- [Announcer] "Last Rites: "Saving Tennessee's Black Cemeteries" is made possible by the financial support of: Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area.

Tennessee Education Lottery, proudly funding over two million scholarships and grants with $7 billion raised for education.

The Tennessee Education Lottery, game-changing, education-benefiting fund.

Dell Technologies.

Delta Dental of Tennessee.

And Ryman Hospitality Properties Foundation.

♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh-ooh ♪ - [Jimmie] Almost nothing worse than being denied the decency of a proper burial.

♪ Ooh ♪ - When I think about what freed men and freed women endured at the end of the Civil War, one of the very first things that they wanted to do was to establish places for themselves, places that they could call their own.

They were finally given an opportunity to bury their loved ones the way they wanted to bury their loved ones, with dignity and respect.

- [Narrator] Tennessee's Black cemeteries have played an integral role in its history.

However, despite their importance, many of them are facing numerous challenges, including neglect, vandalism, encroachment, and even erasure due to urban expansion and development.

Join us as we explore efforts to preserve these hallowed spaces.

♪ Ooh ♪ (somber thoughtful music) - Black cemeteries matter because of what they said at that time and what they mean today.

So, I think the preservation of these resources is imperative not only for the history contained in those places but also for what they mean to us today because they really started as statements of Black resistance.

We have to remember the Civil War had happened, and reconstruction was ongoing when a lot of these cemeteries were established, but race relations were still real hostile.

And these were separate cemeteries.

Typically, Black citizens weren't allowed to be buried in the white cemeteries, so they built these as statements of resistance to begin with.

People who were buried there that had been fighting against the Jim Crow segregation system of the time, people there who had fought for their country.

One thing that is always fascinating to me at these cemeteries is the number of veterans.

That you had so many Black Tennesseans serving in the Armed Forces long before the Armed Forces were integrated, yet they served their country admirably and took great pride in that.

And then, lastly, I always think the preservation of these places is so important because they speak to Black achievement.

They built not only thriving communities and thriving institutions, they also took the time to set aside land in the heart of their community, typically, where their ancestors could be buried and treated with respect.

So when you pull back from these cemeteries, you just learn important lessons about respect, dignity, and what it meant to be a Black Tennessean in the time, particularly, of the Jim Crow period.

Anytime I'm asked to come and offer some thoughts, provide some guidance, it's time well spent.

These places are very important to preserve.

(traffic rumbles) - This area became a cemetery through the efforts of a group called the Sons of Zion in 1873, shortly after the Civil War.

They were freed slaves, and they came together, and they purchased this 15-acre piece of property.

At that time, if you were not a member of a church that had a cemetery on its property and you died, there was nowhere for you to be buried because of the segregated laws that they had at that time.

Now, we have a register that began in 1894 and went to 1974, and in that book, there were over 22,000 names.

But for those from 1876 to 1894, we don't have that book.

We believe that it was perhaps full.

And if so, it would've had more than 20,000.

But we just conservatively say another, you know, 10,000.

So, maybe 32,000 to 40,000 people.

- [Narrator] Zion was the first community cemetery for African Americans in the city and is the final resting place for a number of notable Memphians.

(somber thoughtful music) - One of those is Julia Hooks.

One of her grandsons is the former judge Benjamin Hooks of whom the Memphis Public Library is named after.

And then there's also the three slain individuals that were simply very successful in their grocery store business.

- Yeah, that was Thomas Moss and Calvin McDowell, and William Stewart.

- Yes.

- And we found the grave for Thomas Moss.

We have not found the grave for the other two.

But Thomas Moss was a very close friend of Ida B.

Wells.

And their lynching was what motivated her, being in the newspaper business, to begin an anti-lynching campaign.

We need as many people as possible to know that this cemetery does exist.

And because it does exist and it has a history, that history needs to be protected and not abused by being overdeveloped for some other purpose.

But our goal is to ultimately, through our fundraising, not only continue the restoration, the improvement of the graves.

Many of the headstones have been damaged.

And so, that's a project that our young people are taking to with great intensity.

This project gives them an opportunity to increase their appreciation for what Blacks accomplished in a period so soon after the Civil War.

And we believe that the opportunity for them to learn and appreciate these accomplishments will help to improve race relations, not only here, but in other places where they may go as they become adults and move to other areas.

So, the story goes on and on.

(traffic rumbles) - This cemetery was founded by the Benevolent Society #11, in an effort to service the Black African Americans here in Murfreesboro, Rutherford County.

And it was designed to service those who were part of the lodge, as well as those who may not have had the funds necessary to bury their loved ones, hence the name "Benevolent."

So, they allowed an opportunity for dignity in a place of rest for their loved ones.

- We took over what was out here and it was really like a briar patch.

It was just overgrown, and there was a time when people lived on the grounds.

So, working with others, we were able to clear that out and is a product of what you see today.

