In early America a multitude of wealthy business men decided to acquire an inexpensive workforce in order to maximize their profits on exports.

Slavery began as an economic practicality for those who were willing to exploit others. Owning more slaves meant the ability to produce more exports. More exports meant more money.

Slave traders brought men, women, and children to the Americas and advertised them at auctions as free labor. Most of the slaves came from great distances such as Africa. Many of them were divided from loved ones, never to see or hear from them again. Families fell apart, however the economy benefited from the labor the slaves provided.

New York City, the immigration capital of our country, was no exception to slavery in colonial America. When excavation work for a new federal office building revealed the remains of more than 400 African men, women, and children in the heart of the city, the exposure developed a new awareness of the vast presence of Africans who lived in the city in the eighteenth century.

Further investigation of the site,located in lower Manhattan outside the boundaries of the original settlement of New Amsterdam, exposed that during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the remains of both free and enslaved Africans were interred in the six-acre burial ground.

Now named the African Burial Ground, a memorial honors the location of the once forgotten cemetery, paying tribute to the hundreds of people entombed there.

Their remains are still located at the site, that reflects the historical, social, and economic importance the Americans who originated in Africa had in the creation of New York City and the nation.