Sacred Ground
First and foremost, we acknowledge that this hallowed land is a burial ground, treated with the utmost reverence and care. The injustice of slavery and segregation followed hundreds of the African American citizens of Liberty to death, denying most of them a proper headstone or epitaph. This sacred ground is their final resting place. We, as the Legacy Memorial committee, must share the great lengths we have gone, doing our due diligence to ensure this memorial was erected with integrity, honor, and without desecration.
Ground Penetrating Radar
In July 2020, the city of Liberty commissioned a team to complete ground penetrating radar (GPR), a geophysical technology that uses radio waves to detect potential subsurface disturbances in the layers of the ground. Although GPR cannot return detailed results or confirm the presence of remains, potential disturbances were revealed in the report. The Legacy Memorial Committee used the results from the GPR reports to determine the best possible location for the memorial and ensure there would be no desecration or disturbance of bodies previously interred there.
Interpreting the Data
The GPR data was then cross-referenced with historic maps, records, and aerial photographs, confirming the previous existence of an old road that ran through the middle of the segregated section of the cemetery. According to the data, graves were historically plotted to the east and west of this roadway. While it is possible there were burials here prior to the roadway, the disturbance of those graves occurred when the road was built, and building on top of the existing roadway is the best way to minimize the memorial footprint. Given the age of the cemetery and the dates of the burials, the GPR report confirmed that any bodies that may be in the area for the planned memorial have decomposed and returned to the earth. In addition, the maximum digging depth for the walkway will be 8” and 36" for the two footing posts supporting the granite. This minimal depth ensures there will be no further disturbance or desecration of the souls laid to rest in the surrounding land. The pink line on the image, drawn out by the surveyors, indicates clear evidence of this former roadway and shows the location of where the memorial will be placed.
Memorial Placement
The memorial was strategically placed about halfway down the old roadway, in the middle of Potter’s Field. The landscape architects considered all the nuances and parameters of the old road when executing the design. Another standard included a maximum digging depth of three feet so that any potential human remains would remain undisturbed if, by chance, any unrecorded burials took place after the old road was covered over in the late 1960s.
Community Input
Several descendants of the people buried in this sacred land still live in the Liberty area. It was vital that we sought out the input of these “pioneer families” on this project before moving forward. Representatives of the Liberty African American Legacy Memorial met with these descendants face to face, telling them of the project as well as the work that has been done to ensure, in due diligence, that no ancestor is disturbed or disrespected in this process. These descendants understood the project phases, the work done to this point, as well as the risks involved with unknown burials. Each gave hearty consent to the Legacy Memorial, signing letters to endorse the project and show their support of the memorial and its location. It was unanimously decided that the proposed location is the ideal location, as the intent is to honor, due diligence has been done, the construction methods are ethical, and the descendants have consented to the placement.
Precedence
In 1991, construction on a federal office tower in Manhattan was halted when surveyors discovered human remains. Archaeologists soon concluded that the land was in fact a historical burial ground dating back to 1635 and contained the bodies of an estimated 15,000 enslaved and free people of African descent. During the excavation, the remains of 419 African Americans were unearthed and analyzed. Members of the African American community, historians, anthropologists, archaeologists, and city and political leaders worked together for reinterment of the remains. With the burial ground over 6 acres, graves are believed to be underneath existing roads, buildings, and other structures along Broadway. To honor the lives and legacies of all those buried in that land, a memorial was built at the site of where the 419 remains were found. That memorial is now the African American Burial Ground National Monument and demonstrates the cautious care that is necessary in erecting a memorial on hallowed ground. Our practices and methods are modeled after the work done for the National Monument and we aim to build the Legacy Memorial with the same level of integrity.
Moving Forward
In March 2021, we at the African American Legacy Memorial partnered with the National Parks Conservation Association and the Coalition for American Heritage to show our support for legislation that will establish a network of African American burial grounds throughout the county. This bipartisan act, introduced by Senators Sherrod Brown (OH) and Tim Scott (SC), “directs the National Park Service (NPS) to conduct a study on ways to identify, interpret, preserve, and record historic African American burial grounds.” We are honored to have this project included in the letter of support for the African American Burial Grounds Study Act and are looking forward to the progress it will aid in the preservation of African American burial grounds and honoring those buried therein.