The Justice Cemetery (Jackson Co., Georgia)

Oct 22

Written By Sarajane Smith

Site Brief:

Founded: 1839

Location: Hoschton, GA

Additional name(s): N/A

Affiliate group(s):

A Justice Unforgotten Project
Historic Black Cemeteries of Georgia

History:

The institution of slavery, with its impact and implications, is a significant part of the history of Georgia and the United States more broadly. Graves of enslaved Africans and their descendants are being identified and documented on former farms and plantation sites throughout Georgia and elsewhere in the United States. These burial grounds represent the stories and histories of people and families that have too often gone untold and unmarked in public accounts of the places and communities where they are found. They provide an opportunity to learn more about these communities while honoring the dead and recognizing the legal restrictions, intense labor demands, and profound hardships and cruelty endured by enslaved people. The Justice Cemetery is one such place.

The Justice Cemetery in Hoschton, Jackson County, Georgia, is a small, multi-racial cemetery containing graves dating from the antebellum period through the mid twentieth century. The cemetery is now surrounded by rapid suburban development in what was once a rural agricultural landscape. The cemetery, segregated by section based on race, contains the graves of members of the Justice family and other white families associated with the property, as well as burials of Black people and families. Based on the cemetery's location, historical records, oral histories, and the physical organization of the cemetery, some of the unmarked graves in the designated Black section may date to the period of slavery, while others clearly postdate emancipation. There is also evidence suggesting that people associated with nearby farms and plantations, including the Lyle and Moon plantation and land-owning families and their descendants in the Mulberry River area of Jackson County, may have been buried at the site. The cemetery has been referred to in historical documents as “the Lyle cemetery” and has also been described in press accounts as the “Moon family burial ground.” These historical references are among the reasons that the cemetery's identity, history, and burial population require further investigation.

Ongoing efforts are focused on identifying the people buried in the cemetery and locating descendants, while also researching the Justice, Lyle, Moon, and other families and communities historically connected to the site. The Justice Cemetery Project seeks to preserve this place not simply as a cemetery, but as a cultural and historical resource. By researching the lives of those buried here and the communities around them, both before and after the Civil War, we hope to shed light on the history of slavery in Georgia and the deep and often painful history of race and race relations in Jackson County and Northeast Georgia. The Justice Cemetery Project also seeks to create a place where descendants, local residents, researchers, and other visitors can memorialize the dead, learn about their lives and communities, and reflect on the broader history of the region.