The Freedom Lots: Unearthing Lost History Through Restoration
THE FREEDOM LOTS Unearthing Lost History Through Restoration In the summer of 2017 students from the Williamsburg High School for Architecture and Design in Brooklyn and the Stephen T. Mather Building Arts and Craftsmanship High School in Manhattan participated in a six-week historic preservation internship to research, unearth, and restore the monuments in this section. Some grave markers had fallen into disrepair, lacking private endowments for annual upkeep, and still other gravestones had completely sunken into the earth. Most burials were unmarked, presumably when a gravestone was unaffordable. In total, the interns cleaned and restored seventy one monuments. The project was funded by The Green-Wood Historic Fund, the New York City Department of Education, and World Monuments Fund. The students were committed to learning as much as they could about the people buried in these lots. While archival records for African Americans who lived in the 1800s are rare, Green-Wood's burial leers offer a unique set of historical data including name, place of Bath, cause of death, address, age at death, marital status, and name of the undertaker. Earlier research by the Cemetery's historian and volunteers was also utilized. By combining this information with federal census data, a larger picture of the individuals interred here begins to come into focus. More importantly, we are finally able to memorialize them. Although "Colored" was a common term in the nineteenth century, the students proposed that this section now be known as The Freedom Lots. This name restores respect to people who might have been enslaved, descendants of enslaved people, or free people of color whose freedom was restricted because racial oppression and discrimination continued even after slavery ended. It also reminds us that the pursuit of freedom is ongoing even today. The Freedom Lots project provides us with a look into the past, but also leaves us with further questions and possibilities for future research. Standing here, what questions do you have? Back row, from left: Brandon Mosquera, Arnell Skinner, Khalilah Clark, Germania Merino, Anthony Gonzalez Front row Darryl Jones, Antonio Rojas Submitted by @lampbane