News

How a Potter’s Field Became a Civil Rights Leader’s Resting Place

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In more normal times, Scott Green , a lifelong civil rights activist, may have had a ceremonious funeral followed by a burial in a military cemetery in Little Rock, Ark.

Mr. Green was one of the students known as the Lost Class of 1959 at Central High School, where a battle over forced desegregation in Little Rock helped propel the civil rights movement. After he died in April at age 76 with symptoms of Covid-19 in Manhattan, former President Bill Clinton called Mr. Green’s family to extend his condolences….

In 1965, Scott Green became first Black trainee of the local Sheet Metal Workers’ Union, and he would later recruit more Black members and go on to fight racial discrimination, while working on prominent buildings including the World Trade Center, his brother said.

Read more… How a Potter’s Field Became a Civil Rights Leader’s Resting Place
Nate Palmer for The New York Times

Biden Leads Mourning for Virus Victims

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In a somber sundown ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial in a city virtually occupied by troops on guard against political violence, Mr. Biden paid tribute to the victims of the pandemic on the same day that the death toll in the United States topped a staggering 400,000— and almost a year to the day from the first report of the virus appearing in the country.


“To heal we must remember,” Mr. Biden said, standing in front of the Reflecting Pool, which was surrounded by 400 lights meant to mark the 400,000 victims of the virus. “It’s hard sometimes to remember. But that’s how we heal. It’s important to do that as a nation. That’s why we’re here today. Between sundown and dusk, let us shine the lights in the darkness along the sacred pool of reflection and remember all whom we lost.” 

Read more… Biden Leads Mourning for Virus Victims

As Trenches Fill, Plans for Hart Island COVID-19 Memorial Look to Past and Future

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If all goes according to plan, Hart Island, the city’s public cemetery, will become the site of a memorial for New Yorkers who died of COVID-19 as well as thousands of others lost to the Spanish flu, AIDS and other mass casualty events.


Details are still being ironed out, but city officials say that work on the memorial will begin in earnest once Hart Island is placed under the authority of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department on July 1, 2021.

Read more… As Trenches Fill, Plans for Hart Island COVID-19 Memorial Look to Past and Future
Courtesy Corcoran Family

Lost in the Pandemic: Inside New York City’s Mass Graveyard on Hart Island

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No one knows who will be carried across the water to Hart Island on the next waves of the dead. No one knows who will be brought back from its anonymous earth by shovel-bearing workers in hazmat suits. This summer, reporter William Hennigan was granted unprecedented access to Hart Island to observe burial and exhumation operations and, on June 26, witnessed the retrieval and formal reburial of casket 40-3 and its occupant, Ellen F. Torron. This is her story.

Read more… Lost in the Pandemic: Inside New York City’s Mass Graveyard on Hart Island
Sasha Arutyunova for TIME

New York City COVID-19 Death Toll

As #Covid19 victims are laid to rest in NYC's public cemetery — the largest mass grave in the U.S. — the Hart Island Project aims to support their families and increase awareness of the island's history

Read more… New York City COVID-19 Death Toll

NYC’s potter’s field has buried nearly 900 people during coronavirus outbreak

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New York’s potter’s field became an unlikely savior during the coronavirus crisis — more than quintupling its usual pace of burials during the height of the pandemic, new stats show.

With funeral homes and morgues overflowing with corpses as the disease ravaged the city, Hart Island took 894 bodies between March 9 and Friday.

Read more… NYC’s potter’s field has buried nearly 900 people during coronavirus outbreak

'New York City’s family tomb’: The sad history of Hart Island

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Coronavirus has created a grim new reality at the nation’s largest mass grave. 

Only 11 miles from Manhattan, Hart Island has been the final resting place for New York’s unclaimed and poor for over a century. The island off the Bronx was thrust into the national spotlight in early April, after the city announced it would be using the public cemetery to inter unclaimed victims of covid-19.

Read more… 'New York City’s family tomb’: The sad history of Hart Island
Elyse Samuels and Adriana Usero - Washington Post

New York’s public burial ground becomes a way-stop between the morgue and cemetery

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Occupying 131 acres in Long Island Sound, off the Bronx shore, Hart Island is the largest public burial ground in the United States. It has been New York City’s public burial ground for more than 150 years. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, it is being pressed into service as a temporary resting place for deceased New Yorkers whose families could not retain a funeral home.

Read more… New York’s public burial ground becomes a way-stop between the morgue and cemetery
Yahoo News

Hart Island Could Be Temporary Burial Ground for Coronavirus Victims

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Some have called it a home for mass graves, but for more than a hundred years, Hart Island has been the city’s public cemetery.

