New legislation wants to protect once forgotten African-American burial grounds

A network of organizations are looking to find the locations of places where enslaved blacks have been buried that have gone undocumented due to segregation

Blue Telusma

Feb 15, 2019

The newly proposed African American Burial Grounds Network seeks to create a national registry of previously undocumented cemeteries used by segregated slaves.

According to Forbes, just in the last year alone, a staggering number of undocumented African American burial grounds have been discovered by archaeological surveys and construction projects all across the country.

Forbes cites, “Archaeological testing encountered the remains of a 19^th century African American burial ground in Philadelphia; construction crews in Fort Bend County, Texas, discovered nearly 100 unmarked graves of African American prison inmates believed to have been forced to work in sugar fields long after emancipation was declared; and, archaeologists working for the Maryland Department of Transportation uncovered a previously unknown slave cemetery in Crownsville, Maryland.”

To ensure these archaeological materials and the lives of the segregated and enslaved African American communities they represent aren’t forgotten, Wednesday, new legislation was proposed in Congress that could bring some protection to these burial grounds.

Congressman A. Donald McEachin, representing Virginia’s Fourth District, and Congresswoman Alma Adams, representing North Carolina’s Twelfth District, introduced this legislation, which in essence would amend title 54 of the United States Code, and establish the African American Burial Grounds Network as part of the National Park Service.

The bill is intended to “help communities identify and record burial grounds and preserve local history while better informing development decisions and community planning.”

If their efforts to chronicle and preserve African American burial grounds for future generations is successful, the new network would be empowered to create a national database of historic African American burial grounds, provide the technical resources needed to record and audit these spaces, create educational materials and even make grants available for further research.

The legislation has been endorsed by a number of national and local organizations including Howard University, Coalition for American Heritage, Society for American Archaeology, Society for Historical Archaeology, American Anthropological Association, American Cultural Resources Association and The National Trust for Historic Preservation among others.