LV D -Offici I of
both the ruling p rty and
re Is of the National Union
for the Total Ind pendence of
Angola (UNIT A), considered
way to deal with what p-
p rs to be a politically ex­
plosive ituation ince it
come les than six weeks
before Angola' first mul tipar­
ty elections.
Fierce fighting has bro en
out between Governme for­
ces and Angolan rebels.
Skirmish in the northern
province of Malange were d
to be the mo t violent since the
two id igned file
accord last year that ended 16
years of fighting.
Enterprl e zone
recommend d
late."
Hi torians, rcheologi t and
anthropologi ts are till trying to -
tbe find, which they Y is the
oldest mu icipal and only pre­
Revolutionary African cemetery
known to exist in the United States.
But they believe the burial ground
will yield a wealth of information on
wh t Laurie Beckelman, chair­
woman of the city' Landmarks
Preservation Commission, d cribes
a "the daily lives of enslaved
Africans for whom there are no other
written records."
DBTROrr--- �ayor
Coleman A. Young recently
recommended seven Detroit
neighborhoods be designated
as enterprise zones.
The areas recommended
are Victoria Park (east side),
Jefferson Chalmers (east
side), People In Faith United (
east side), Elmwood Park
� v(e ideWVi' t
'>ni e)-- _�, _ 4 J_J��
a turd Hub ,
westside).
City Council will hold a
hearing on the proposal Sept.
24. '
WORLD NATION
"There are no burials here,"
said Daniel N. Pagano, the city'
urban archeologist. "We know from
hi toric record there were
epidemics. There' yellow fever and
cholera. But each individual is care­
fully placed in the ground and with
great respect."
Some individuals were buried
with coins in their hands or over �ir
eye .
One w buried with a hell next
to the head. "That tie into one of the'
traditional ayings, 'By the sea we
came, by the sea we shall go' and was
perhaps symbolic of spiritual
freedom," Mr. Pagano said.
Chief Algaba Egunfeml, of the Bronx, a priest of the African-based Yoruba rei Ion, noIntIng
grave ye erday In a ceremony preceding the closing of the old grave In low Man, ..... ,UI:II ..
Somal children eat gl'ES and dried com stalks. The United Nations
estinates that 1.5 m ion people are in danger of dying of hunger in
Somalia, and 4.5 million more are close to starvation.
nding aid to Somalia
These international organizations
are helping Somali refugees in
Kenya and elsewhere:
-. Africare: 440 R Street NW,
W hingtbn, D.C., 20001. Phone
(202) 462-3614.
- Air Serv International: Box
3041, Redlands, Calif., 92373.
Phone (714) 791-0226. Flies aid
packages to Somalia.
- American Friend Service
Committee: 1501 Cherry St.,
Philadelphia, Pa., 19102. Phone
(215) 241-7141.
- Care In1emational: 660 First
Ave., New York, N.Y., 10016.
Phone (212) 686-3110. Distribute
food in Somalia.
- Church World Service: Box
968, Elkhart, Ind .. , 46515. Phone
(219) :z64.3102. ,
- Doctors Without Borders: 30
Rockfeller Plaza, New York, N.Y.,
I!:E========EII 10112. Phone (212) 649-5961.
- Episcopal Church: 815
Second Ave., New York, N.Y.,
10017. Phone (212) 867-8400.
- International Medical Corps:
5933 West Century Blvd., Los An­
geles, Calif., 90045. Phone (310)
670-0800. '
- Lutheran World Relief: 390
Park Avenue South, New York,
N.Y., 10016. Phone (212) 532-
6350.
- Oxfam America: 115 Broad­
way, Boston, Mass., 02116. Phone
(617) 482-1211.
- Save the Children Fund: 54
Wilton Road, Westport, Conn.,
06880. Phone (203) 221-4100.
Feeds children.
- UNICEF: 331 East 38th St.,
New York, N.Y., 10016. Phone
(212) 686-5522.
- World Concern: Box 33000,
Seattle, Wash., 98133. Phone (206) .
546-7201. Runs feeding centers.
One man was burled in a Briti h
marine officer's uniform. The
unifotm has decomposed but the but­
tom remain to offer insight "1bis
was a person, an African-American,
of high status," he said. "It's very
clear."
Ith of Information'
From the site of the burial ground
and from a nearby construction site,
more than 1.5 million artifacts oflife
of ew York's common folk have
been recovered. North of the burial
life.
Among the artifacts are pieces of
pottery and glassware, tools,
children's toys and remnants offood.
"There's just an incredible wealth
of information on daily life on in­
dividuals not written about in the
history books," Mr. Pagano said.
"We're not going to find it anywhere
else."
Until nearly two weeks ago, how­
ever, it seemed there might be noth­
ing of historic value left at the site, as
the Federal General Services Ad­
ministration made it clear that it
would Continue to remove the human
remains to make way for a new
Federal office building. The $276
million project would include a 34-
story tower and a four-story pavilion
housing an auditorium, a day-care
center and a pedestrian galleria.
Abrupt Change In Cour e
But after protests from Repre­
sentative Gus Savage, an Dlinois
Democrat whose House subcommit­
tee oversees O.S.A. projects, the
agency abruptly changed course, Its
head, Richard G. A\JStin, adopted
much of what May Dinkins and
others had been seeking for months:
an end to construction on the
pavilion site and a commitment to
honor the memory of 'the dead
through some type of monument or
even a museum.
Senator Alfonse M. ,D' Amato
later persuaded the Senate Ap­
propriations Committee to set aside
$3 million "to modify the pavilion
foundation, to prevent ,further
deterioriation of the burial ground
and to appropriately memorialize the
site." The full Senate is expected to
act later this week.