Melinda Hunt, president of the Hart Island Project, a nonprofit which works to increase access to the island said the site is a well-managed public burial ground which has operated for generations.

Read more… Hart Island Could Be Temporary Burial Ground for Coronavirus Victims
NY1

New York City hires laborers to bury dead in Hart Island potter's field amid coronavirus surge

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 New York City officials have hired contract laborers to bury the dead in its potter’s field on Hart Island as the city’s daily death rate from the coronavirus epidemic has reached grim new records in each of the last three days.

Read more… New York City hires laborers to bury dead in Hart Island potter's field amid coronavirus surge
REUTERS

The Transformation of Hart Island

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At least once a week between January and March, J. Crawford woke up around 5:30 A.M. on Rikers Island, the city’s largest jail complex, and changed into work boots and an orange and white jumpsuit. Around six o’clock, he boarded a bus operated by the Department of Correction, which carried incarcerated workers and a few correction officers to a ferry on City Island, in the Bronx.

Read more… The Transformation of Hart Island
John Minchillo/AP

Cry Across the Sound: a memoirist's chant

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They died poor and unclaimed and before their lives began. They died but before they died, they left their flesh, their eyes to science. They died lost to themselves or lost to others, loved or barely liked, in secret or on the street or without telling anyone that they were dying.

Read more… Cry Across the Sound: a memoirist's chant
North America Review

Erosion, floods make some final resting places not so final

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On an island off New York City, authorities in 2018 found 174 bones unearthed on a site that holds the remains of more than 1 million people. The culprit was shoreline erosion.

Read more… Erosion, floods make some final resting places not so final
Seth Wenig, AP

Hart Island Cemetery Will Be Reincarnated as a Public Space

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Historically, the island — the world’s largest tax-funded cemetery — has operated under the purview of the Department of Corrections (DoC), which pays Rikers Island inmates $1 an hour to handle the area’s many bodies. The bill, which Mayor Bill de Blasio signed into law earlier this month, will transfer control of Hart Island to the New York City Parks Department.

Read more… Hart Island Cemetery Will Be Reincarnated as a Public Space
©2010 Melinda Hunt/The Hart Island Project

New York island where more than one million people are buried in a potters field is to be opened to the public so they can visit loved ones in potters field

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NYC mayor signed a bill that transfers control of the nations largest public burial ground, Hart Island, from the city corrections dept to the parks department

Read more… New York island where more than one million people are buried in a potters field is to be opened to the public so they can visit loved ones in potters field
AFP

De Blasio Signs Bill Making Hart Island A City Park

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NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Mayor Bill de Blasio has signed a bill making Hart Island, the largest public burial ground in the nation, a city park.

Read more… De Blasio Signs Bill Making Hart Island A City Park
WCBS News Radio

Hart Island to become parkland, making graves easier to visit

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NEW YORK - A small island in the Long Island Sound that is home to the nation's largest public burial ground will soon be easier to visit and explore.

Read more… Hart Island to become parkland, making graves easier to visit
Fox5 News

'They Are Now Free:' 1M Graves Liberated From Corrections Dept

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NEW YORK CITY — More than one million New Yorkers buried in unmarked graves on an island off the coast of The Bronx are no longer a part of the penal system.

Read more… 'They Are Now Free:' 1M Graves Liberated From Corrections Dept
Kathleen Culliton | Patch

De Blasio signs bills increasing access to Hart Island

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Mayor Bill de Blasio signed legislation Wednesday that overhauls the city’s management of Hart Island, the largest potter’s field in the nation where an estimated million New Yorkers were laid to rest.

Read more… De Blasio signs bills increasing access to Hart Island
Gabriella Bass/New York Post

The Buried AIDS Story

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When the AIDS epidemic hit in full in the 1980s, the city began sending the death victims to a separate area south on the island. "Parts of the unknown story of the AIDS epidemic are buried on Hart Island. It is totally unacceptable that the island is still there as an open wound. We have to go through a process that honors these people." says Melinda Hunt to Blikk.

