Black cemeteries are being 'erased.' How advocates are fighting to save them
Harvey Matthews remembers spending time in Moses Macedonia African Cemetery as a child growing up in the vibrant River Road community of Bethesda, Maryland.
Hundreds of formerly enslaved Black people and their descendants are believed to be buried in the cemetery. But as Matthews got older, he watched developers bulldoze the area, bury the cemetery under asphalt and turn it into a parking lot. In 1968, the neighboring high rise apartment building called
At the time, Matthews said he felt there was little he could do to stop the desecration. But in 2021, a group of descendants and community members sued Montgomery County's Housing Opportunities Commission to stop it from selling the property to developers. Last year, an appeals court sided with the commission in a decision that Chelsea Andrews, president and executive director of the commission, said "confirms that HOC has properly observed the laws that protect burial grounds in Maryland."
But in January, that case made its way to the Supreme Court of Maryland, which is expected to rule in the next few months, according to attorney Steven Lieberman, who is representing the Bethesda African American Cemetery Coalition. Lieberman believes this is the first case of its kind to go to a state's highest court and said it could have national implications.
More burial grounds threatened by development
When the three-acre Mount Zion and Female Union Band Society cemeteries were established in the 19th century, the historically African American section of Georgetown in Washington known as Herring Hill was a vibrant, thriving community, according to Lisa Fager, executive director of the Black Georgetown Foundation, which helps manage the properties. But the cemeteries fell into disrepair as the area gentrified and in the 1960s, developers tried to take the land, Fager said.
0 Comments