A boy at Grantswood Community School in Irondale, Alabama received a surprise during class on Friday when his mom returned home from a U.S. Navy deployment.
This is the second story in the three-part series titled “Below the Surface: The Fight to Protect African-American Cemeteries.” The series takes a look at the disparities and the ever-present systemic racism Black Americans face even in death.
One recent afternoon Edwina St. Rose and Bernadette Whitsett-Hammond walked an Atlanta Black Star reporter around Daughters of Zion Cemetery, a two-acre corner lot in Charlottesville, Virginia, filled with history.
The Daughters of Zion Cemetery was established by a charitable organization of African-American women in 1873. The cemetery is the final resting place of some of Charlottesville’s noted Black residents, including the Coles Family, who owned the largest African-American construction company in the city, and Benjamin E. Tonsler, who was a grade school principal and friend to Booker T. Washington. The last known burial came in 1995.
The people laid to rest in these places experienced systematic prejudices and were never fully appreciated for the great impact they played in building this country. Then in death, their lives continue to be forgotten. In addition to resource inequality, legislative funding has also disproportionately supported the preservation and documentation of historical white cemeteries.
The stories are meant to shine a spotlight on how systemic racism affects even the dead.
In Virginia, Oakwood Cemetery in the state capital of Richmond is right beside the historic African-American Evergreen and East End cemeteries. Oakwood was established around the same time in the 19th century as the nearby Black cemeteries but was originally only for white people. The contrast in appearance and upkeep between Oakwood and Evergreen and East End is notable.