Location: Charlottesville, VA
Date Designed / Built: 1873
Client: Daughters of Zion Mutual Aid Society, City of Charlottesville
Designer: Liz Sargent, FASLA
Established in 1873 by the Daughters of Zion Society, the Daughters of Zion Cemetery was founded as an African American burial ground, presenting an alternative for burial to Charlottesville’s segregated Oakwood Cemetery. Burials took place in the Daughters of Zion Cemetery from the time of founding up until 1995. The City of Charlottesville acquired the cemetery property from the Daughters of Zion in the 1970s through eminent domain. The state of the cemetery declined as the Daughters of Zion Society dissolved in the mid-1990s; instances of vandalism grew, and the grounds fell into disrepair resulting from the lack of coordinated management. The condition of the burial ground continued to decline, even after receiving designation on the list of National Register of Historic Places in 2009. It wasn’t until 2015 when the condition of the Daughters of Zion Cemetery began to improve. A group of local pastors appealed to the community to draft long-term plans for the cemetery. The completion of a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey and the formation of the Preservers of the Daughters of Zion Cemetery (The Preservers) soon followed. While the exact number of burials is still unclear, it is estimated that around 641 burials have occurred in the cemetery between 1873 and 1995.
Members of Charlottesville’s volunteer Historic Resources Committee were approached out of concern for protecting the Daughters of Zion Cemtery from falling further into disrepair. Liz Sargent, FASLA and Historic Landscape Architect happened to sit on the committee and developed an interest in the project. After meeting with the Preservers, Sargent learned the Charlottesville City Council would be willing to fund preservation and repair projects if presented with a master plan and cost estimate for the cemetery. Consequently, Sargent drafted the Daughters of Zion Cemetery Preservation Strategies Plan, resulting in the allocation of $80,000 from the City Council to complete the initiatives proposed in the preservation plan. The funds were allocated to a variety of projects, including: repairing damaged headstones; adding fence lines to define property boundaries; erosion control measures; consulting local preservation specialists to determine appropriate repairs for cracked and broken headstones; conducting a 2016 GPR survey; and designing a memorial to those buried in unmarked gravesites, among other initiatives.
In 2017, the Preservers collaborated with the University of Virginia’s History Department, allowing students to research the history of the Daughters of Zion Cemetery as part of a semester-long project. This culminated in an exhibit entitled Gone but Not Forgotten, featuring artifacts from the University’s Special Collections Library and photographs from the Holsinger Portrait Project (an African American storytelling initiative). The exhibit raised awareness about the existence and restoration of the Daughters of Zion Cemetery, allowing for it to serve as a precedent for other historic African American burial grounds that are also in need of preservation and restoration.
Within a few short years, the Preservers, along with several other dedicated volunteers, have accomplished nearly all their restoration goals. Their work and creative advocacy strategies suggest a model for other grassroots preservation efforts on raising the awareness, funds, and interest necessary to achieve a vision or set of goals. The problems and situations they’ve encountered and the strategies they’re employed closely mirror those common to African American cemetery restoration; thus, the lesson derived from this case are particularly applicable to Brooklyn Cemetery in Athens, and to other burial grounds throughout the United States.
Celebrating the installation and the implementation of master plan designs is a good way to continue fundraising while garnering community support. This includes breaking ground and the final installation of memorials, interpretive materials, and the repairing of existing features.
Lobbying City Council and presenting them with a strategic plan with cost estimates can lead to financial support for historic preservation from local government entities.
Location: Chicamauga, GA
Date Designed / Built: restoration plan 2018
Client: family and stewards of the District Hill Cemetery
Designer: University of Georgia, College of Environment and Design, Arianne Wolfe and Devyn Quick
Thirty miles east of Chattanooga, the town of Chickamauga is home to 3,100 residents in rural Georgia. The site of the second deadliest battle fought in the Civil War, the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park currently preserve the battlefields of this area with an emphasis on Confederate history and not much regard for preserving a narrative for the African American experience. District Hill Cemetery is the final resting place for more than 1,000 African American individuals who most likely were born into slavery and lived through American Reconstruction and the Jim Crow Era.
As described by the designers, District Hill Cemetery is the final resting place for “teachers and laborers, Freemasons and farmers, preachers and business owners that created a vibrant community in Chickamauga.” The development of the District Hill Master Plan served as an opportunity to examine the community and its history through an often-overlooked lens of the Civil War. It additionally served to “memorialize those who bore the burden of building the community.”