G.S.A. officials have been
criticized for inadequately surveying
the construction He before begin­
ning excavation and for umlng
that more than a century of building
had long ago destroyed the bwial
ground. What they h8d not coun1ed
on wa that 20 feet of landfill
covered the cemetery and previous .
building foundations had not
reached tbat deeply. .
Mr. Austin, at a recent news con­
ference in Mimhattan, tried to ex­
plain the error, They Brst �
there wa nothing lett of the
cemetery, be said.
Then after work began last sum­
mer, a preliminary review uggested
there might be 15 keleto on the
ite. "The project outgrew ," he
said. "What was originally en­
visioned no remains, then 15, 20,
25, has now mushroomed to where it
But Profeasor Blakey and otbell
illlist that "to learn from arcbeologl­
cal itea constitut another form of
respect for our ancestors."
"It has special importance be­
cause so much of African-American
history bas been lost, " be said.
A commission to be apPointed
jointly by Mr. Austin of the G.S.A.
and Mr. Dinkins will ultimately
determine the future of the site. Sug­
ge tions range from leaving the
cemetery int ct to building a
museum on the site and rentering the
141,�h��I�'����
mDc.we��o�������
site ba b
from owning land. The estabUabed I pilgrimage for student , for
churche refused to have Blacks poltttctans, even �or acto� w�o
buried in their cemeteries, making a s� in �e televiaton ��n
te burial ground for Blacks that � cre�ted with renewing mter-
separa e t In Afncan-American hiatory,
necessary. "Roots "
The 1865 edition of Valentines "1 cried," Noel Pointer the jazz
Manual noted: "So little seems to ."
have been thought of the race that �. ician and. mger said of his first
not even a dedication of their burial VISit to the ue, Mr. Pointer, who
place was made by the church plans to take .part in a 26-hour
authorities or any otbers who might remembrance Vigil at the i1e! �gin­
reasonably be supposed to have an ning at noon Sunday, added. You
i 11 . t' the matter hear all about these archeological
n eres 10 • • and scientific 1erms and you say to
The lands �re unappropnated, yourself, 'This is very interesting
and though Within convenient dis- But until you get down there and you
tance fro� the City, the locality was see what the bodies look like-you
�ttractlve and desolate, so by per- see the skeletons of the children
nussion the slave population were laying in the earth _ then you realize
allowed to inter their dead there." , that these are people."
Though the earliest bwiala in the
area may have taken place in the late
17th century, the Negros Burial
Ground as such is believed to have
been in use from about 1710. For a
time burials also took place in the old
Commons, now the land surrounding
City Hall.
"There are probably a great num­
ber of burials underneath Elk Street,
underneath Reade Street, underneath
Chambers Street and in City Hall
Park, " Mr. Pagano said.
The entire area is now part of a
proposed city-designated Negt'Ol
Burial Ground/Common Ground
Historic District. The city
Landmarks Preservation Commis­
sion is scheduled to hold a hearing on
Sept 1.
Professor Blakey, an associate
professor anthropology and curator
of Howard University'S W. �on­
tague Cobb Collection has submitted
a research proposal to the G.S.A. and
to Mr. Dinldn's advisory committee
suggeating several ways iJ.l which the
human remains can help tbe experts
"fit some missing pieces into the his­
torical chronicle."
Through tudying health factors,
he said, "they can determine what the
social and economic positions were
for these ancestors�" But perhaps
more exciting, he said, is the pos-
ibUity of "getting a better handle on
exactly where fol came from."
Many have prote ted that a
people who received no justice in life
were receiving no peace in death.
"So many people were willing to
forgo challenging the system in tbe
present life just simply to have a
decent afterlife, " said Alton H. tdad­
dox Jr., a lawyer and community
leader.
"So many of our people, because
they've been so mistreated in life,
really want to res� in peace."
now looks like there is something in
the neighborhood of 600 remains in
that area." Some expe have es­
timated that as many as 1,000 might
be there.
The Black contribution to the
development of New Yor City
began with the arrival of Dutch ex­
plorers. There were laves � for a
time, ,. thriving cl of free Blacks.
In 1644, the Dutch gave partial
freedom to 11 Blac and granted
them plots of land for farming that
extended from pre ent-day Canal
Street to 34th Street. From this land
Y
Charge in
demol tlon
of hou e (
DB'mOrr (AP) -NeighbOrs of a
Black family who peDCvered build­
ing tbeir subwban home-- even af­
ter vandals knocked down ita
foundation ---bave been iDdlcted on
charges of intimidation d civil
rights violatioDS.
An Aug. 6 federal iMictment,
unsealed Tueaday, named Matthew
Barrentine, 21, and Dwayne Fer­
guson, 20, both of Taylor, said us,
Attomoy Stephen Markman. A trial
date w n't immediately let.
At leat 250 cinder blocks were
sm.bed in July 199188 Calvin Wil­
liams was just starting to build his
hous�
AA istant U.s. Attorney Edwald
Bwell aid ledgehammer and
clawbammer were used to break up
tbe foundation to deter the family
from moving in. The Williams, who
would have been the first African
American family in that ndghbor­
hood, now live in a different part of
Taylor, Bwell said.
AREA RESIDENTS, iDCluding
Mayor Cameron Priebe, chipped in
for new blocks and mortar to rebwld
the foundation.
Barrentine denied the chaIges.
"I done told tbem I didn't do It," be
said.
Ferguson didn't haVe a listed
telephone number and COuldn't be
reacbed forcomment.1be Williams'
poone number is unlisted and they
couldn't be reached for comment
If convicted cbatged, the de­
fendants face up to 11 yeam in prison
am fi of up to $350,000.