Over six acres of land was found filled with skeletons. These skeletons belonged to slaves and free blacks who were buried there during the colonial times. None of them had any tombstones, therefore scientists and historians were not able to discover any real information on these bodies. But one thing they knew for sure was many of them were slaves.
There were analysis on some of the bones found. One was a man who was maybe in his 30s when he died. They stated that the man lack nutrients and suffered from arthritis. The man joints were swollen and damage from constant lifting and carrying heavy loads. He even had small fractures on his head and neck from carrying the loads on his head. In additions to the bone damages, he also had a vitamin deficiency and a lack in iron. Both of these deficiency were a result from a poor diet. It was obvious that the man was a slave. In Vincent Brown’s novel, The Reaper’s Garden, in chapter four he writes about the ill treatment of slaves. He writes “… observed that unbearable workloads, physical punishment, and incessant hunger led many Africans to cut their own throats or hang themselves”(page 132). This quote provides more information on the man found in the burial ground .Based on the quote, many slaves were being over worked and punished when the work wasn’t done. This shows why the man had damage bones .The “incessant hunger” meant that they weren’t getting a proper meal to eat after doing all the work. This contributes to why the man in the burial ground lacked vitamins and iron. They were treated so terribly that they would rather die then work.
The remains of a woman as also analyzed and it revealed a more distributing death. She had extreme damage to the head, her hand was twisted to the point of breakage and there was a bullet found in her ribs. This was obvious evidence of murder which wasn’t uncommon with slaves. Slaveowners would punish their slaves in front of other slaves in order to show dominance and authority. As stated in Brown’s novel, “…slave masters projected their authority symbolically through punishment wreaked upon the bodies of the dead”(page 131) This means that slaveowners would not only kill slaves in front of slaves, but also treated the dead slaves terribly in front of slaves just to show authority.
The African Burial Ground will always be a reminder of how slaves were treated in the past and Vincent Brown’s novel can provide some information on how the slaves were treated.
Discussion Questions:
- Was it right for the slave owners to assert dominance by using dead bodies?
- Do you think the bodies found in the African burial grounds died from naturally causes or suicide?
