Richmond's African Burial Grounds and Historic African American Cemeteries explained

The city of Richmond, Virginia has two African Burial Grounds, the "Shockoe Bottom African Burial Ground" (active 1799–1816), and the "Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground" (active 1816–1879). Additionally the city is home to several other important and historic African American cemeteries.

Richmond's African Burial Grounds

Shockoe Bottom African Burial Ground was active from 1799 to 1816. It was the first municipal burial ground of the city of Richmond. It was historically known as the "Burial Ground for Negroes".^[1] It is located at 1554 E Broad St. (alternate address 1520 E Marshall St.), across from the site of Lumpkin's Jail, in Shockoe Bottom, historically known as Shockoe Valley.^[2]
Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground, (Richmond's 2nd African Burial Ground) was established in 1816 by the city of Richmond, as the replacement for the Burial Ground for Negroes. It began as two (1 acre) parcels at the northeastern corner of N 5th St. and Marshall St. (now called Hospital St.). It was expanded over time to 31 acres. Over 22,000 people of African descent were interred within its grounds. It is the largest known burial ground for free people of color and the enslaved in the United States. It is located at 1305 N. 5th St., on the northern edge of Shockoe Hill, a mile and a half away from the Shockoe Bottom African Burial Ground. It is one of Virginia's most endangered historic places. Current threats to the burial ground include the DC2RVA high-speed rail project, the east-west Commonwealth Corridor, and the proposed widening of I-64.^[3] ^[4] ^[5]

Richmond's Other Historic African American Cemeteries

Barton Heights Cemeteries is the present day name of six contiguous cemeteries located within the city of Richmond. The Phoenix Burial Ground (est. 1815) later renamed Cedarwood, was the first of the six cemeteries to be established. The other five cemeteries are Union (est. 1846) called Mechanics after emancipation, Methodist (est. 1855), Ebenezer (est. 1858), Sons and Daughters of Ham (est. 1867), and Sycamore (est. circa 1879). Though they are part of and owned by the city of Richmond today, the cemeteries were originally in Henrico County, and privately owned.^[6] ^[7]
Oakwood Cemetery was established in 1854 by the city of Richmond. It is a cemetery which included segregated African American sections. The first people buried in Oakwood in 1855 were African American. Though very few African American burials occurred there until the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground was closed in June 1879.^[8]
Mount Olivet Cemetery was originally the segregated African American section of the Maury Cemetery, which was founded in Manchester, Virginia in 1874. When Manchester was annexed into the city of Richmond in 1910, the city granted a petition of two residents to change the name of the "colored section" of the cemetery to Mount Olivet. It is now known as the "Maury and Mount Olivet Cemeteries."^[9]
St. Joseph's Cemetery formerly called Bishop's Cemetery, in about 1884 it became a cemetery of African American Catholics. In 1971 it was sold to the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority for use as a playground at Whitcomb Court. Seventy One graves were excavated and re-interred in Holy Cross and Mount Calvary Cemeteries.^[10]
Evergreen Cemetery was founded in 1891 and owned by the Evergreen Cemetery Association. The Enrichmond Foundation (now defunct) acquired Evergreen Cemetery in 2017. The city of Richmond is presently seeking to acquire Evergreen Cemetery.^[11] ^[12] ^[13]
East End Cemetery was formed in 1897, by the East End Memorial Burial Association. It is located partially in the city of Richmond a partially in Henrico County. East End was acquired by the Enrichmond Foundation (now defunct) in 2019. The city of Richmond is seeking to acquire ownership of East End Cemetery^[14] ^[15]
Colored Paupers Cemetery established in 1896, by the city of Richmond, on land adjoining the city's Oakwood Cemetery.
Woodland Cemetery was acquired in 1916 and opened in 1917, by the Richmond Planet newspaper editor John Mitchell. It is currently owned by Marvin Harris, founder of the Woodland Cemetery Restoration Foundation.^[16]

City of Richmond Cemeteries Division of the Department of Parks

Of the several African American cemeteries in the city of Richmond, only the Barton Heights Cemeteries, Oakwood Cemetery, and Mount Olivet Cemetery (of the Maury and Mount Olivet Cemeteries) are actual cemeteries owned by the city of Richmond, and come under the oversight of the city's Cemetery Division. Barton Heights, and Mount Olivet are inactive cemeteries, burials are no longer made there. Oakwood Cemetery is still an active cemetery.^[17]

