Hunts Point Slave Burial Ground Learning Center
The Hunts Point Slave Burial Ground Learning Center will help commemorate the hundreds of enslaved and nearly forgotten African-Americans buried in the now-obliterated Hunts Point Slave Burial Ground (HPSBG). Developing a state-of-the-art Learning Center for students, parents, and faculty from PS 48, The Joseph Rodman Drake School will provide access to grade-appropriate material and resources that enhance and disseminate the dozens of primary and secondary source documents already collected on the HPSBG Project website.
The HPSBG Learning Center will:
- Catalog, curate and display historical maps, census data, newspaper accounts, and photographs accessible via both digital media and print.
- Provide extensive science resources about trees and plants in Drake Park in both digital and print formats.
- Offer curriculum, field trip, and lesson plan resources for educators, aligned to local, state, and national learning standards in literacy, mathematics, social studies, mathematics, and the arts.
- Develop an internet access portal for accessing digital multimedia resources dedicated to researching the confluence of the past, present, and future.
- Become the hub of the proposed Hunts Point oral history project, where students will learn to record, film and edit the history of their community by interviewing elders and family members.
Though in its infancy, the Learning Center will tell the story of the HPSBG, as well as help students explore slavery in NY and in its larger Trans-Atlantic context. The Learning Center seeks your support. Please contact the HPSBG Project to partner with us in the development of The HPSBG Learning Center.
Selected Resources Available
Large laminated copies for student hands on use of the following:
Science and Social Studies lesson plans, including the following:
Selected Texts Available
The Beautiful Bronx: 1920-1950
The Birth of The Bronx: 1609-1900 by Lloyd Ultan & Gary Hermalyn
The Bronx in the Innocent Years: 1890-1925 by Lloyd Ultan & Gary Hermalyn
History in Asphalt: The Origins of Bronx Streets and Place Names by John McNamara
By the El: Third Avenue and Its El at Mid-Century by Lawrence Stelter
Annotated Primary Source Documents from The Bronx County Historical Society by Anthony C. Greene
Then and Now: The Bronx by Kathleen A. McAuley and Gary Hermalyn
Northwest Bronx by Bill Twomey and Thomas X. Casey
Morris High School and The Creation of the New York City Public High School System by Gary Hermalyn
The Bronx County Historical Society Journal (Selected Editions)
The Northern Borough by Lloyd Ultan
- Historic and modern maps of Hunts Point, The Bronx, and even New York City
- Historic images of Hunts Point
- Historic documents, including U.S. Census records
Science and Social Studies lesson plans, including the following:
- Using Primary Sources (Social Studies)
- Then and Now (Social Studies)
- Identifying Plant Species (Science)
- Creating Tree Rubbings (Science)
- Bronx River Alliance Ecology Curriculum
Selected Texts Available
The Beautiful Bronx: 1920-1950
The Birth of The Bronx: 1609-1900 by Lloyd Ultan & Gary Hermalyn
The Bronx in the Innocent Years: 1890-1925 by Lloyd Ultan & Gary Hermalyn
History in Asphalt: The Origins of Bronx Streets and Place Names by John McNamara
By the El: Third Avenue and Its El at Mid-Century by Lawrence Stelter
Annotated Primary Source Documents from The Bronx County Historical Society by Anthony C. Greene
Then and Now: The Bronx by Kathleen A. McAuley and Gary Hermalyn
Northwest Bronx by Bill Twomey and Thomas X. Casey
Morris High School and The Creation of the New York City Public High School System by Gary Hermalyn
The Bronx County Historical Society Journal (Selected Editions)
The Northern Borough by Lloyd Ultan
Start Your Own Project
HPSBG has been successful at engaging historians of all ages in investigating the past. History is the 'story' written based on what people have decided to remember (and sadly, ignore) about the past. So, go ahead, and start asking questions about the past. You might be surprised by what you discover, and be in a position to Take the Initiativeand Transform Learning About History to Doing Something About History!