7. Sara Delano Roosevelt Park
In 1929, New York City purchased the land on the Lower East Side where Sara Delano Roosevelt Park is now located to widen Chrystie and Forsythe Streets and to construct low-cost housing. That plan was never realized and in 1934 a park was constructed and named after Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s mother. Today, the park contains the M’Finda Kalunga Garden. The garden was named in memory of an African American burial ground that was located adjacent to the park on Chrystie Street, between Rivington and Stanton Streets. The land served as the City’s second African American burial ground between 1794 and 1853 when the remains were disinterred.