As threats to Black cemeteries persist, a movement to preserve their sacred heritage gains strength [Video]

MIAMI – Neglect, abandonment and destruction have been the fate of thousands of segregated cemeteries across the country where African Americans – from former slaves to prominent politicians and business owners — were buried over many decades.

In the past few years, growing awareness and the discovery of graves underneath parking lots, schools and even an Air Force base have spurred preservation efforts among state and local governments as well as community members who want to rebuild ancestral links that are spiritually crucial.

In Washington, D.C., members of a historically Black sorority recruited an expert who helped find the 1919 burial site of one of the sorority’s founders, hidden from view in an overgrown, badly neglected section of Woodlawn Cemetery.

In Miami, Jessie Wooden bought a historically segregated Black cemetery also suffering from neglect. He and his brother, Frank – who works as caretaker – have a powerful motive for trying to restore the cemetery: …