Richmond's African Burial Grounds and Historic African American Cemeteries

Historic African American cemetery in Richmond, Virginia

The city of Richmond, Virginia has two African Burial Grounds, the "Shockoe Bottom African Burial Ground" (active 1799–1816), and the "Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground" (active 1816–1879). Additionally the city is home to several other important and historic African American cemeteries.

Richmond's African Burial Grounds

  • Shockoe Bottom African Burial Ground was active from 1799 to 1816. It was the first municipal burial ground of the city of Richmond. It was historically known as the "Burial Ground for Negroes".[1] It is located at 1554 E Broad St. (alternate address 1520 E Marshall St.), across from the site of Lumpkin's Jail, in Shockoe Bottom, historically known as Shockoe Valley.[2]
  • Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground, (Richmond's 2nd African Burial Ground) was established in 1816 by the city of Richmond, as the replacement for the Burial Ground for Negroes. It began as two (1 acre) parcels at the northeastern corner of N 5th St. and Marshall St. (now called Hospital St.). It was expanded over time to 31 acres. Over 22,000 people of African descent were interred within its grounds. It is the largest known burial ground for free people of color and the enslaved in the United States. It is located at 1305 N. 5th St., on the northern edge of Shockoe Hill, a mile and a half away from the Shockoe Bottom African Burial Ground. It is one of Virginia's most endangered historic places. Current threats to the burial ground include the DC2RVA high-speed rail project, the east-west Commonwealth Corridor, and the proposed widening of I-64.[3][4][5]

Richmond's Other Historic African American Cemeteries

  • Barton Heights Cemeteries is the present day name of six contiguous cemeteries located within the city of Richmond. The Phoenix Burial Ground (est. 1815) later renamed Cedarwood, was the first of the six cemeteries to be established. The other five cemeteries are Union (est. 1846) called Mechanics after emancipation, Methodist (est. 1855), Ebenezer (est. 1858), Sons and Daughters of Ham (est. 1867), and Sycamore (est. circa 1879). Though they are part of and owned by the city of Richmond today, the cemeteries were originally in Henrico County, and privately owned.[6][7]
  • Oakwood Cemetery was established in 1854 by the city of Richmond. It is a cemetery which included segregated African American sections. The first people buried in Oakwood in 1855 were African American. Though very few African American burials occurred there until the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground was closed in June 1879.[8]
  • Mount Olivet Cemetery was originally the segregated African American section of the Maury Cemetery, which was founded in Manchester, Virginia in 1874. When Manchester was annexed into the city of Richmond in 1910, the city granted a petition of two residents to change the name of the "colored section" of the cemetery to Mount Olivet. It is now known as the "Maury and Mount Olivet Cemeteries."[9]
  • St. Joseph's Cemetery formerly called Bishop's Cemetery, in about 1884 it became a cemetery of African American Catholics. In 1971 it was sold to the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority for use as a playground at Whitcomb Court. Seventy One graves were excavated and re-interred in Holy Cross and Mount Calvary Cemeteries.[10]
  • Evergreen Cemetery was founded in 1891 and owned by the Evergreen Cemetery Association. The Enrichmond Foundation (now defunct) acquired Evergreen Cemetery in 2017. The city of Richmond is presently seeking to acquire Evergreen Cemetery.[11][12] [13]
  • East End Cemetery was formed in 1897, by the East End Memorial Burial Association. It is located partially in the city of Richmond a partially in Henrico County. East End was acquired by the Enrichmond Foundation (now defunct) in 2019. The city of Richmond is seeking to acquire ownership of East End Cemetery[11][14][15]
  • Colored Paupers Cemetery established in 1896, by the city of Richmond, on land adjoining the city's Oakwood Cemetery.[8]
  • Woodland Cemetery was acquired in 1916 and opened in 1917, by the Richmond Planet newspaper editor John Mitchell. It is currently owned by Marvin Harris, founder of the Woodland Cemetery Restoration Foundation.[16]

City of Richmond Cemeteries Division of the Department of Parks

Of the several African American cemeteries in the city of Richmond, only the Barton Heights Cemeteries, Oakwood Cemetery, and Mount Olivet Cemetery (of the Maury and Mount Olivet Cemeteries) are actual cemeteries owned by the city of Richmond, and come under the oversight of the city's Cemetery Division. Barton Heights, and Mount Olivet are inactive cemeteries, burials are no longer made there. Oakwood Cemetery is still an active cemetery.[17]

