Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Inconspicuous Forgetfulness

"Let no Negro...no matter what financial condition they might be in at death, lie in inconspicuous forgetfulness. We must assume the responsibility of their graves being known and honored."
~Zora Neal Hurston in a letter to W.E.B. Dubois.

 Inconspicuous forgetfulness. Many of our ancestors graves lie in that state. This summer I am hoping to change that by bringing my cousins back to the closest thing we have to an ancestral homeland. Hopefully they will see our grave yards and the disrepair they have fallen into and help me fix them up.

To do:

  1. Mark the boundaries of the original Rehope Baptist Church's cemetery
  2. Use flags to mark the unmarked graves until we can find out more about who may have been buried there and when.
  3. Construct an inexpensive fence to protect the cemetery. 
  4. Mark path from the road to the cemetery.
  5. Petition current land owner for protection of the space and access to it. (In the works now)
  6. Notify the state/county of the cemetery's existence and make it more official.


2 comments:

  1. This is a worthy project. Congratulations on undertaking this work with your cousins. . . I hope you can find out who is buried there.

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  2. You are off to a great start. This cemetery reminds me a lot like the cemetery in Riverdale, NC where some of my ancestors are buried.

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