The District Hill Master Plan outlines the site analysis, design process, and delivers a final design for the District Hill Cemetery created by the University of Georgia – College of Environment + Design students. Currently unmarked graves were identified using GPR; however there are likely many more burials on-site than those identified. The master plan proposes marking known graves with both limestone markers and narcissus bulbs, providing both living and static memorials. The process of the bulb spread and growth is reflective of the many unverified gravesites within the Cemetery.
Implementation has not begun at the District Hill Cemetery at this time, but is expected to begin sometime in 2022. The Master Plan was well-received and the community, namely the primary stakeholders, are excited to begin installation of the design.
Possession of a master plan may simultaneously serve as a design guide and concept to rally behind for fundraising and community engagement
Location: Richmond, VA
Date Designed / Built: 1897
Client: N/A
Designer: Friends of East End Cemetery
Founded in 1897 by the East End Memorial Burial Association, East End Cemetery comprises 16 acres located mostly in Henrico County, Virginia. Though burial records for East End have been lost, it is estimated that over 17,000 people are buried there. Those interred include some of the most prominent Black Richmonders of the turn of the 20th century as well as a representative cross-section of everyday Black Richmonders from all walks of life. Some of those interred were buried before Emancipation. Most were enslaved, although a few were free. Together, those buried in East End reflect what the historian Robert F. Engs has called “Freedom's First Generation.”
Established the year after the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of racial segregation in the Plessy vs. Ferguson case, East End Cemetery and other burial grounds like it exemplify the tangible consequences of this decision - namely, that segregation would hound African Americans through their lives all the way to their graves. Despite racial discrimination and draconian Jim Crow policies, black Virginians nonetheless persisted and continued to build strong and stable communities supported by both formal and informal networks of mutual aid. Today, East End stands as a testament to this legacy of community-building.
East End was originally incorporated as Greenwood Cemetery in 1891 by an association of prominent black Richmonders. This founding group eventually defaulted, however, and sold property back to its original owners. In 1897, the East End Memorial Burial Association, a new group of black community leaders, took control. Though the cemetery would henceforth be known as East End, it would continue carrying an association with Greenwood well into the 20th century.
Arrangements for perpetual care were never made, however. Over time, the cemetery’s original community of support began to disperse - an effect of myriad forces, including the attacks on Black civil rights and economic power following Reconstruction, the physical destruction of the Jackson Ward in the wake of urban renewal, and the end of de jure segregation, which opened burial grounds within the Richmond city proper to black people. Thereafter, the cemetery rapidly deteriorated. Some families attempted to maintain their family members' plots over the years. Many others, however, could no longer find their way through the thickets and vines.
By 2013, the cemetery was almost completely obscured, the graves were blanketed so completely that only the tallest headstones remained visible. Further, decades of neglect and disturbance from adjacent development had attracted English ivy, sumac, and other invasive species as well as illegal dumping, including more than 1,500 tires. In place of what was once an immaculate, formally planned cemetery stood a near-impenetrable 16-acre forest.
Since 2013, volunteers have worked weekly to clear undergrowth, collect trash, uncover grave markers, and document the cemetery’s history. In 2017, Friends of East End Cemetery, a nonprofit organization, was founded to focus and expand the work of the core group of volunteers committed to the restoration effort. Today, the Friends continue to collaborate with descendants of the interred as well as churches, schools, institutions of higher education, local government, businesses, and others.
To date, Friends of East End have hosted hundreds of workdays organized with more than 10,000 volunteer visits. Over the past eight years, these volunteers have reclaimed almost 10 acres by hand, uncovered more than 3300 grave markers, and found almost as many unmarked graves. All trash, including the 1,500 tires, has been removed. Volunteers have also been digitizing existing grave marker information and posting it to the onlone database Find a Grave as well as creating virtual tombstones for interments for whom records are available but whose physical markers have not been found. The Friends have also been working with University of Richmond to create digital map of all marked graves.
The group has also invested a great deal of time and effort in developing their official website, where they maintain their own database of interments as well as a record of the cemetery’s history and transformation. Further, the group has collaborated with historians and other researchers at the University of Richmond to put cemetery’s decline and renewal into historic context in order to draw attention to the larger systemic forces that have contributed to the neglect of Black sacred space nationwide.
In Virginia, this kind localized, direct community activism has inspired legislative change. The efforts of Friends of the East End’s core volunteer group spurred that passage of a 2018 Virginia law introduced by Virginia Representative A. Donald McEachin promoting investment in the preservation of historic Black cemeteries. This law would later inspire the proposed African American Burial Grounds Network Act, also introduced by Meachin, which would create a network of Black cemeteries and a formal database of historic Black burial sites—including grant funding for research and restoration—under the administration of the National Park Service. Currently, the legislation has yet to be introduced to the Senate and remains under consideration by the House of Representatives. Follow this link to track the Act’s current status.
