New York Times Museum Review

The New York Times article on February 26, 2010 titled “A Burial Ground And Its Dead Are Given Life,” is a museum review about the African Burial Ground Memorial and its newly constructed visitor center. The location of the memorial and visitor center is in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Reviewer Edward Rothstein begins by giving background information about the discovery of the burial site and the significance to American history of the North’s involvement in slavery. An archaeological dig was done on the site where the remains of 419 humans were extracted and studied. The bones were of African descent and thought to be slaves of the north. The studies are inconclusive of whether the bones of the bodies were slaves at the time they were buried or freed slaves. The new visitor center opened last month to include additional information about the historical significance with exhibits which give content to the memorial site. The burial site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In the review, Rothstein talks about the main display in the visitor’s center in which a family is displayed as if preparing to bury an infant and an adult and voice recordings are played. I believe that this is an important display to those who walk into the center. It would be daunting to realize that at that location, the middle of New York City, hundreds of people were buried by their family members and forgotten. The National Parks Services webpage for the African Burial Ground explains that the large black granite just outside the visitor center is carved with this passage:
For all those who were lost
For all those who were stolen
For all those who were left behind
For all those who were not forgotten
These graves could have been forgotten forever, and would have been, if not for new construction in the area. It is funny how what might have been important at the time to some people, that other people with power and resources (e.g. money) can make things less important. How could something like this be lost in history, just paved over like nothing was ever there? It is interesting to see how our country has learned to grow to respect one other or at least have laws to protect historical places.

The author also stated the center has a short film, classroom space, and a bookstore. The classroom space must be ideal for guest lecturers and school field trips.

The review focuses a lot on the archaeological findings about the bones than on the museum itself. I believe this museum needs that type of review of the site background in order to review the museum for its content. Because the author focused on the archaeological findings he did explain that one exhibit seemed out of place in which the museum displayed African made items that were not found in any of the grave sites but were of African design. This could give the wrong idea about the content in the graves to the visitors.

Overall the review about the African Burial Ground Memorial and Visitor Center was positive but like many museums, the museum interprets the displayed items as they see fit and informative to the public.