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About
About
This repository was completed as the final assignment for INFO-664-Programming For Cultural Heritage at the Pratt Institute during the Fall 2022 semester and focused on uncovering forgotten histories of African American cemeteries in the United States. Initially, I set out to determine a way to explore and analyze Black Cemeteries across the United States. I aimed to capture the perpetual neglect of these spaces by drawing attention to the lack of data collected on those buried within the cemeteries and the cemeteries themselves — emphasizing the blatant racism and inequality haunting Black Americans even in death.
Mount Zion Cemetery/ Female Union Band Cemetery, Bounded by 27th Street right-of-way N.W. (formerly Lyons Mill Road), Q Street N.W., & Mill Road N.W., Washington, District of Columbia, DC.jpeg
African American cemeteries suffer disproportionately the effects of development compared to the cemeteries of other groups. Unlike many predominately white cemeteries, designed as garden spaces to honor the dead and the living, Black cemeteries, like the communities they represented, were neglected to the periphery. Another factor contributing to the vulnerability of African American cemeteries is that many have only modest markers, often from less durable materials. Over time this can make them less visible on the landscape and easier to miss by surveyors and archaeologists.
Restricted from Christian churchyards, Africans developed a burial ground consisting of small plots on the outskirts of cities. As the enslaved populations grew, so did the Black burial grounds, though many remain hidden and ill-preserved today. Past damaging lawful restrictions contributed to the ill-treatment of the Black departed. Enslaved Africans were required to have a written pass to travel more than a mile away from home. No more than twelve persons were permitted in a funeral procession or at graveside services, and interment was not allowed at night, the customary time for many African burial rituals.
Until the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1968, segregation of public cemeteries by race was at 90%. Moreover, African American burials (and other discriminated against groups) took place at the margins of existing cemeteries, vulnerable to encroaching development. These sites are often neglected or sometimes even intentionally erased from public records in favor of new development or simply a lack of respect. Many of the buried belonged to a generation of formerly enslaved people who escaped or became emancipated.
[Mount Zion Cemetery/Female Union Band Cemetery] in the Georgetown neighborhood, Washington, D.C.
Cemetery located in Africatown, Mobile County, Alabama
African American cemeteries continue to endure the effects of urban expansion compared to the cemeteries of other groups. Over the last decade, a movement to identify and protect African American cemeteries has been steadily growing in the United States. This movement resulted in organizations dedicated to researching the damaged and abandoned cemeteries, advising strategies to preserve history and ensure dignity and respect for the forgotten and departed.
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