In the absence of an official database, it is impossible to know how many neglected Black cemeteries like East End dot the American landscape. Legislation like the African American Burial Grounds Network Act Support from the Park Service could not only increase visitation at these sites but could also lead to a more complete public understanding of Black history. “African-American history is American history,” says Meachin. “The people that were honored, and how they were honored, speaks to the community they lived in and the times in which they lived.”
Though promising, the material benefits of such legislation remain to be seen. Brian Palmer, a founding member of Friends of East End, has voiced his disappointment with Meachin’s 2018 Virginia law. Concerned that burial grounds will be converted to “a recreational amenity,” Palmer argues that funding should be directed toward organizations like his that have cultivated local expertise through decades-long stewardship efforts.
“Any federal legislation with teeth is wonderful,” says Palmer. “But symbolism doesn’t protect cemeteries. It has to be substantive.” Timing is a critical factor when preserving these sites, and until the federal government assumes a more direct role in the stewardship and contextualization of Black sacred spaces, it will remain up to communities to keep the effects of unchecked development and neglect at bay.
Advocacy and organized political action are critical. Advocacy at the local level can lead to legislative change at the state and national level.
Until the federal government takes more direct ownership of the issue, communities will continue to act as the primary stewards of cemeteries like the East End. As such, their local expertise should be prioritized.
There is a correlation between Brian Palmer’s concern that East End would be turned into a “recreational amenity,” and the Trustees of Brooklyn Cemetery’s resistance to the idea of TSPLOST funding.
Substance needs to be emphasized over symbolism. Symbolism is powerful, but not enough to enact meaningful material change.
Government interventions should be regarded with caution. Further, the material impact of legislative change should be similarly scrutinized. It is entirely possible that well-meaning public sector interventions could, in effect, divert resources away from the initiatives of local experts and derail their goals.
The efforts of groups like Friends of the East End should be recognized as tried and true exemplars of the principle of stewardship. Further, designers should critically examine the ways in which the landscape architectural profession has appropriated this principle to opportunistically align itself with established interests in the climate and environmental movements, attract clientele, and vouch for its own recognition as a distinct discipline.
Designers must further ask themselves what essential services they can offer to support initiatives like the East End and Brooklyn Cemetery restorations, as well as how they may remain involved beyond the lifespan of individual projects.
Location: New York, NY
Date Designed / Built: 2007
Client: U.S. Government Services Agency (GSA)
Designer: Rodney LEon + AARIS Architects
In 1991, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) began construction of a 34-floor office tower at 290 Broadway Street in New York City. From a development standpoint, the site was prime real estate. Preliminary archaeological excavations conducted in accordance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act uncovered intact human skeletons buried 30 feet below street level. The site would soon become known as the earliest and largest African burial ground rediscovered in the United States to date. The 6-acre site located 30 feet below street level, consists of over 15,000 intact skeletal remains, all belonging to free and enslaved Africans whose labor made the construction and expansion of colonial New York possible. Most of these burials dated from between the mid-1630s and 1795.
In 1993, after vociferous civic engagement on the part of African descendants and allied activists, the excavated remains were transferred to the W. Montague Cobb Research Laboratory of Howard University for careful analysis, where they remained for the next ten years. Between September 2003 and October 4, 2003, a “Cradle Moving” event marked the return of the ancestral remains to the Burial Ground for reinternment. During this event, all members of the public were encouraged to take part, and outward expressions of spirituality were encouraged. All-night vigils were held. Dancers, poets, and singers performed. Some attendees fell into possession; some performed divinations. Most brought offerings of fruit, flowers, coins, and hand-written messages, all of which would be buried with the remains.
Finally, on October 4, 2003, the remains were given their final resting place at the African Burial Ground Memorial Site. Each of the 419 skeletal remains were given their own hand-carved coffin, after which they were consolidated into seven large sarcophagi. Each sarcophagus was then carefully lowered into its own burial shaft and covered by prominent turfgrass mounds. Today, these mounds serve as a place for flowers and offerings.
A memorial, interpretive center, and research library were later added to the site to commemorate the interred Africans and honor their contributions to colonial New York. After signing a public law barring the GSA from undertaking the construction of a pavilion that had originally been planned for the site, President George H. W. Bush approved an appropriation of $3 million to fund the design and construction of the memorial in 1992.
