Remark as Prepared for Delivery for
The Honorable Dirk Kempthorne
Secretary of the Interior
Dedication of Memorial
African Burial Ground National Monument
New York, New York
October 5, 2007
Thank you, Dan. [Wenk, Deputy Director of the National Park Service]
I am honored to be here as the Secretary of the Interior, overseeing the National Park Service as we dedicate this national monument honoring the Africans who lived in and helped build New York in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The Park Service is charged to be the keeper of America’s heritage, of our history, of our culture. To be the guardian of those places that are hallowed and sacred to us.
This place is hallowed ground. Sacred ground. Ground where those who went before us – our forbearers -- buried their mothers and fathers, their children and grandchildren.
Today, in dedicating this monument, we declare once again that this place is sacred. We pay tribute to the lives of those buried here. We celebrate their humanity…a humanity that tragically was not recognized in their lifetime.
To be sure, we know little about them. We do not know their names. We can only imagine their lives – their struggles, their joys, their suffering, their hopes.
The only clues we have are in their graves. A man buried in a simple coffin with a heart nailed to the lid by someone who loved him. A child with a silver earring strung like a pendant around its tiny neck. A young woman whose body had been shattered by a musket ball.
Who were they? What happened to them? We do not know. We know that they suffered greatly from slavery. We know their forced labor took a horrible toll. Their bones showed the signs of abuse. Of malnutrition. Of disease. Of early death.
We know from historical documents that the churches in New York would not allow them to be buried in church graveyards. We know that many of them were buried after dark because their loved ones had to work during the day.
Buried in a field outside the city. A place that was described by a city clerk as a “desolate and unappropriated spot.” Buried at night.
Yet their legacy is with us. It runs through our blood. It stands as a great city, built with their hands. It is an untold part of the American story that is now at last being told. A people who had no voice, now tell us, who we are as a nation.
Last week, I had the honor of attending the dedication of a new visitor center at Central High School National Historical Site in Little Rock, Arkansas. The center tells the story of the Little Rock Nine – the courageous young African-Americans who integrated the high school in 1957, protected by the 101st Airborne as ordered by President Eisenhower.
As I stand here today, I am reminded that the injustice and struggle of those buried here continues into modern times. I am reminded, that we as a nation, are still on a journey to becoming a more perfect union, with liberty and justice for all.
In the past few decades, we have begun to tell the story of those who were brought to America in chains. The story of more than 300 years of struggle to be set free. To be treated as human beings. To be given equal rights and equal opportunities.
Today, the National Park Service oversees many sites around the country dedicated to the African American experience.
The Boston African American National Historic Site commemorates the largest free African American community in the 19th century and the abolitionist cause to set free their brothers and sisters from the bondage of slavery.
The Cane River Creole National Historic Park in Louisiana, the Hampton National Historical Site in Maryland and many other sites tell the story of the injustice and degradation of slavery.
The Underground Railroad Network of Freedom. The Frederick Douglass National Historic Site. The Selma to Montgomery National Historic Site.
From Topeka, Kansas to Tuskegee, Alabama, from New Orleans, Louisiana to Atlanta Georgia, the National Park Service is telling the story.
Today, I believe, we take another step on this journey. As the inscription on the memorial says, this place is set aside for all those who…though lost and left behind…are not forgotten. Whose stories, are our story. Whose lives, are threads in the tapestry of our nation.
We often think of history in terms of famous leaders and great battlegrounds. But what we remember here today – the people we commemorate – is truly our history. Yes, it is African-American history. And therefore, significantly, it is American history.
On the wall of our new visitor center at Central High School in Little Rock are the words of the 14th Amendment of our Constitution.
“No state shall deny, to any person within its jurisdiction, the equal protection of the laws.”
The words of our Constitution are precious but they are not always easily achieved. But they are worth the effort of every American to dedicate themselves to their fulfillment.
It may require perseverance.
It may require courage.
It may require sacrifice.
But each time the words of our Constitution are achieved, America is closer to fulfilling its promise. Today we celebrate the lives of the men and women who are buried in this sacred ground…who never knew that promise. Today, we celebrate being a little closer to the promise.
And in a land of promise:
those with ambition…
those with personality…
those with opportunity…
and those with preparation…can achieve their dreams and live out the true meaning of our creed. We are all created in God’s image. We are all created with the unalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We are all equal.
God bless America and each individual citizen.