User:Turtlesaregr8/Portsmouth African Burying Ground

History

Although the exact date of the first burial in the African Burying Ground is unknown, maps dating back to 1705 have included the cemetery. The gravesite went out of use in the late 18th century but was mentioned in a newspaper written sometime in the mid-1800s. Maps of the city continued to include the cemetery until 1902. However years of city advancement; road pavements, sewage construction, and building constructions of the nineteenth and twentieth century led to the site being covered. In 2000, a marker was placed near the cemetery to mark the location of the burying ground along the Black Heritage Trail. In 2003 maintenance workers uncovered the remains of thirteen individuals during routine upkeep. Afterwards, eight individuals were examined by archaeologists, and five grave shaft locations were known, but not unearthed. The remains of those eight individuals were studied by the archaeologists who used DNA testing to prove they were of African descent. In 2004, the Portsmouth City Council created the African Burying Ground Committee with the sole purpose of figuring out how to give a proper tribute to the burying ground. After five years of design, the African Burying Ground Committee submitted a design proposal to the Portsmouth City Council and was approved. Jerome Meadows was chosen by the African Burying Ground Committee to create the memorial park design in 2008. The memorial park was unveiled May 23, 2015 which also marked the date in which those eight exhumed individuals were reburied. In the end, the memorial cost just over $1.1 million which was donated by local citizens, businesses, and the city of Portsmouth itself. On May 23, 2016, the city of Portsmouth held a one-year anniversary for the memorial park and the reburial.