SITE DIRECTORY
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Greenwood Cemetery-St Louis
GREENWOOD CEMETERY
FOUNDED: 1874
ADDITONAL NAMES: Greenwood Cemetery Preservation Association
AFFILIATION(S): None
HISTORY:
Greenwood Cemetery was the first Black non-sectarian, commercial burial ground in the St Louis region post-Civil War. It is 31.85 acres with over 50,000 souls interred, including Harriet Scott, freedom suit plaintiff & wife of Dred Scott. Their case went before the U.S. Supreme Court, Dred Scott v. Sandford; Charlton Hunt Tandy, Civil war veteran & activist who assisted the "Exodusters" in their pursuit of a safe & better life; Lucy Delaney, who wrote the 1890s slave narrative, "From the Darkness Cometh the Light". Greenwood Cemetery was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. Separate and unequal in life as well as in death. Greenwood's history tells the story of those who helped shaped the city of St Louis and received little or no benefit of the city's prosperity.
BCN Contact Information:
Shelley Morris
smorris@greenwoodstl.org
Washington Park Cemetery
WASHINGTON PARK CEMETERY
FOUNDED: 1920
LOCATION: Berkley, MO
ADDITIONAL NAMES: None
HISTORY:
Washington Park Cemetery is located in the suburb of Berkeley, Missouri, in St. Louis County founded in 1920 specifically for the final resting place of African Americans. The cemetery is one of the largest Black cemeteries and once most beautiful. Washington Park Cemetery was never just a cemetery, it was a vital part of the African American community. The cemetery sponsored annual events such festivals, food distributions and contained fruit orchards. Like many other Black cemeteries in America Washington Park has suffered from neglect, abuse and mismanagement.
Local interstate 70 in the 1950's, invaded the cemetery by plowing through the middle, which separated Washington Park into 2 parts; the loss of acreage due to airport expansion in the 1970's; the intrusion of the local Metro light rail system into the cemetery in 1990, which resulted in the forced (eminent domain) removal of thousands and thousands of our Black ancestor's remains. Some of the staff hired to work on this removal project mishandled, abused, disrespected and stole human remains. The cemetery has been encroached by a cell phone tower and 6 lighted billboards located inside of cemetery in that towered directly above graves. The billboards created a battle in 2017 between the Washington Park Cemetery - Anti-Desecration League (activists), the billboard company and it's advertisers resulting in a lawsuit being filed in April 2019 for the permanent eradication of the billboards. This lawsuit and battle appeared in national and local media. In July 2020, a settlement was reached and the billboards and structures were permanently removed from the cemetery in August of 2020.
The fight remains to preserve and restore Washington Park Cemetery to its glorious and rightful place and hold its significance into the future
RESOURCE LINKS:
BCN Contact Information:
Ancestral Landmarks Preservation Council
Washington Park Cemetery Anti-Desecration League
wpcadlstl@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/Washington-Park-Cemetery-Anti-Desecration-League-1998850373712486/