SITE DIRECTORY
To learn more about any of the BCN sites listed below, click “Read more” to view individual site briefs. To search for a specific BCN site, use the search bar below:
Good Hope Church Black Cemetery
GOOD HOPE CHURCH BLACK CEMETERY
FOUNDED: Around the 1880s
ADDITONAL NAMES: Good Hope Colored Cemetery
AFFILIATION(S):
Newton County Community Remembrance Project
HISTORY:
The 119 year old cemetery lies on three acres of land in Good Hope Mississippi, in Newton, County Research found over 500 burials in the cemetery. I remember as a child I remember during church service, twice a year, the pastor would announce community clean-up dates for the cemetery. Clean -up days happened each Saturday before Memorial Day and the first Sunday in August in time for the annual revival meeting at the church. the men, women and children would clean and elder women would prepare food and drinks. These events were major community activities and served to renew community ties.
In recent years clen-up and restoration is done by the descendants of those laid to rest there; On the first Sunday in August many family members throughout the country journeys home to the almost deserted Good Hope Settlement to do as our ancestors did for the past hundred years, to care for the cemetery- to ensure it will continue to be a visual history for everyone. Black History: 1908 two Good Hope community members were lynched and is buried in the cemetery. With the help of the Equal Justice Initiative 2021 a memorial marker was placed in the Good Hope Church Cemetery.
BCN Contact Information:
Joyce Salter Johnson
joyceboggess39@gmail.com
Landon Road Cemetery
LANDON ROAD CEMETERY
FOUNDED: 1904
ADDITONAL NAMES: Landon Colored Cemetery
AFFILIATION(S): N/A
HISTORY:
Landon Road Cemetery is located on the Bernard Bayou in the Side Camp Community. Records indicate the burial ground was established in the late 1800s with the last confirmed burial being 1967. The cemetery is the final resting place of many African Americans who lived in the unincorporated northwest area of Harrison County.
Many of those interred at Landon Road Cemetery laid the foundation of what the Mississippi Gulf Coast is today. They worked in the lumber, shipping, and railroad industries. The cemetery itself is situated on property which was once owned by the Gulf & Ship Island Railroad and used as a turpentine still where multiple employees labored through extremely harsh working conditions and often died while doing so. Many of these workers and their families purchased plots and were buried at Landon Road Cemetery.
Today, the cemetery is hidden from public view. It lies deep within a wooded area on private property. The landowner is not willing to allow family members to visit or to clear a path to the cemetery for restoration purposes. As a result, the cemetery is in danger of being lost forever. Research shows there are approximately 100 known graves in the cemetery with at least 5 veteran headstones present.
BCN Contact Information:
Mariam May-Clayton
savingmscemeteries@gmail.com
Starkville Colored Cemetery
STARKVILLE COLORED CEMETERY
FOUNDED: unknown
ADDITONAL NAMES: Brush Arbor
AFFILIATION(S): N/A
HISTORY:
The Brush Arbor, or Starkville Colored Cemetery, is an over 200-year-old, historically Black cemetery stationed central to residential life in Starkville Mississippi. It is among the oldest cemeteries in Starkville and has likely existed as a public graveyard since Starkville’s founding. Many notable names reside within the cemetery such as one of Oktibbeha county’s legislators, Ben Chiles, a World War II vet, and other African Americans instrumental in the development of Starkville. Despite being here since Starkville’s conception, the Brush Arbor/Starkville Colored Cemetery remains widely unrecognized.
Dr. Jordan Lynton-Cox of Mississippi State University is head of the Brush Arbor/Starkville Colored Cemetery Community-Engaged Field Program, a three-year project dedicated to historic preservation and restoration of the cemetery through decolonial methods. For information, email brusharbor@anthro.msstate.edu.
BCN Contact Information:
Dr. Jordan Lynton-Cox
jlynton@anthro.msstate.edu
Gabriel Cemetery
GABRIEL CEMETERY
FOUNDED: 1902
ADDITONAL NAMES: None
AFFILIATION(S):
Gabriel Cemetery Association, Inc.
HISTORY:
Gabriel is the oldest African American cemetery in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The cemetery's history is not completely known, but it is believed to have been founded in the 1800's. That belief is based on an existing headstone displaying the recorded internment date of 1902. There are graves that do not have headstones or identifying markers; some have given way due to years of natural erosion. The cemetery contains an array of traditional burial elements, which range from simple to more decorative markers, as well as vaults and slabs.
As of 2022 there is a total of 1,144 recorded burials which consists of (567) unmarked and (577) recorded burials. Gabriel Cemetery's historical addings continues with a rich history of military veterans totalling 70 whom have served in wars from WWI, WWII, Vietnam, Korea, and more. This is to include civil rights activists who made major changes in Pascagoula, Jackson County and on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. There has been an updated listing of plots completed by Researcher/ Project Director Anne' McMillion in April of 2021 to better identify the unmarked and recorded graves.
BCN Contact Information:
H.A.N.A.P. LLC
h.a.n.a.p.consult@gmail.com