Read more… The Buried AIDS Story
©1993 Melinda Hunt/The Hart Island Project

Events

The Hart Island Project Annual Public Meeting

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Meet with The Hart Island Project Board of Directors at our annual public meeting June 17, 2023 from 2:00-3:30 PM - Zoom Meeting ID: 884 0697 2026

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The Hart Island Project Annual Public Meeting
Visiting Hart Island March 2023

Past events

Mourning at a Distance: Grief and Memorialization During COVID-19

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One of the cruelest aspects of COVID-19 is that its victims often die alone. This fact not only dramatically affects those lost to the virus, who frequently pass away by themselves in a hospital amid relative strangers, but also the emotional health of the loved ones they leave behind. The highly contagious nature of the virus has made the traditional rituals surrounding death nearly impossible. There is no bedside vigil; no proper funeral; no grieving periods that involve the tender touch of family and friends and many of the deceased are buried on Hart Island which is now inaccessible to families and friends.  Melinda Hunt will be a panelist on this webinar. Register

Read more…
Mourning at a Distance: Grief and Memorialization During COVID-19
Sites of Conscience

Death Speaks to New York City Premiere

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At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, 150 years of inmate labor suddenly ended. This video shows the last day of prison inmates burying the dead on Hart Island on April 2. Additional evening screenings at BPL will continue throughout the summer.

Read more…
Death Speaks to New York City Premiere
Death Speaks to New York City ©2020 Melinda Hunt/The Hart Island Project

The Hart Island Project AIDS Initiative presents: You Won't Be Forgotten

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This workshop features a video with Belinda Brecska whose father Felix Reyes was buried on Hart Island in 1993. Belinda returns to the Bronx on June 20, 2019 but was misinformed about gazebo visits on that day. 

View Film: https://www.hartisland.net/aids_initiative

RSVP: staff@hartisland.net

Read more…
The Hart Island Project AIDS Initiative presents: You Won't Be Forgotten
You Won't Be Forgotten still from AIDS Burials on Hart Island webseries

The Hart Island Project Annual Meeting

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The Hart Island Project Annual Meeting is open to the public and will take place on Zoom. Please join us at 10 AM. Link to join meeting

Read more…
The Hart Island Project Annual Meeting

The Hart Island Project AIDS Initiative presents: Everybody is Somebody

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This workshop features a video with Martha Wade whose cousin Shawn Ross was buried on Hart Island in 2005 when his mother refused to collect his body because he was gay. Martha learned about Hart Island in 2019 while watching the television series Pose. 

View Film: https://www.hartisland.net/aids_initiative

RSVP: staff@hartisland.net

Read more…
The Hart Island Project AIDS Initiative presents: Everybody is Somebody
Everybody is Somebody/The Hart Island Project

The Hart Island Project AIDS Initiative presents: Ghost Kid Beats

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This workshop features a video with Rafael Ortega Jr who composes music under the name Ghost Kid Beats, an homage to his father who died of AIDS in 2012. Filmmaker Edward Heavrin donated footage showing burials three months before Rafael Sr was interred in Plot 355 on Hart Island. 

Read more…
The Hart Island Project AIDS Initiative presents: Ghost Kid Beats
Ghost Kid Beats/The Hart Island Project

The Hart Island Project AIDS Initiative presents: Remembering Carmen Perez

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This workshop features Carmen Vasquez who lost four family members to AIDS. Her mother, Carmen Perez, died at Elmhurst Hospital at the peak of the AIDS epidemic in 1990. Carmen asked to see her mother’s body and was only shown photos. I met Carmen last year on the ferry ride to Hart Island for her first visit to her mother’s gravesite. 


Please View Film and RSVP for passcode join us Saturday, May 2 at 2:30 PM Zoom Meeting ID: 856 4630 3181 to discuss. 

Read more…
The Hart Island Project AIDS Initiative presents: Remembering Carmen Perez
Remembering Carmen Perez/The Hart Island Project

The Hart Island Project AIDS Initiative presents: Norberto Soto

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The first workshop features a webisode with Elsie Soto who lost her father Norberto to AIDS in 1993. Her family was unable to find a funeral director. This is a problem many families are facing today.  

Please View Film and RSVP staff@hartisland.net for passcode join us Saturday, April 18 at 11 AM Zoom Meeting ID: 914 3402 3709 to discuss.

Read more…
The Hart Island Project AIDS Initiative presents: Norberto Soto
AIDS Burials on Hart Island: Norberto Soto/The Hart Island Project

HDC Preservation Conference: Open to the Public

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The Hart Island Project will have a table at HDC Preservation conference. Please stop by and let us answer you questions about the transfer of Hart Island to Parks: 524 W 59th St, New York, NY 10019

Read more…
HDC Preservation Conference: Open to the Public

Bronx Parks Speakup

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Please visit The Hart Island Project table at the annual Bronx Parks Speakup. We will have a table from 11 am to 12:30 pm to answer your questions about the newest Bronx park: Hart Island. We look forward to seeing you soon.

Read more…
Bronx Parks Speakup

Hart Island Bill Signing with Mayor De Blasio

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On Wednesday, December 4, 2019 Mayor De Blasio will sign bills transferring jurisdiction of Hart Island from the Department of Correction to the Department of Parks and Recreation. 

