While many are focused on removing relics of the Confederacy, people across Virginia have been working for years to memorialize volumes of history hidden under sacred ground.
Cat Modlin-Jackson has this look at what increased funds for historic African American cemeteries means to descendants.
Before Sylvia Forbes’s father died, she made a promise. One day, she’d go to the sprawling Evergreen Cemetery in Richmond and find their ancestors. "And when I found them," she remembers, "I went to his grave. And I said, Daddy, I found them."
She heads into a wooded area on a muggy summer evening, passing one family plot before coming to another. She brushes aside a mound of dead leaves to reveal their names. "This is Joshua Forbes. This is my great-grandfather. This is his wife, my Nannie, Nannie Forbes. They say I look like her." She knows more of her relatives are here. She’s just not sure where to find them.
Innumerable Black lives have been lost to the grounds of old cemeteries, left to languish for lack of a dedicated steward. With them, they took first-hand accounts of enslavement, war, Jim Crow and neighborhood demolition.
They haven’t received nearly the amount of state support as Confederate graveyards, but that started to change in 2017, when Delegate Delores McQuinn secured almost $35,000 for Evergreen and the adjacent East End Cemetery.
What initially followed was a piecemeal approach. "In the past, you had to actually get a Senator or Delegate to introduce legislation for a particular cemetery to be added," notes Julie Langan. Langan directs the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, which administers preservation money. That includes thousands paid annually to the United Daughters of the Confederacy including $83,570 this year.
This year lawmakers decided to interrupt the old ways with the creation of a six-figure fund for historical African American cemeteries and graves. "So that's a major change," Langan says. "It makes it much more accessible. And it's accessible twelve months out of the year."
That means a lot to Edwina St. Rose and Bernadette Whitsett-Hammond. They’re with the Preservers of the Daughters of Zion Cemetery in Charlottesville. The women come to the cemetery often to honor relatives and those who came before. They step gingerly around unmarked graves, saying ‘excuse me’ as they go.
A ground survey revealed that there are likely more than 600 burials here, St. Rose explains. So far, they’ve received state funds for less than 200. Since 2018 they’ve received state funds for the care of 192, which comes out to $960 a year. "And we would like to have an increase based on any documentation that we can obtain that shows that we have additional qualified burials," St. Rose says.
Langan at the DHR says with the new fund, preservation groups can show their research and apply for additional resources at any time.
But there are questions about whether or not all recipients are paying due diligence. Back at Evergreen, Sylvia Forbes has concerns about the organization that claims ownership of the cemetery.
Named for the city where it’s based, Enrichmond receives the bulk of state funds based on documentation for about 7,000 of the estimated eligible 20,000 graves at Evergreen and East End. But it’s repeatedly disrespected those in its care, Forbes says. "It's a predominately white foundation that's dictating the lives of African-Americans," Forbes argues. "And I just thought that was wrong."
John Sydnor is the executive director. He acknowledges that Enrichmond has made mistakes and says it’s working to make amends. As for the money? "It is not fair. It is not fair, without a doubt, that a white-led organization receives the most money, mainly because we own 77 acres of historic African American sacred ground," Sydnor says.
Sydnor says he felt a responsibility to save the cemeteries from disrepair. Some, including those with ancestors in Evergreen, praise Enrichmond’s work. Others say it has a history of silencing descendants and volunteers. "It's like these people aren't respected in life and they have to fight from death beyond in order to rest in power," Sylvia Forbes says.
For all the talk about monuments, Forbes says, we can’t forget those under sacred ground.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
***Editor's Note: The number of burials credited to EnRichmond's documentation has been clarified.