Jim Crow and African-American Cemeteries and Burial Practices
1937
2016
Area of Washington Park Cemetery. (Marked) Historical Aerial Imagery, 1937, courtesy of the St. Louis County GIS Service Center.
Area of Washington Park Cemetery. (Marked). Historical Aerial Imagery, 2016, courtesy of the St. Louis County GIS Service Center.
In 1877, President Rutherford B. Hayes removed federal
troops commissioned in the South to aide the newly freed
Americans in their transition toward self-determination.
This political move signaled the end of the Reconstruction
Era, and ushered in the era of Jim Crow that would last
until the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. Jim Crow
was a systematic set of laws that established and enforced
a racial class system intended to create and support
the ideology that African Americans were to always be
considered second class citizens and an inferior race to
their white American counterparts. The custom of racial
segregation and discrimination towards African Americans
was not a new concept, but Jim Crow legally validated this
system of oppression and created a du jour structure of
economic slavery and political disempowerment. Practiced
heavily in southern states, the horrors of Jim Crow were
not exclusive to this region, but nationwide. Most public
spaces, even cemeteries, were separated by racialized laws
and social customs. Jim Crow laws were not only an attempt
to continue the economic, social and political structure of
the institution of American slavery pre-Civil War, but also
an attempt to solidify in the psyche of white and black
Americans a justification for white supremacy.
The Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1897 began the legal
institution of the Jim Crow “separate but equal” ideology
within the United States. Racially segregated cemeteries
were not a new concept, but now all aspects of death and
burial practices became legally divided by race. During this
era, the role of the African-American undertaker/funeral
director evolved into a pillar of the African-American
community. In addition to funeral services, the undertaker
would often allow the funeral home to serve as a meeting
place for church services, weddings and civil rights
discussions. The cemetery became the final resting place
for loved ones who were now thought to be free of the
cruelties of racism and injustice. Although segregated, African
Americans were able to bury their loved ones with dignity,
as they openly participated in traditional African-American
burial customs.
During slavery, most plantation owners required the racial
segregation of cemeteries on their property, and slaves
were often allowed to bury their own dead. In many of
these instances, the enslaved were able to incorporate
traditional African practices into the burial procedures.
The ability to acknowledge and honor the burial practices
and faiths of their ancestors provided the opportunity to
pass rich cultural tradition from generation to generation.
Many of these burial traditions can be attributed to West
Central-African cultures like the Bakongo, who left items
that belonged to the deceased at the gravesite. Practices
such as this, along with traditional singing and dancing, and
positioning graves in certain directions, are a legacy that
also reaches back to West Central-African cultures. Over
generations, many of these practices have been infused
with elements of the Christian faith, and have continued
to remain a part of African-American burial and cemetery
traditions.
Unfortunately, many of the African-American cemeteries
created during this era, such as Washington Park, have
declined in upkeep over time due to a variety of reasons.
Weeds and greenery have overtaken the land, and gravesites
are hard to find. Graves have been disturbed for industrial
developments, such as buildings and highways. Although the
Jim Crow Era is viewed as a distant memory of this nation’s
past, its effects remain evident on these sacred landscapes.
The devastating appearance of these burial grounds support
the notion that many of those interred have been long
forgotten, and deemed irrelevant to the historic fabric of
American society. Even in death, the deceased are forced to
encounter the discrimination and racism they faced in life.
Sadly, they have still been treated as second-class citizens.
Text by Terri Williams, Higher Ground research assistant and graduate
student in American Culture Studies, Washington University in St. Louis.
References
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pp. 39–58. www.jstor.org/stable/25616423.
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Rainville, Lynn. “Protecting Our Shared Heritage in African-American Cemeteries.” Journal of Field Archaeology, vol. 34, no. 2, 2009,
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