In 1998 the GSA issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the design and construction of the new memorial. Hundreds of applicants submitted proposals. This influx was gradually narrowed to six finalists, of whom only one – Rodney Leon and AARIS Architects – was awarded the final contract. Rodney’s resulting “Ancestral Chamber” was completed in 2007 and today continues to "serve to physically, spiritually, ritualistically and psychologically define the location where the historic re-interment of remains and artifacts of 419 Africans has taken place," in his own words.
The design intent behind the African Burial Ground Memorial is worth considering in greater detail. Leon’s design for the memorial was built around seven essential elements. These elements are as follows:
A user entering the African Burial Ground National Monument is first faced with a looming wall of polished black granite inscribed with the following text:
"For all those who were lost
For all those who were stolen
For all those who were left behind
For all those who were not forgotten”
The inscriptions suggest the opening words of a libation ceremony (the ritual pouring of liquid in honor of those who have passed) and invite the user to transition from the day-to-day, secular activities of the street to the spiritually charged space of the memorial. Here, users are also introduced to the Sankofa symbol, whose universal meaning will gradually emerge as each visitor undergoes an individual process of enlightenment.
As users proceed through the memorial, they next pass by the seven turfgrass re-burial mounds, each marked by its own “guardian” tree. These mounds contain the reinterred remains of the 419 African descendants first exhumed in 1993. Here, users may place flowers and other offerings. On some occasions, permitted users will perform libation ceremonies over the reinterment mounds. Functionally, the Grove also marks the entrance to the Libation Chamber.
On the opposite side of the Libation Chamber from the Wall of Remembrance, the Memorial Wall bears an engraving of a map denoting the boundaries of the National Monument site in comparison to the actual boundaries of the original burial ground. This engraving makes it apparent to the user that the site's actual boundaries – its sacred ground – extends well beyond the visible boundaries designated by the GSA and the National Park Service.
The Libation Chamber stands as one of the most iconic and most symbolically ambivalent features of the Memorial site. In the words of designer Rodney Leon, “the granite headstone is the rendering of a ship, ships that carried thousands of Africans through the Middle Passage into North America.” Simultaneously, the structure is representative of "the soaring African spirit embracing and comforting all those who enter." Oriented to the east, just as the majority of those interred in the Burial Ground are, the Chamber is open to the sky, allowing natural light to penetrate the interior. As users enter, they fully make the transition from the secular to spiritual space and are invited to linger in contemplation, reflection, meditation, or prayer.
As users exit the Libation Chamber, they enter into a circular Libation Court bound on its outer edge by a granite perimeter wall. The interior of this wall is inscribed with numerous symbols representative of the diversity of cultures included in the African diaspora. These symbols are drawn from cultures from across Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean as well the United States, marking the Burial Ground as an international space for gathering. Each symbol is accompanied by a brief inscription communicating its meaning. Fully considered, the Circle of the Diaspora reminds the user of the complexity and diversity of African culture across the globe.
The Processional Ramp ferries users four feet below street level, bringing them both physically and spiritually closer to the ancestors. As such, the ramp serves as a bridge between physical and spiritual worlds and symbolizes the completed transition from the day-to-day activities of the street to a sacred space of the Libation Court.
Situated on an axis with the Ancestral Chamber and sunk 4' below street level, the Libation Court is a sacred space physically and psychologically separated from day-to-day activities of the street. Here, users find a communal gathering space where the burials may be continually re-consecrated during libation or other ceremonies. The libation ceremony ritually entangles the past, present, and future generations. This entanglement is best represented by the spirit of Sankofa symbol users were faced with upon entry to the memorial. An Adinkra symbol of Ghanaian origin, the Sankofa symbol celebrates the wisdom of the past and encourages those in the present to draw on the richness of past experience to light their way into the future. As such, while libation ritually links users to those interred at the burial ground, the Sankofa symbol edifies this connection.
The conflicts and negotiations that ensued between the General Services Administration, African American descendants, historians, archaeologists, community activists, and city and state officials over the memorialization and proper treatment of these remains effectively exemplifies the current struggle of African Americans to maintain and, where necessary, reclaim sacred ground in the United States. Further, the complex, often fraught relationships among the stakeholders involved highlighted the entanglement of authorized heritage discourse and historical scholarship, “due diligence” archaeology and institutional power, as well as conflicting understandings of the site’s value between academics, government officials and descendant communities.
