There’s a parking lot at 1440 Forest Avenue on Staten Island that’s surrounded by a 7-11, Sherwin-Williams, Liberty Tax, and trash that might blow in your face if you’re not careful. It’s also covering a historically Black cemetery, deeded in 1850, illegally seized in 1954, and paved over in the 1960s. It had been the Cherry Lane Cemetery. Now, it’s the 1440 Forest Avenue Shopping Plaza. The cemetery was the final resting place of men, women, babies, children, and the last person born into slavery on Staten Island, Benjamin Prine,…
