To be honest, it never even occurred to me that American slaves might have had their own cemeteries and not just...

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To be honest, it never even occurred to me that American slaves might have had their own cemeteries and not just been buried in the local cemetery. Now that I know, I'm glad an organization is out there trying to preserve these sites.
http://hyperallergic.com/288551/a-new-database-will-document-the-burial-sites-of-us-slaves/

Comments

Bodhipaksa said…
Of course. Even in more modern times, white people who wouldn't let black people drink at the same water fountain sure as hell weren't going to let them be buried in the same cemeteries. It seems there are still racially segregated cemeteries: http://www.racismreview.com/blog/2008/07/07/racially-segregated-cemetery-in-texas/
May 11, 2016 at 9:36 PM
John Bump said…
If you wander up to Blackhawk some time it's interesting to see the Catholic cemetery, the Protestant cemetery, and the Jewish cemetery. There was often an indigent/unknown cemetery, and, yeah, a black cemetery.
May 11, 2016 at 10:59 PM
Jason ON said…
I knew there were different cemeteries based on religions, but not on race. It's just dumbfounding for me to believe that, even in death, people didn't want to be buried next to other people.
May 12, 2016 at 12:33 PM
Bodhipaksa said…
It is dumbfounding. It goes beyond burial, though. White people were not prepared to handle the corpses of black people, and sure as hell weren't going to let black people prepare their dead for burial. So the discrimination started before the choice of where the body would be laid to rest.
May 12, 2016 at 1:34 PM
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