Southend Cemetery
Site Brief:
Founded: 1919
Location: Huntsville, TX
Additional name(s): N/A
Affiliate group(s): N/A
History:
Southend Cemetery remains the last historic link to a predominantly Black community in Huntsville, Texas called “The Flat.” Residents of the community were forced to sell their property and relocate in the late 1960s due to the expansion of Sam Houston State University. Historically, Black cemeteries were linked to Black churches or community neighborhoods. In 1920, community leaders Will Ezell, Colonel Williams, Byrd Stubblefield and Richard Dillard purchased five acres from Gibbs Brothers & Company to establish a cemetery. There are approximately 300 known burials at Southend Cemetery, half of these are marked gravesites. Noted burials include Sgt. Luby l. Smither, founding member of the 1st Black American Legion Post in Huntsville, Texas and Mance Williams, owner of the 1st Black auto mechanic shop in Huntsville. The earliest known and marked burial is for Sarah Skelton (Unk-Sept. 1920).
The area surrounding Southend Cemetery was once deeply wooded and the cemetery could only be accessed by way of a narrow dirt road. As the city of Huntsville grew, the dirt access road to the cemetery became an extension of Montgomery Road when that road was expanded across Highway 75 to Bowers Road. In 1998, a group of descendants and others re-organized the Southend Cemetery Association to care for that historic space. Southend Cemetery remains a testament to residents of The Flat community and preserving the Black American heritage in Huntsville, Texas.
BCN Contact Information:
Dr. Marilyn Y. Byrd