Burial grounds dedicated

NEW YORK - It was a day that had been a long time coming, and for the community leaders who gathered Friday to dedicate a memorial at the once-forgotten grave site of thousands of African slaves, it was also a day of regret.

“Forgive us for disregarding your precious gifts to this world,” the Rev. James A. Forbes Jr., his voice amplified for the ceremony, said to the long-dead slaves and free blacks who were interred beneath lower Manhattan and then forgotten for decades as the city sprouted skyward above their remains.

It was a somber day for those gathered at the African Burial Ground memorial. Many speakers lamented the lack of recognition those buried there had experienced in life and after death, and they vowed to make the memorial a permanent reminder of their sacrifices.