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Joyce Mosley stands in Eden Cemetery on Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020. Mosely believes she has nearly 100 relatives buried at Eden. (Ryan Collerd for PlanPhilly)
Google “Eden Cemetery” and you’re bound to encounter an impressive list of influential Black Philadelphians laid to rest there. Absalom Jones, Marian Anderson, Octavius Catto, Julian Abele, Frances Harper, and William Still are a few of the well-known figures who come up.
But Eden’s story is larger than its “notables.” Its very existence was shaped by segregation and the fight for civil rights, a history legible in its archival documents, material culture, and physical design, if you know how to read them.