New York Attorney General Letitia James is seeking court intervention to protect a historic burial ground for formerly enslaved New Yorkers in Elmhurst, Queens, as the property faces a foreclosure auction.
The Office of the Attorney General filed a motion to intervene in a pending foreclosure case involving the property at 47-11 90th St. James is asking the court to require that prospective buyers be informed about the human remains buried on the land and their legal responsibility to protect them before purchasing the property.
“Every New Yorker deserves to rest in peace, and that includes the people buried on this land generations ago,” James said. “My office will not allow a foreclosure sale to become yet another disrespectful event in this burial ground’s unjustly troubled history.”
The burial ground dates to 1818, when slavery remained legal in New York. In what was then known as Newtown, a growing community of Black New Yorkers established roots as more formerly enslaved people gained their freedom. In 1828, a group of freed slaves formed the United African Society of Newtown, built a church and formalized a burial ground that had been used informally for about a decade.
The organization later became St. Mark African Methodist Episcopal Church, which owned the property until selling it after relocating to Jackson Heights in the 1930s. More than 300 people, many believed to have been formerly enslaved, were buried at the site.
The burial ground was eventually forgotten until the city placed restrictive declarations on the property in 2006 to protect those interred there.
Despite those protections, the site has faced repeated disturbances. In 2011, construction workers preparing to build condominiums discovered a woman’s iron casket, which archaeologists dated to the 1800s. The development was subsequently halted.
In 2025, the property’s current owner, 90 Queens Inc., allowed the land to be paved and used for storing old cars and debris. The New York City Department of Buildings deemed the use illegal, ordered the parking lot closed and issued multiple violations.
The property is now subject to foreclosure proceedings initiated by 90 Street Realty LLC, which acquired the defaulted mortgage. A court-appointed referee is expected to sell the property at public auction. Although some remains have been removed, others have not been excavated and could face further disturbance.
James is invoking New York’s Unmarked Burial Site Protection Act, enacted in 2023, which prohibits disturbing human remains at unmarked burial sites until required legal procedures for identifying and notifying descendants and culturally affiliated groups are completed.
Her office wants the foreclosure referee to provide every prospective buyer with a copy of the motion and the law, ensuring future owners understand their obligations.
The goal, James said, is to prevent the historic burial ground from being forgotten again and ensure those buried there receive the protection and respect they deserve.