Though the Shockoe Bottom African Burial Ground and the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground were originally both municipal burying grounds, established, owned, and operated by the city of Richmond, they were both repurposed, and disposed of once they were rendered inactive. Repeatedly desecrated, both were made to disappear from the visible landscape, and also erased from memory. It is only recently that these two burial grounds have been rediscovered and re-acknowledged, the result of persistent advocacy. The city of Richmond has now reclaimed a portion of each of the two African burial grounds with plans in the works for memorization of both sites. In the case of the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground, the city reclaimed through purchase 1.2 acres of the 31 acre burial ground in 2021.^[18] And in January 2022, a small portion of the burial ground on N 7th St. was returned to the city as a gift. However the majority of the 31 acre burial ground remains divided between more than a dozen owners, and faces various threats, to include the DC2RVA high-speed rail project, the east-west Commonwealth Corridor, and the proposed widening of I-64, and various infrastructure projects. Neither of the two African Burial Grounds are zoned or designated as cemeteries. The Shockoe Bottom African Burial Ground is zoned as light industrial, and a portion of it lies beneath I-95. The various parcels of the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground are zoned from Residential (Multi-Family) to Heavy Industrial, with roads, I-64, and CSX rail road tracks run through it, in addition to some unacknowledged portions of it having been incorporated into the Hebrew Cemetery. This is to say that neither of the two burial grounds are under the over site of the city's Cemeteries Division, as they are not classified as cemeteries.

East Marshall Street Well

A non-traditional place of interment, yet a place of interment nonetheless, is Virginia Commonwealth University's East Marshall Street Well. VCU's Medical College (the Medical College of Virginia) engaged in the illegal practice of body snatching in order to supply its anatomy classes with cadavers for medical training of their students. The bodies were stolen from predominately African American graves. The main target of the grave snatchers or robbers, (also called resurrectionists) was the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground. The remains were discarded in the well, when the anatomy professors and students were done dissecting and studying them. The well was capped around 1860, and later accidentally rediscovered during the construction of the Kontos Building in April 1994.^[19] ^[20] ^[21] ^[22]

External links

Notes and References

Virginia Department of Historic Resources: Burial Ground for Negroes, Richmond, Virginia, Validation and Assessment
Smith, Ryan K., Richmond Cemeteries, African Burial Ground
Mouer, McQueen, Smith & Thompson, United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form for the "Shockoe Hill Burying Ground Historic District", 2022
Smith, Ryan K., Richmond Cemeteries, Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground
https://www.tclf.org/it%E2%80%99s-not-ok-put-high-speed-rail-lines-through-shockoe-hill-african-burying-ground Birnbaum, Charles, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, "It’s Not OK to Put High Speed Rail Lines Through the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground", February 1, 2022
Lester, Denise & staff of the Department of Historic Resources, United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form for the "Barton Heights Cemeteries", 2000
Smith, Ryan K., Richmond Cemeteries, Barton Heights Cemeteries
Smith, Ryan K., Richmond Cemeteries, Oakwood Cemetery
http://www.richmondcemeteries.org/maury-mt-olivet/ Smith, Ryan K., Richmond Cemeteries, Maury and Mt Olivet Cemeteries
Smith, Ryan K., Richmond Cemeteries,Bishop’s/St. Joseph’s Cemetery
Smith, Ryan K., Richmond Cemeteries, Evergreen and East End Cemeteries
https://richmond.com/zzstyling/column/williams-enrichmond-foundation-must-be-held-accountable-its-victims-must-be-made-whole/article_66cf5a81-6321-53fe-9ae0-667cbe32deaf.html Williams Michael Paul, Richmond Times-Dispatch, "Enrichmond Foundation must be held accountable. Its victims", January 6, 2023
Harlow, Katelyn, abc8 News, "Richmond City Council approves ordinance to own 3 historic African American cemeteries, February 27, 2024
https://richmondfreepress.com/news/2019/feb/01/enrichmond-foundation-now-owns-east-end-cemetery/ Lazarus, Jeremy, Richmond Free Press, "Enrichmond Foundation now owns East End Cemetery", February 1, 2019
Smith, Ryan K., Richmond Cemeteries, "Where Evergreen/East End are heading", February 21, 2023
http://www.richmondcemeteries.org/woodland/ Smith, Ryan K., Richmond Cemeteries, Woodland Cemetery
https://www.rva.gov/parks-recreation/cemeteries RVA Richmond, Virginia, Cemeteries, rva.gov
https://www.vpm.org/news/2020-10-12/city-council-approves-purchase-of-cemetery-for-enslaved-people VPM, NPR, PBS, "City Council Approves Purchase of Cemetery For Enslaved People", WCVE News, October 21, 2021
Utsey, Shawn, Until the Well Runs Dry: Medicine and the Exploitation of Black Bodies, produced by Virginia Commonwealth University. Department of African American Studies and Burn Baby Burn Productions, 2011
Sinclair, Melissa Scott, Style Weekly, "VCU Professor Wants Stolen Bodies Returned, Honored", November 8, 2011
https://www.wric.com/black-history-month/the-hidden-history-behind-an-infamous-grave-robber-who-lived-and-worked-at-vcu/ Jones, Constance, abc8 News The Hidden History behind an infamous grave robber who lived and worked at VCU, Feb 14, 2020
https://news.vcu.edu/article/2022/10/east-marshall-street-well-project-engages-community-through-film-camp McNeill, Brian, VCU News, "East Marshall Street Well Project engages community through film camp, K-12 education and archival research", OCT. 24, 2022