Shelter On Inwood African Burial Ground: Experts Discuss History

UPPER MANHATTAN, NY — A panel of experts took part in a discussion Wednesday about the history of slavery at the Dyckman Farmhouse and in Upper Manhattan. The conversation was held in response to plans of a homeless shelter getting built on top of a piece of Inwood land formerly used as a cemetery for enslaved Africans and as a Native American ritual site.

In April 2021, the Bowery Residents' Committee, a nonprofit that provides housing services to vulnerable New Yorkers, announced after three community listening sessions that it is set to move forward with the construction of a homeless shelter at 10th Avenue and 212th Street.

The plot of land is currently an auto repair shop.

"With changes contemplated for an African burial ground and Native American ritual site in Inwood ... How might we best study this past and commemorate it in the present?" organizers of the event wrote in a description of the panel.

Here's the full panel discussion:

Much of the conversation in the listening sessions centered around how the nonprofit could incorporate a tribute to the land's history within its shelter development if it was built. The same topic was central to the conversation on Wednesday night.

The panel was hosted by the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum.

The following people made up the panel Wednesday about the history of slavery in Upper Manhattan:

• Robert Snyder: Manhattan Borough Historian and Professor Emeritus of American Studies and Journalism at Rutgers University-Newark
• Peggy King Jorde: Cultural Projects Consultant
• Andrea Mosterman: Associate Professor of History at the University of New Orleans
• Richard Tomczak: Professor and Proposal Development Coordinator at Stony Brook University

You can learn more about the Dyckman cemetery for enslaved Africans at 10th Avenue and 212th Street in a video from Upper Manhattan historian Cole Thompson.

Read More:

• Homeless Shelter Plan For Inwood African Burial Ground Advances
• Homeless Shelter Considered For Inwood African Burial Ground