From 1991 to 1994, Blakey served as the director of the African Burial Ground Project in New York City, one of the most important archaeological finds in the United States during the 20th century. Blakey’s research team examined 27 skeletons that had filed or culturally modified teeth, which was considered a strong indication of African birth. Previously, only nine such skeletons had been discovered in the Americas. Blakey’s team examined more than 1.5 million artifacts discovered at the site, which included everything from pottery and glassware to tools and children’s toys. His research determined that approximately half of the African people buried at the site were children.

“We were also doing something that scholars within the African diaspora have been doing for about 150 years and that is realizing that history has political implications of empowerment and disempowerment. That history is not just to be discovered but to be re-discovered, to be corrected, and that African-American history is distorted. Omissions are made in order to create a convenient view of national and white identity at the expense of our understanding our world and also at the expense of African-American identity,” Dr. Blakey said in 2003 interview with the Archaeological Institute of America.