What's in a Name?
That which we call an "Enslaved People's Burial Ground" by any other name would instill a sense of belonging, humanity, and legacy to the ancestors buried there.
The following is a letter that I wrote and sent to the New York City Landmarks Commission on Thurs., Feb. 1, 2024, regarding its latest landmark designation in The Bronx. It was a monumental one — the newest city landmark at the time of designation, designated at the conclusion of 2023. The hearing is about the first 15-minutes or so of the Dec. 12, 2023 hearing — watch it here.
My observations from the hearing and this subsequent letter address “(un)Redact the Facts Tenet No. 4”:
(un)Redact the Facts Tenet No. 4
Identify Racial Identities
of the protagonists + antagonists of history. Europeans developed a racial caste system to justify enslaving Africans. To maintain this understanding through time in the archives, state “White people,” state “enslaved Black/African + Indigenous People” (specify one or the other, if known) instead of “slaves”/“enslaved people.”
To be inclusive, here the request to the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission is to make a hypothesis, i.e., an “educated guess” in the interpretation of historical events:
A well-informed guess or estimate based on experience or theoretical knowledge.
February 1, 2024
Sarah Carroll
Chair, New York City Landmarks Commission (LPC)
David N. Dinkins Municipal Building
1 Centre Street
9th Floor North
New York, NY 10007
RE: What’s in a Name? The “Joseph Rodman Park and Enslaved People’s Burial Ground” (The Bronx)
Dear Chair Carol:
Hello, and Greetings from Queens. I’m a self-proclaimed “Civics Geek.” Occasionally, on my calendar is a timeslot on Tuesdays to tune in live to watch the New York City Landmarks Commission meetings. I live-stream on YouTube. They’re so much fun – my version of “must-see TV.” I break for lunch when the Commission breaks for lunch. Sometimes, I return for Part 2.
For added context: I am a Black woman, one of the few Black women architects in the US, and even fewer who practice historic preservation. I also research and advocate for racially equitable grammar and language in history communications/interpretations/narratives/storytelling.
On Dec. 12, 2023, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) granted New York City Landmark Designation for a historic site in the Bronx – the Joseph Rodman Drake Park and Enslaved People’s Burial Ground (Item 1, LP-2674). While I commend the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission’s Equity Initiative and the mindfulness behind the re-naming of the Bronx Burial Ground in its landmark designation public hearing, doing so will have impacts 50 years, 100 years from now in our archives and to the history of the people represented by the landmarked burial ground.
To be more inclusive, as LPC’s Research Department reported in the Dec. 12th public hearing, they changed the name of the burial ground from:
“Joseph Rodman Park and Enslaved African Burial Ground”
to
“Joseph Rodman Park and Enslaved People’s Burial Ground”
They did so, as they stated, to be more inclusive of the Africans and Indigenous People buried at the site. The press release about the designation states, “The designation name has been broadened to reflect research indicating local families also enslaved Indigenous people.” Yes, broadening the name makes sense. However, after I heard the remarks about the renaming, I wondered:
Why not change the name to include the cultural identities of both of the groups enslaved by the “European-descended settler families” buried at the site?
From:
“Enslaved African Burial Ground” (4-words)
To:
“Enslaved African and Indigenous People’s Burial Ground” (7-words)
This revision would add three more words to the previous name. Are there restrictions on the number of words in the name of a New York City Park?
Why erase the cultural identities of both groups to create a homogenous name?
As I heard you say in the public hearing, “Africans and Indigenous Peoples helped build this City only to have their names and final resting places erased from the landscape.” Unfortunately, in spite of LPC’s intentions behind renaming the burial ground with “enslaved peoples,” it is perpetuating the practice of erasure of African and Indigenous Peoples from the landscape, as well as the City’s archives. Nor does it honor their legacy, as you stated in your closing comments.
Tied to their legacy is their cultural identity as Africans and Indigenous Peoples, which speak to the skills they brought to the condition of enslavement put upon them by European descendant settlers. And, their cultural identity tells a fuller story about the specific skills, such as rice cultivation, that Europeans knew specific Africans possessed when they chose them to human traffic to specific regions of the United States.
The names of City Landmarks are critical components of our City’s archives. Since we do not have their individual names for the archives, what we have for the archives is their cultural identities as Africans and Indigenous Peoples. Therefore, the name of the burial ground should include both names, not something devoid of culture and connection to their community as “enslaved peoples.”
With whom did LPC’s Research Department consult to change the name?
Does LPC have a community advisory committee to provide oversight of its Equity Framework implementation, to receive input such as the contents of this letter before they change the names of New York City Landmarks?
At the LPC Public Hearing Meeting held on November 14, 2023, the landmark’s name was still “Joseph Rodman Park and Enslaved African Burial Ground.” It’s worth noting that this name was the result of a prior name change in 2021, spawned by a six-year effort of community input to New York City Councilmember Rafael Salamanca, Jr., backed by research.
The Burial Ground’s Item Description from the Dec. 12th Hearing Agenda, read by Research Department Director Kate Lemos McHale, states:
“A New York City Park, opened in 1910, containing two colonial-era cemeteries for Hunts Point's early European-descended settler families, and for the African and Indigenous people they enslaved.”
