Nothing could have prepared Harambee CEO and Founder Tyrone Wilson for the work he would do at a Kingston house on Pine Street. It was once the site of a cemetery for enslaved Africans, but after years of work, remains have been found, exhumed and will be DNA tested.

“It's a different feeling when you’re actually going into the ground and you’re actually seeing it," Wilson said.

But the day was for solemn celebration, including a community gathering to honor and respect people who did not find either of those in life.

Wilson says it’s more important now than ever to have kids there so that they don’t have their history washed away.

“It's all part of that educational piece about who they are and what happened prior to their existence and understanding, and not being afraid to talk about slavery," he said.

Two summers of digging by a team of student archeologists has uncovered the remains of about 17 people; their ages range from adult to teenagers and an infant.

SUNY New Paltz Professor of Anthropology Ken Nystrom says this has been an at-times overwhelming experience.

“It is a unique experience that every individual student has to kind of process in their own way, that everybody, [Professor Joe] Diamond and myself have to process in our own way," Nystrom said.

Harambee will next look to raise funds to do DNA tests on samples of the remains, with the hope that they can connect relatives today with their ancestors of the past. Wilson says the process has been spiritual, like he can feel the ancestors with him in this work.

“I always feel joy," he said. "I always feel a happiness. I feel like it's like a reunion, that’s the way to describe it.”