Sunday, August 27, 2006

Downtown Express report

African Burial Ground selects two firms to design center

By Janet Kwon

Two firms have been selected to design the African Burial Ground’s interpretive center in Lower Manhattan. Roberta Washington Associates of Manhattan will design the space at the 290 Broadway federal building and Amaze Design, Inc of Boston will produce a 15-minute film for the center as well as an oral history exhibit on the creation of the national monument at Duane and Elk Sts. About 20,000 Africans are believed to be buried at the former cemetery. ... “[The Interpretive Center] will provide information about the African Burial Ground and also about the rediscovery of the site in ‘91 and the community involvement and the activism that led to the awareness that we have today,” said Tara Morrison, an African Burial Ground spokesperson, referring to when the site was first discovered in 1991 during construction work for a federal building. President Bush designated the burial ground as a National Monument February of this year.

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