New Attention Is Being Paid to African-American Cemeteries in Virginia

Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post – Alexandria commisioned a sculpture/memorial for the long-neglected Freedman’s Cemetery. Mario Chiodo created the sculpture named The Path of Thorns and Roses.

The minister’s voice reverberated through the oaks and hollies just southwest of George Washington’s tomb, calling on visitors to remember those “unnumbered trail blazers who rest beneath this hallowed space.”

He was referring to scores, and perhaps hundreds, of slaves and their families whose remains lie somewhere beneath the butterscotch-colored soil on a ridge above the Potomac River .

William “Billy” Lee, Washington’s manservant throughout the Revolutionary War, was buried here about 1828, researchers say. West Ford, a longtime servant of the Washington family, is thought to be the last person buried here, in 1863.

The rest of the names are unknown. But the details of their final resting places may soon be identified through a multi-year archaeological survey to be launched May 30. Before beginning the project, the plantation organized Thursday’s blessing ceremony.

The survey at Mount Vernon is one of several local efforts to learn more about the burial sites of African Americans, both enslaved and freed, during the early years of the United States.

Ten miles north, at the border of Alexandria, the long-neglected Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery has been restored, and workers are preparing for a September dedication. And at Fort Ward, on Alexandria’s west side, residents and city employees are working to identify and commemorate the graves of African American residents buried there.

The primary goal of the Mount Vernon project, said Curtis G. Viebranz, president of the historic site, “is to create a map to show exactly where the interred are” and how many were buried there. No graves will be excavated, he told the few dozen people who came Thursday to pray, sing, place flowers and sprinkle soil on a commemorative wreath.

Eleanor Breen, Mount Vernon’s deputy director for archaeology, said that about 316 slaves lived on the plantation at the time of Washington’s death in 1799. A visitor’s account from 1833 described 150 slaves buried there in unmarked graves, and researchers said Thursday that the number of graves may be significantly higher.

Click here to read more

Source: Washington Post | Patricia Sullivan