Read more…
Hart Island Bill Signing with Mayor De Blasio
NYC Design

#Giving Tuesday 2019 - Please contribute.

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Jail for the Dead: How New York City Buried the Unclaimed - A conversation with Thomas Laqueur & Melinda Hunt

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Public Lecture - The Aura of the Dead in a Disenchanted World - by Thomas Laqueur

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Aura—the breath of enchantment—that makes the body of a saint or a unique masterwork of art special is said to be on the wane, done in by technology and secularization. But the bodies of the dead and even their ashes, indistinguishable one urn from other, have lost little of their potency. This lecture explores the ways in which the aura of mortal remains function to create sacrality in the absence of God and other worlds beyond our own.

This event is cosponsored by the Department of History, the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy, and the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society. Part of the Death and After series at IRCPL.

Read more…

Hart Island Project Annual Meeting

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The Hart Island Project annual meeting is free and open to the public. Please join us to learn about our initatives.

Read more…
Hart Island Project Annual Meeting
Neighborhood Preservation Center

City Hall hearing on legislation to transfer Hart Island to Parks.

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The New York City Council Committee on Parks and Recreation and the Committee on Transportation will hold a hearing on Thursday, May 30 2019 at 10:00 A.M. in the Committee Room, New York, NY regarding four bills pertaining to the City’s Burial Process.

 To view the topics in detail, please CLICK HERE.

Oversight - Hart Island and the City's Public Burial Process.
 
 Int 906 - In relation to a transfer of jurisdiction over Hart Island from the department of corrections to the department of parks and recreation.
 Int 909 - In relation to a Hart Island transportation plan.
 Int - In relation to the establishment of an office to provide support to those in need of burial assistance.
 Int - In relation to the creation of a task force on public burial and related issues.
 
Please be advised that if you plan to participate, it would be greatly appreciated if you could bring thirty (30) copies double-sided of your written testimony to the hearing or submit your written testimony to: EBalkan@council.nyc.gov
 
We would appreciate receiving a response from you as to whether or not you will be able to attend or submit written testimony. Please let us know if you would like help preparing your testimony: contact@hartisland.net. 

Access Provided: For questions about accessibility or to request additional accommodations please contactNicole Benjamin (NBenjamin@council.nyc.gov or 212-482-5176) at least 72 hours before the hearing.
 
For all other questions about the hearing, please contact Emily Balkan (EBalkan@council.nyc.gov or 212-482-5439).

Read more…
City Hall hearing on legislation to transfer Hart Island to Parks.
Testimony in 2016 to transfer jurisdiction of Hart Island to Parks

In the Presence of Absence - Exhibition Closing and Publication Launch

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On the last day of In the Presence of Absence, we will mark its passing with a series of readings on the themes of grief and loss. Writers and artists Raha Behnam, Erica Cardwell, TR Ericsson, Michelle García, Diane Mehta, and Jillian Steinhauer will share original work. The event will also celebrate the launch of the exhibition’s accompanying publication, which contains essays by García, Steinhauer, and Jessica Lynne. As at a wake or a shiva call, there will be refreshments and a chance to mingle and reflect.

Read more…
In the Presence of Absence - Exhibition Closing and Publication Launch
After the Fire and Before AIDS: Sonia ©2017 Melinda Hunt/The Hart Island Project

Revisiting Hart Island

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Over the last few years, Melinda and the Hart Island Project have brought the plight of Hart Island’s deteriorating condition to the public and opened the conversation to make the Island a public park.

Read more…
Revisiting Hart Island

Collective Grief: The Design, Politics and Future of Memorials

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While grief is a personal feeling, memorials are a key way in which our society collectively mourns. This panel discussion will consider the different forms that such public tributes can take and the politics of who gets to be commemorated. What new memorials are being created to fill out the landscape of a death-denying country dotted with Confederate statues? What future ones do we need? The four panelists, Anthony Goicolea, Melinda Hunt, Karla Rothstein, and Elizabeth Velazquez, have all experimented with what a memorial can be, bringing their creative energies to bear on an old practice. They will speak about their work and then engage in a conversation about who, what, and how we collectively remember. Moderated by Jillian Steinhauer.

Read more…
Collective Grief: The Design, Politics and Future of Memorials

Interfaith Peace & Health Breakfast

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The Hart Island Project will have an information table at the Interfaith Peace & Health Breakfast. Please stop by and say hello.

More information: INTERFAITHINYOURCITY@GMAIL.COM | 718-790-9120 / 917-374-7917

Read more…
Interfaith Peace & Health Breakfast
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