As the LPC stated throughout the Dec. 12 Public Hearing and in the LPC press release, research confirms their cultural identity. It’s important to include this identity with their enslaved, social status. And, doing so is my understanding of the phrase “representation matters.” It matters to me, a Black person alive in 2024, to see the cultural/heritage identity of the people whom European-descendant settlers enslaved in the US represented in written and spoken form — the archive, our public memory.
For me, as a descendant of enslaved Africans/Black people, seeing “Enslaved Africans,” “enslaved Black people,” or “enslaved African and Indigenous Peoples” instills a sense of belonging and a connection to these enslaved Black ancestors. It matters to me, a Black person alive in 2024. It will matter in 50 or 100 years and beyond, too, to Black people because we can identify our Black/African ancestors in the archive/public memory.
Will people 50 or 100 years from now know that the “enslaved people” buried at Joseph Rodman Park were Africans and Indigenous? We can’t identify our Black/African ancestors with “enslaved people” because this phrase erases our racialized identity (Black), and cultural identity (African and/or Indigenous Peoples and Nations) from the archive. “Enslaved people” is a form of cultural erasure, heritage erasure, and what I have coined as “redacted grammar and language.” It does not tell a fuller story about enslavement. It does not tell a fuller story about Black History, which is US History.
In conclusion, I ask for the New York City Landmarks Commission to change the name from:
“Joseph Rodman Park and Enslaved People’s Burial Ground”
to
“Joseph Rodman Park and Enslaved African and Indigenous People’s Burial Ground”
I am concerned about the precedent LPC’s renaming of the burial ground will set for other “Enslaved African Burial Grounds” and “Enslaved African and Indigenous Burial Grounds” across the city. And, given New York City’s global and national impact, the precedent could have ripple effects as well in naming conventions of other burial grounds.
Thank you kindly for considering my request. Thank you and the Commissioners for your service. And, enjoy the day of your choosing.
k. kennedy Whiters, AIA, Architect
Founder, Owner, Principal + President
wrkSHäp | kiloWatt, LLC
Historic Preservation . Owner’s Representation
Founder of (un)RedacTheFacts . Beyond Integrity in (X) . Black in Historic Preservation
Take the national survey on grammar + language in history communications/storytelling, now through November 2024: Redacted
I received a response — exciting! Less than a week later, I was very pleased to receive a response from senior LPC staff, perhaps coincidentally, as I sat in the Northern Slavery Collective’s (NorSC) 2nd Annual Conference in NYC. During our conversation, they clarified for me that the landmarking process does not change the name of the park — it will remain:
“Joseph Rodman Drake Park and Enslaved African Burial Ground”
And, as we spoke, I wondered:
Are historians allowed to make educated guesses to tell a fuller story?
As stated in the letter and in the hearing, LPC chose to revise the name of the landmark to replace “Enslaved Africans” with the words “Enslaved People” to be inclusive. However, given the theoretical knowledge and archaeological evidence about the enslavement of Indigenous People by the family who owned the burial ground and buried Africans in said burial ground, is it inclusive to include in the name of the landmark, “Enslaved African and Indigenous Peoples”1 instead of “enslaved people?”
Expanding upon (un)Redact the Facts Tenet No. 4, “Identify Racial Identities”:
A burial ground on the land of a White family who enslaved Black and Indigenous People, yet to date, only archaeological evidence exists of the Africans buried in the burial ground. Based on the theoretical knowledge and evidence of the White family’s enslavement of Africans and Indigenous People, and the theoretical knowledge and evidence of romantic relationships between Africans and Indigenous People, it is acceptable to make an educated guess that both Africans and Indigenous People are buried in the burial ground.
While I appreciate that the park signage will not change. As I expressed to senior LPC staff, the impact in the archives remains with a landmark name on the landmark designation report that does not tell a fuller story about the condition of slavery — Europeans enslaved Africans and Indigenous People … because they were African and Indigenous People. Their racial identity is key context and it matters for the archives.
Anywho, unfortunately, my letter arrived after the time for public testimony, where LPC asked the public for feedback on the name. Therefore, I asked if there is an appeal process for the name of a landmark. Apparently, if there is and I follow through, this appeal would be a first. I figure it’s akin to making an amendment to a National Register of Historic Places nomination form. Perhaps, more to come …
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September 2024 Update:
1- Sign the Petition to ask LPC to change the Landmark Designation Name: https://cj27cz1p3pg.typeform.com/to/GtXVgF0r
2- Watch the video about the request, filmed at Joseph Rodman Drake Park and Enslaved Africans Burial Ground in the South Bronx:
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(un)Redact the Facts is an initiative of wrkSHäp | kiloWatt, a Black woman-owned historic preservation studio owned and operated by k. kennedy Whiters, AIA, that specializes in historic preservation, owner’s representation/construction project management, and history communications/storytelling.
k. kennedy Whiters, AIA, LEED GA is an architect licensed to practice in New York and Washington State, a published writer, social scientist, artist, and business owner. She was a 2008 recipient of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Mildred Colodny Fellowship. In 2021, she founded Black in Historic Preservation, (un)Redact the Facts, and Beyond Integrity in (X). The latter was a national historic preservation conference that focused on the topic of architectural integrity of historic landmarks. She’s been known to hug a tree and a building or two.
Note the revision from the letter to LPC of “People” to “Peoples.” “Peoples”, plural, recognizes that more than one distinct group comprises the Indigenous population of a country such as the United States. See the Terminology Guide of the Indigenous Foundations, developed by the First Nations Studies Program at the University of British Columbia, Canada.