Though the Shockoe Bottom African Burial Ground and the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground were originally both municipal burying grounds, established, owned, and operated by the city of Richmond, they were both repurposed, and disposed of once they were rendered inactive. Repeatedly desecrated, both were made to disappear from the visible landscape, and also erased from memory. It is only recently that these two burial grounds have been rediscovered and re-acknowledged, the result of persistent advocacy. The city of Richmond has now reclaimed a portion of each of the two African burial grounds with plans in the works for memorization of both sites. In the case of the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground, the city reclaimed through purchase 1.2 acres of the 31 acre burial ground in 2021.[18] And in January 2022, a small portion of the burial ground on N 7th St. was returned to the city as a gift. However the majority of the 31 acre burial ground remains divided between more than a dozen owners, and faces various threats, to include the DC2RVA high-speed rail project, the east-west Commonwealth Corridor, and the proposed widening of I-64, and various infrastructure projects. Neither of the two African Burial Grounds are zoned or designated as cemeteries. The Shockoe Bottom African Burial Ground is zoned as light industrial, and a portion of it lies beneath I-95. The various parcels of the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground are zoned from Residential (Multi-Family) to Heavy Industrial, with roads, I-64, and CSX rail road tracks run through it, in addition to some unacknowledged portions of it having been incorporated into the Hebrew Cemetery. This is to say that neither of the two burial grounds are under the over site of the city's Cemeteries Division, as they are not classified as cemeteries.

East Marshall Street Well

A non-traditional place of interment, yet a place of interment nonetheless, is Virginia Commonwealth University's East Marshall Street Well. VCU's Medical College (the Medical College of Virginia) engaged in the illegal practice of body snatching in order to supply its anatomy classes with cadavers for medical training of their students. The bodies were stolen from predominately African American graves. The main target of the grave snatchers or robbers, (also called resurrectionists) was the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground. The remains were discarded in the well, when the anatomy professors and students were done dissecting and studying them. The well was capped around 1860, and later accidentally rediscovered during the construction of the Kontos Building in April 1994.[19][20][21][22]

References

  1. ^ Virginia Department of Historic Resources: Burial Ground for Negroes, Richmond, Virginia, Validation and Assessment
  2. ^ Smith, Ryan K., Richmond Cemeteries, African Burial Ground
  3. ^ Mouer, McQueen, Smith & Thompson, United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form for the "Shockoe Hill Burying Ground Historic District", 2022
  4. ^ Smith, Ryan K., Richmond Cemeteries, Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground
  5. ^ Birnbaum, Charles, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, "It’s Not OK to Put High Speed Rail Lines Through the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground", February 1, 2022
  6. ^ Lester, Denise & staff of the Department of Historic Resources, United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form for the "Barton Heights Cemeteries", 2000
  7. ^ Smith, Ryan K., Richmond Cemeteries, Barton Heights Cemeteries
  8. ^ a b Smith, Ryan K., Richmond Cemeteries, Oakwood Cemetery
  9. ^ Smith, Ryan K., Richmond Cemeteries, Maury and Mt Olivet Cemeteries
  10. ^ Smith, Ryan K., Richmond Cemeteries,Bishop’s/St. Joseph’s Cemetery
  11. ^ a b Smith, Ryan K., Richmond Cemeteries, Evergreen and East End Cemeteries
  12. ^ Williams Michael Paul, Richmond Times-Dispatch, "Enrichmond Foundation must be held accountable. Its victims", January 6, 2023
  13. ^ Harlow, Katelyn, abc8 News, "Richmond City Council approves ordinance to own 3 historic African American cemeteries, February 27, 2024
  14. ^ Lazarus, Jeremy, Richmond Free Press, "Enrichmond Foundation now owns East End Cemetery", February 1, 2019
  15. ^ Smith, Ryan K., Richmond Cemeteries, "Where Evergreen/East End are heading", February 21, 2023
  16. ^ Smith, Ryan K., Richmond Cemeteries, Woodland Cemetery
  17. ^ RVA Richmond, Virginia, Cemeteries, rva.gov
  18. ^ VPM, NPR, PBS, "City Council Approves Purchase of Cemetery For Enslaved People", WCVE News, October 21, 2021
  19. ^ Utsey, Shawn, Until the Well Runs Dry: Medicine and the Exploitation of Black Bodies, produced by Virginia Commonwealth University. Department of African American Studies and Burn Baby Burn Productions, 2011
  20. ^ Sinclair, Melissa Scott, Style Weekly, "VCU Professor Wants Stolen Bodies Returned, Honored", November 8, 2011
  21. ^ Jones, Constance, abc8 News The Hidden History behind an infamous grave robber who lived and worked at VCU, Feb 14, 2020
  22. ^ McNeill, Brian, VCU News, "East Marshall Street Well Project engages community through film camp, K-12 education and archival research", OCT. 24, 2022

