Content
Skip to Main ContentAccessibility Help
As It Happens

Remains of 14 slaves to be reburied in upstate New York

Historians hope the ceremony will shine a light on New York's own little-discussed history with slaves.
CBC Radio ·
Kelly Grimaldi, historian at Albany Diocesan Cemeteries, stands on the burial site where the remains of 14 slaves will be re-interred next June at St. Agnes Cemetery in Menands, N.Y. The remains of the slaves were unearthed during construction in 2005. (Kelly Grimaldi)
As It Happens6:13At peace at last. The remains of 14 slaves will be reinterred in New York next year

The remains of 14 slaves owned by a wealthy family in upstate New York will finally be given a proper burial next year. 

The remains were discovered 10 years ago during a construction project near the grounds of Schuyler House in Albany. Philip Schuyler, a major landowner in upstate New York, was a general in the American Revolution and a U.S. senator. The bodies were buried in unmarked graves on land associated with one of the homes.

Despite seven years of research and DNA analysis, many questions remain about who the slaves were. 

"There were no names. There were no - I hate to say this - but there were no bills of sale for these people, so we don't know what their names were," Kelly Grimaldi tells As It Happens host Carol Off. Grimaldi is a historian with the Albany Diocesan Cemeteries, and the driving force behind the re-interrment project.  
A facial reconstruction by Albany, N.Y., sculptor Gay Malin of an 18th-century slave whose remains will be reburied in Menands, New York next June. (New York State Museum)

The remains were for six women, one man, two children under the age of 10 and five infants. DNA analysis found that four of the adults were of African descent, two were from Madagascar, and one was mixed with some First Nations ancestry. They are roughly 200 years old.

Grimaldi says there are no signs of abuse on any of the bodies. But the women were heavily muscled, a clear sign that the they lived difficult lives of hard labour.  It's unclear how the children died. Grimaldi speculated that it might have been from infection or disease, as there was a high infant mortality rate at the time. 

"One of the reasons we want to make such a big deal about this reburial is because they were forgotten," Grimaldi says. "Slavery for northerners always seems to refer to the south. But New York state had slaves up until about 1827, and we were formed in 1604, so there's a long history."

Grimaldi says organizers have put out a call for local artists to design burial containers for the remains. The  remains will lie in state at the Schuyler mansion for a day, and will then be buried in a multicultural ceremony at the Albany Roman Catholic diocesan cemetery next June. 

More from this episode