Ardent civic engagement on the part of community activists representing the descendants of those interred spearheaded the standards for commemoration and scientific study of the remains. Through their efforts, these activists were able to negotiate the reinterment of the remains on-site following their examination by anthropologists and archaeologists. Further, they ensured that the spirituality and sacrality central to the burial ground’s meaning to living descendants was recognized and maintained throughout the research and memorialization process.
In large part due to these community-led efforts, the African Burial Ground was declared a National Monument by President George W. Bush in 2006.
There is a direct correlation to be drawn between the struggle of African descendants to reclaim sacred space within the institutional context of the GSA, and the struggle of Black Athenians to restore dignity to the African remains uncovered during the Baldwin Hall expansion.
The thoughtful design elements and symbolism of the African Burial Ground National Monument provide a suitable exemplar for a memorial commemorating the unmarked and unknown graves found in Brooklyn Cemetery, as well as honoring the burials uncovered below Baldwin Hall.
Designers should set aside their personal beliefs and honor the spiritual significance of places like Brooklyn Cemetery to its stakeholders. In an increasingly secular society, Christian beliefs are often regarded with skepticism, if not outright disdain. No matter their spiritual orientation, designers must avoid this pitfall, as much of the stewardship of African American cemeteries are led by churches and other faith-centered organizations. The situation is no different at Brooklyn Cemetery.
Likewise, symbols such as Sankofa should be carefully considered and employed only where they suit the design situation and context. The rich symbolism of Leon’s design may certainly inspire design interventions for Brooklyn Cemetery, but it should not be employed in cookie-cutter fashion without regard to context.
“African Burial Ground Exterior Monument,” U.S. General Services Administration, 2021. https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/regions/welcome-to-the-northeast-caribbean-region-2/about-region-2/african-burial-ground/african-burial-ground-exterior-monument
“African Burial Ground National Monument,” National Park Service, 2021. https://www.nps.gov/afbg/index.htm
“African Burial Ground Memorial,” Rodney Lon – Architect, 2021. https://www.rodneyleon.com/african-burial-ground-memorial
Brown, Nick, Shonil Bhagwat, and Sarah Watkinson. "Macrofungal diversity in fragmented and disturbed forests of the Western Ghats of India." Journal of Applied ecology 43, no. 1 (2006): 11-17.
DuBois, WE Burghardt. "The Relation of the Negroes to the Whites in the South." The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (1901): 121-140.
Gaffney, Austyn. “The fight to save America’s historic Black cemeteries,” National Geographic, August 19 2020. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/historic-black-cemeteries-at-risk-can-they-be-preserved
Hawksworth, David L., and Paulette M. McManus. "Lichen recolonization in London under conditions of rapidly falling sulphur dioxide levels, and the concept of zone skipping." Botanical journal of the Linnean society 100.2 (1989): 99-109.
“Home.” East End Cemetery, 2021. https://eastendcemeteryrva.com/
“Home.” Friends of East End Cemetery, 2021. https://friendsofeastend.com/
Kocian, Ludovit, Danka Nemethova, Dana Melicherova, and Adriana Matuskova. "Breeding bird communities in three cemeteries in the City of Bratislava (Slovakia)." Folia zoologica 52, no. 2 (2003): 177-188.
Lemke, Ashley. "“Missing Cemeteries” and Structural Racism: Historical Maps and Endangered African/African American and Hispanic Mortuary Customs in Texas." Historical Archaeology 54, no. 3 (2020): 605-623.
Löki, Viktor, Balázs Deák, András Balázs Lukács, and Attila Molnár. "Biodiversity potential of burial places–a review on the flora and fauna of cemeteries and churchyards." Global ecology and conservation 18 (2019): e00614.
Sargent, Liz, Edwina St. Rose, and Bernadette Whitsett-Hammond, “Daughters of Zion Cemetery: Grassroots Preservation How-To,” The Field, May 20, 2021. https://thefield.asla.org/2021/05/20/daughters-of-zion-cemetery-grassroots-preservation-how-to/
Sigiel-Dopierala, A., and A. M. Jagodzinski. "Materials to the vascular flora of the neglected Evangelical cemeteries of the western part of the Drawsko Landscape Park (Poland)." Roczniki Akademii Rolniczej w Poznaniu. Botanika-Steciana 15 (2011).
Smith, Jeffrey E. "Till Death Keeps Us Apart: Segregated Cemeteries and Social Values in St. Louis, Missouri." Till Death Do Us Part: American Ethnic Cemeteries as Borders Uncrossed (2020): 157.
“What We Do.” Black Cemetery Network, 2021, blackcemeterynetwork.org/whatwedo.