External links

  • Richmond Cemeteries, Exploring Richmond Virginia’s Historic Burial Grounds
  • Death and Rebirth in a Southern City, Richmond's Historic Cemeteries, by Ryan K. Smith, 2020
  • Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project
  • Friends of East End Cemetery
  • Woodland Restoration Foundation
  • Meet Me In The Bottom: The Struggle to Reclaim Richmond's African Burial Ground
  • Lazarus, Jeremy M., Richmond Free Press, "One woman's crusade brings attention to long-forgotten black cemetery", March 6, 2020
  • Lazarus, Jeremy, Richmond Free Press, "Enrichmond unveils $18.6M master plan for Evergreen Cemetery", March 6, 2020
  • Karns, Paul, Richmond Magazine,"In Need of Repair, Since acquiring two historic African American cemeteries, Enrichmond has been at odds with the volunteer group that has worked for years to restore and document the neglected sites", October 14. 2020
  • Landslide 2021: Race and Space: Hidden Histories Revealed,THE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE FOUNDATION, Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground
  • Arriaza, Rodrigo, Richmond Magazine,"Paying Respect, a coalition urges the governor to investigate Enrichmond’s operation of historic cemeteries", April 13, 2021
  • Richmond Times Dispatch, "No sign commemorates a place in Richmond where 20,000 Black people were buried. Lenora McQueen wants to change that." May 21, 2021
  • Slavery Inventory Database, LLC (SID), 'THE LANDSCAPE OF INJUSTICE: THE EAST END AND EVERGREEN CEMETERIES ', JUNE 11, 2021
  • Coelho, Micaela, Richmond Magazine, "Restoring History, The Woodland Restoration Foundation works to ‘bring dignity back’ to a sacred site", January 30, 2022
  • Birnbaum, Charles, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, It’s Not OK to Put High Speed Rail Lines Through the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground, February 1, 2022
  • Lazarus, Jeremy, Richmond Free Press,"8,000 potential gravesites identified at East End Cemetery using drone and hydrology mapping software", February 24, 2022
  • The News & Advance - 'It’s a good beginning' - Historical marker placed at Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground, June 12, 2022
  • VPM npr news - African burying ground historical marker unveiled in Richmond, June 13, 2022
  • CBS Mornings - Descendant works to reclaim Virginia African American burial ground, June 17, 2022
  • Reardon, D. Hunter, Richmond Magazine, "Droning for Souls Researchers at UR and VCU deploy drone technology to locate unmarked graves", June 23, 2022
  • Fitzgerald, Madyson, The Collegian, "Community gathers for 20th Annual Gabriel Gathering at Shockoe Bottom African Burial Ground" October 13, 2022
  • Schneider, Gragory S., Washington Post, "Where's Kitty Cary" The answer unlocked Black history Richmond tried to hide.", October 28, 2022
  • Noe-Payne, Mallory,Radio IQ WVTF, "Richmond couple reflects on 20 years leading the fight to memorialize Shockoe Bottom", November 29, 2022
  • Palmer, Brian, Medium "Enwhatnow? A Controversial Virginia Nonprofit Collapses, Leaving Questions and Anger" Dec 23, 2022
  • Williams, Michael Paul, Richmond Times-Dispatch, "Enrichmond Foundation must be held accountable. Its victims", January 6, 2023
  • Willis, Samantha, Virginia Mercury " Once a dead end, a Richmond cemetery earns new respect". January 30, 2023
  • Lazarus, Jeremy M., Richmond Free Press, "Rail agency begins historic cemetery review for estimated 22,000 souls", February 2, 2023
  • Williams, Michael Paul, Richmond Times-Dispatch, "Williams: At any speed, we don't need a train station in Shockoe Bottom", February 21, 2023
  • Virginia Commonwealth University, East Marshall Street Well Project
  • Williams, Michael Paul, Richmond Times-Dispatch, "EVERGREEN AND EAST END, Williams: Restoration at historic Black cemeteries seeks rebirth after the Enrichmond debacle", January 17, 2024
  • THE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE FOUNDATION: Landslide Update - Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground, Jan 29, 2024
  • Holter, Em, Richmond Times-Dispatch, "Richmond moves to acquire 3 historic Black cemeteries", February 27, 2024
  • Williams, Michael Paul, Richmond Times-Dispatch, "Williams: A for-profit billboard has no place at the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground", February 11, 2024
  • Yancey-Bragg, N'dea, USA TODAY "Black cemeteries are being 'erased.' How advocates are fighting to save them", February 14, 2024
  • Larsen, Patrick, VPM npr News "Stoney says ad firm using African burial ground as ‘bargaining chip", February 23, 2024
  • Richmond Cemeteries, "The burying ground and the billboard", by Ryan K. Smith, February 26, 2024
  • Kerley, Andrew, The Commonwealth Times, "VCU Health removes ad on African burying ground, billboard company refuses to follow suit", February 28, 2024
  • Williams, Michael Paul, Richmond Times-Dispatch, "Williams: The Shockoe Project is about our past and our future", March 2, 2024