14 long-forgotten slave remains reburied in NY ceremony

ALBANY, N.Y. – The long-forgotten remains of 14 slaves discovered more than a decade ago in upstate New York have been reburied.

Albany Diocesan Cemeteries’ spokesman Jonathan Cohen says Saturday the ceremony included prayers from a Ghanaian priestess, an imam and others.

Archeologists found the remains in 2005 after a backhoe operator uncovered a skull during sewer construction just north of Albany.

No personal items from the graves were exhumed. But experts believe they were slaves buried in the 18th or early 19th centuries.

A local group called the Schuyler Flatts Burial Ground Project wanted to make sure the seven adults, five infants and two children are never forgotten again.

Cohen says there was a feeling of fellowship among the roughly 300 people who attended the burial at a nearby cemetery.