Throughout the United States, countless historic Black cemeteries have fallen into disarray, even as sites dedicated to Confederate soldiers have garnered state protection and maintenance.
But in recent years, organizers have risen up to reclaim these burial sites and preserve the history buried right beneath our feet.
One of those groups is the Virginia-based non-profit, The Friends of East End. The all-volunteer non-profit was founded in 2017 to preserve the historic East End Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.
The burial site, which is believed to be the final resting place of over 15,000 people, became an illegal dumpsite with overgrown vines and weeds.
Over the course of several years, volunteers were able to cut back on the overgrowth and recover more than 3,3000 graves. The Friends of East End also collaborated with the University of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University, to create a digital map where people can find the grave sites.
However, things took an unexpected turn in 2020 when the group was kicked off the property. They’ve since been able to return and have re-started their work re-vitalizing the cemetery.
The East End Cemetery is hardly the only example of a historic burial site that fell into neglect. In Potomac, Maryland, a historic 150-year-old gravesite for freed and formerly enslaved people became a dumpsite for years until local community members fought for its restoration.
The tides do appear to have turned. In 2017, Virginia finally passed a law allocating state resources to the protection of historic Black gravesites. However, it’s worth noting that the state was already paying to preserve Confederate gravesites. Other groups have also sprung up in the state to preserve the equally historic Evergreen cemetery.
And if the political will dies down, groups like The Friends of East End don’t appear to be letting up anytime soon.