Black History Month: Enslaved African Legacy Tour

Join VCPA's Arts Integration Strategist, Ashley Hart Adams, on a guided walk that will enlighten participants on the true history that shaped Van Cortlandt Park.

For approximately 200 years, the Van Cortlandt family plantation relied upon the labor of enslaved people, as did many plantations and farms in the north. Enslaved Africans, their descendants, and Indigenous people were vital to colonial New York’s economy, growing, harvesting, milling, packing, and shipping the wheat that would be a staple export out of New York harbor. This tour will stop at several sites within the park that are daily reminders of their labor and lasting legacy.

This walk will include uneven surfaces so please wear hiking shoes. Bring water and a snack. 

The walk will be approximately 90 minutes long with stops throughout to talk.

Black History Month events are part of Van Cortlandt Park Alliance’s initiative. In partnership with the Design Trust for Public Space and Immanuel Oni, Liminal Sp, VCPA invites the community to reimagine the park’s Enslaved African Burial Ground site as a memorial space that fosters long-term healing and restoration. This project is supported by the Mellon Foundation.

This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

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Host or Publisher Van Cortlandt Park Alliance