Adam Rosenblatt, Associate Professor of the Practice in International Comparative Studies at Duke and Board Member of the Friends of Geer Cemetery, moderated a panel on November 16th about African American cemeteries. The panel, co-organized by Rosenblatt with Debra Taylor Gonzalez and Carissa Trotta of the Friends of Geer, sought to draw attention to Geer Cemetery, one of Durham’s most important historic burial grounds, which has been neglected for decades. The speakers described the history and current preservation of this cemetery, the wider context of contested African American memory, white supremacy, gentrification, and public space. Nearly 100 people attended the event, held at the NC School of Science and Mathematics and co-sponsored by the Friends of Geer Cemetery, the Forum for Scholars and Publics at Duke, the Duke Human Rights Center at the Franklin Humanities Institute, and International Comparative Studies.
The opening presentation of the event, by Friends of Geer President Debra Taylor Gonzalez, offered a history of Geer Cemetery, the final resting place of over 1,500 African American citizens of Durham and surrounding counties. The only known deed is the one created in March 28, 1877 when land was sold by Frederick and Polly Geer to three African American men: John O’Daniel, Nelson Mitchell, and Willis/Wille Moore for $50. Eventually, the cemetery closed in the 1930s because it was declared full. African Americans had been petitioning for other spaces for their dead, but were denied burial in Maplewood Cemetery (which had plots available) even though they were paying taxes to maintain it. It wasn’t until 1927, when Beechwood Cemetery opened, that a “separate but equal” city cemetery was available to African Americans. Audience members were encouraged to support this Durham space by becoming a Friend of the Greer Cemetery or volunteering as an organizer, genealogist, onsite helper for cleaning, repairing headstones, etc.
Geer Cemetery is one of the earliest African American cemeteries in Durham. Many people buried there were born into slavery. Especially numerous infants and young because of child mortality rates during Greer’s development and the 1918 flu epidemic when over 14,000 North Carolinians died. Many of the surnames found in the cemetery are those of prominent people who built Durham: for example, Rev. Augustus Shepard, who founded an orphanage for African American children and the pastor of White Rock Baptist Church. Margaret Ruffin Faucette, who was born into slavery and became that church’s founder (and later hosted the prayer meetings at her home in the years immediately after Emancipation), is also buried at Geer. Vandals, neighbors cutting trees, and others have, intentionally or not, contributed to the cemetery’s decline along with overgrowth and other natural forces—denying all of the people there, whether famous or unknown, dignity in death.
William Sturkey, historian at UNC Chapel Hill, presented what identity markers have meant to different racial groups and the marginalization of African Americans through inequities in access to spaces for dignified burial. He referenced injustices under Jim Crow where black communities paid taxes for white people to have access to universities, inns and libraries, and cemeteries while being barred from entering. In addition, he explained how the commemorations of Confederate figures affect identity formation. Sturkey explained the celebration of people like Julian Carr represents white identity rooted in taking freedom from black lives to build white wealth. He encouraged attendees to interrogate the support of these commemorations and the comparative lack of interest Greer Cemetery receives.
Kami Fletcher, historian at Albright College and President of the Collective for Radical Death Studies, demonstrated what her research has shown about the oppression black bodies face after death. She highlighted the sacred importance of treasure troves of African American history in slave cemeteries. These spaces were part of a slave landscape that allowed for an autonomous place beyond the slaveholder’s watch. There are aspects of black life and culture that are hidden which can be noted in African traditions such as jugs of water left on graves for the ancestors or clothing wrapped around headstones.
Erin Hollaway Palmer and Brian Palmer, of the Friends of East End Cemetery, shared insight as activists working to reclaim this African American cemetery in Richmond, Virginia. Volunteers have cleared and restored acres of this cemetery, without any government support. Despite neglect and soil erosion, volunteers recover stones and find grave markers that reveal stories that the organization researches and makes public on the Web. Both Erin and Brian Palmer pointed to the struggle of maintenance due to seasonal growth as well as the value in weekly labor by thousands of volunteers.
During the Q&A session, panelists were asked what is at stake with the fate of African American cemeteries. Erin Hollaway responded: everything is at stake. Investing in these spaces is “reclaiming African American history, headstone by headstone.” There is educational value in showing that Virginia and other Southern States, in addition to the federal government, subsidize Confederate graves and false versions of U.S. history, something Brian Palmer has reported on in depth in the Peabody Award-winning Reveal podcast, “Monumental Lies.” Erin Hollaway highlighted the “remarkable aspect of these people in East End, the stories of people born in slavery or reconstruction,” and how “rich narratives make the context of oppression clearer.”
Durham City Council member, Mark-Anthony Middleton, stated he was present to help on behalf of the government. He asked what the government should do. Sturkey responded, “Black cemeteries should be treated the same as white cemeteries; however Robert E. Lee is treated.” Brian Palmer communicated there should be private and public partnership in the city, beginning with a full analysis of who are the stakeholders. Specifically, he communicated the government should “recognize grassroots leadership and treat them as the leaders they are by bringing them to the table as equal partners.”
Friends of Geer Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/friendsofgeer/
International Comparative Studies