mg 2+ can replace isovalent calcium sites, and phosphate and hydroxyl sites can substitute with anions, such as carbonate and fluoride, respectively. In this investigation inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission (ICP-AES) and mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to determine lead, zinc, and strontium concentrations in deciduous teeth from contemporary populations from Solís, Mexico and Kalama, Egypt and permanent teeth from Bronze age Tell Abraq, United Arab Emirates and the 18th century New York African Burial Ground (NYABG) from Lower Manhattan. The concentration of lead in children's teeth from a semi-urban village in Egypt (ranged from 162 to 2.6 μg g − 1 ; n = 10) and NYABG individuals (range 112–1.2 μg g − 1 ; n = 6) showed the elevated lead levels while the ancient population from Tell Abraq had the lowest level (1.34 to 0.03 μg g − 1 ; n = 10). Lead isotope ratios (i.e., 208Pb/ 206Pb and 207Pb/ 206Pb) of above individuals' teeth were measured using ICP-MS to discern their domicile. Zinc and Sr concentrations of teeth reflect the diet, nutritional and environmental history of individuals. The versatility of ICP-AES and ICP-MS as trace metal analytical techniques in unraveling elemental information embedded in hard tissue, like teeth, is demonstrated.

The New York African Burial Ground Project: Past Biases, Current Dilemmas, and Future Research Opportunities

The recent excavation of skeletal remains from the African Burial Ground in New York City and their current bioanthropological study and analysis at Howard University is contributing to our understanding of the conditions faced by Africans and their descendants in colonial North America. The complex nature of African enslavement points to the need for interdisciplinary and comparative research on African origins, as well as the biocultural interaction of members of the African Diaspora in the context of European enslavement practices. Research on variation in the biological health status of African-descent communities in the Americas is shown to contribute to knowledge of their social and cultural histories. Through public approval and support, our research team has been able to pursue a more sophisticated and extensive research plan than is usually allowed. The identities thus constructed are complex and compel novel questions. Additionally, our methodological approach empowers the descendant community to engage in its own cultural and historical construction.

Application of diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) for the identification of potential diagenesis and crystallinity changes in teeth

During burial, diagenetic alteration can invalidate the paleodietary signature, which the hydroxyapatite (Ca 5(PO 4) 3OH) matrix in incremental tissues, such as tooth enamel, provides. Thus, analytical methods that can evaluate diagenetic changes are crucial in anthropological and archaeological investigations. Modern deciduous tooth enamel (exfoliated) from Solis, Mexico and Kalama, Egypt, as well as Bronze Age (circa 2200 B.C.E.) adult enamel from (present-day) Tell Abraq, U.A.E. and adult enamel from the New York African Burial Ground (NYABG) in lower Manhattan, were analyzed using diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS). The samples were compared to synthetic hydroxyapatite powder and bone ash samples. The DRIFTS spectra of tooth enamel yielded similar infra red finger print pattern to previous pellet-based FTIR spectra in both absorbance and Kubelka–Munk units. The study demonstrates that DRIFTS is a convenient alternative to pellet-based transmission FTIR in testing diagenetic changes in hard tissue for archaeological investigations. Tooth enamel samples contained a higher carbonate–phosphate ratio than synthetic hydroxyapatite and bone ash standard samples. Correlations are reported between Crystallinity Index (CI Ab) and carbonate–phosphate ratio, strontium–calcium ratio, and fluoride peak appearance. Crystallinity indexes (CI Ab) were in the range of 2.6–3.8 (in absorbance units) and Kubelka–Munk Crystallinity indexes (CI KM) were in the range of 3.1–4.9.

Bioarchaeology of the African Diaspora in the Americas: Its Origins and Scope

▪ Abstract The results of over 70 years of African Diasporic bioarchaeology are discussed and explained as emerging from distinct interests and traditions of African Diasporan studies, sociocultural anthropology, history, physical anthropology, and archaeology, in that chronological order. Physical anthropology is the core discipline of African-American bioarchaeology, yet it has been the least informed by cultural and historical literatures. Forensic approaches to bioarchaeology construct a past that fails to be either cultural or historical, while biocultural approaches are emerging that construct a more human history of African Diasporic communities. The involvement of African Americans, both as clients and as sources of scholarship, has begun to transform bioarchaeology as in the example of the New York African Burial Ground. The social history of the field examined here emphasizes the scholarship of diasporans themselves, and critiques a bioarchaeology that, until recently, has had little relevance to the people whose history bioarchaeologists construct.

The New York African Burial Ground Project: An Examination of Enslaved Lives, A Construction of Ancestral Ties

Transforming AnthropologyVolume 7, Issue 1 p. 53-58 The New York African Burial Ground Project: An Examination of Enslaved Lives, A Construction of Ancestral Ties Michael L. Blakey, Michael L. BlakeySearch for more papers by this author Michael L. Blakey, Michael L. BlakeySearch for more papers by this author First published: 07 January 2008 https://doi.org/10.1525/tran.1998.7.1.53Citations: 52AboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume7, Issue1January 1998Pages 53-58 RelatedInformation

Seizing intellectual power: The dialogue at the New York African Burial Ground

The New York African Burial Ground Project embodies the problems, concerns, and goals of contemporary African-American and urban archaeology. The project at once has informed and has been informed by the ever-watchful African Americans and New York public. It is a public that understands that the hypothetical and theoretical constructs that guide research are not value-free and are often, in fact, politically charged. An ongoing dialogue between the concerned community, the federal steering committee, the federal government, and the archaeological community has proved difficult but ultimately productive. The project has an Office of Public Education and Interpretation which informs the public through a newsletter, educators’ conferences, and laboratory tours. The public, largely students, attends laboratory tours which often provide initial exposure to archaeology and physical anthropology. Much of this public involvement, however, was driven by angry public reaction to the excavation of a site of both historical prominence and spiritual significance.