I Went in Search of Abandoned African-American Cemeteries
I found a couple, and some fascinating history, too.
By Jerrel Floyd, Reporting Fellow at ProPublica Illinois.
My interest in abandoned African-American cemeteries started in graduate school, when I was assigned to write a story about a black woman named Rose Sturdivant Young, who was leading the charge to restore an abandoned cemetery in North Carolina. Her father, mother and other ancestors are buried there.
African-American cemeteries across the country have largely been neglected, their powerful histories obscured by weeds, debris and, as much as anything, the passage of time. Few people know their locations. Fewer still know the stories of the people buried there.
When I came to ProPublica Illinois as a reporting fellow, I saw a chance to look into this issue. I focused on two cemeteries in St. Clair County, a few miles southeast of St. Louis across the Mississippi River: St. George and Booker T. Washington Cemetery. I spent time hiking the grounds with folks who are trying to unearth and preserve the histories of the cemeteries, as well as trying to keep up the cemeteries themselves.
https://www.propublica.org/article/abandoned-african-american-cemeteries-illinois-jerrel-floyd
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