- I've cataloged all of the headstones that are here, photographed it many times, and did a lot of work in death certificates and obituaries.

And we know now that there are at least 1,614 people documented as buried here.

So what you see above ground doesn't really give you a sense of how many people are buried here.

There are people from all walks of life here.

The Benevolent Lodge catered to its own members and also to people in need in the African American community.

We know that there are around 300 people buried here, who were born before the end of the Civil War.

So they were born into enslavement and lived to see freedom and thrived in the community in some fashion, and were buried here through the efforts of the founders, who created this place for them.

(light thoughtful music) - Our main goal is to document and preserve our history so that this generation, the generation to come, will know from which they came.

And we feel like actually very important to know your history so you'll know where you're going, and to know what part the African American played in this community.

And this cemetery, I think, is one of the most important icons here because of the fact this is the only African American cemetery in the city of Murfreesboro.

- I have a vision for this place.

This plot of land is an island, an oasis, and we have the capacity to make this into a beautiful, park-like setting.

I have a vision.

(birds cawing) - 1865, 1866, African Americans were kind of reaching out and starting their own businesses and churches and schools, so they also saw the need for a cemetery.

These brothers, Manson, BB Manson, and another guy named Stokes, they saw the need to have their own cemetery because African Americans weren't allowed to be buried in the White City Cemetery.

So they decided to go out and purchase a piece of land.

It's been 158 years approximately since then.

And it took us almost 120 years to get the city to finally admit to taking it over.

But I have to give kudos to the City of Lebanon.

They stepped up.

And we brought the mayor out here, and he looked at it, and he says, "Yeah, we need to do something."

And so they committed in it, they kept it up.

And I think we're better off, well off than most cities that have these cemeteries.

Moving forward, I just hope that we can do some things to make this maybe a historical tour so tourists can come through because it is one of the last vestiges of our African American community still exists.

A lot of the old schools have been torn down, but the cemetery is still here.

And I guess, it'll be here for another 100 years.

- You know, for me, what's so amazing is that this cemetery is named Toussaint L'Ouverture Cemetery in Franklin, Tennessee.

Is named after a Haitian revolutionist who helped to free Haiti from, you know, France and Spain.

And what vision that the men that purchased this land to even name this resting place after such a leader.

And so, you know, that just shows the importance and their thought process when doing that.

It was important, and it is something that we can't let be forgotten.

It's not forgotten.

(gentle thoughtful music) - [Narrator] A line of white pine trees along the boundary of the cemetery, ensures that the reason for the cemetery won't be forgotten.

They stand as a stark reminder of the era in which they were planted as a barrier between races.

- Well, as you see, it's part of life and part of the world.

There has always been separation even to the resting place, if you will.

But you will see those pine trees.

And if you look around the perimeter of this cemetery, which is about four acres, you will see the dividing factor.

So, not a formal fence, but a tree divider between this cemetery, which is African American Black, and the cemetery across, which now is more diverse, but at one time, it was the white cemetery, and this was the Black cemetery.

- [Narrator] Toussaint L'Ouverture, like many cemeteries, has weathered phases of attention and neglect throughout its history.

- It was well-kept by the leadership and the family members.

Burial is just really important to our culture, so they did maintain that.

But then, with the depression, finances, as the world changes, it became disarray.

It was much overgrowth.

And then around the late 1970s, early '80s, that's when another group of leadership and African Americans came in.

And I remember this as a child, our mothers were part of that organization.

They started the foundation to bring this back into what we see today.

- We remember growing up during that phase of disarray, and there was nobody to maintain it.

Because as we mentioned earlier, the association that bought it, well, those people died out.

But I remember growing up, looking over here and not knowing there was a cemetery.

So, the overgrowth was that bad.

So the last group that was able to come back and help restore it really are the shoulders that we are as a foundation are standing on.

We're standing on the shoulders of the people who purchased it, but the last group was able to keep it going.

- [Lisa] And we're trying to get it to the next level.

We see the future of what potentially is gonna be.

- [Narrator] One example of the efforts to bolster the cemetery's preservation is an audio tour available on the City of Franklin's website.

- They have picked out certain markers and gotten detailed information about each individual.

And you can call in and listen to the audio tour.

And there are several really famous people doing the narration about those.

I think Eddie George is one of them.

- We're very fortunate that the City of Franklin has partnered with us, and we thank the City of Franklin, the parks department, and several community people that have been a part of this journey.

And so, it just means a lot for us.

And the leaders are here, but also our grandparents are here, you know, our aunts and our uncles and the community's aunts and uncles are here.

So, you know, this is a special place.

It's a place of peace.

It has a peaceful synergy about it, spirit about it.

So, we're looking forward to just making sure that our ancestors are not forgotten and taken care of as they should be.

- After the Civil War, many of the slaves that came up out of Georgia and Alabama, they came to Chattanooga.

The Union troops assembled down near Ross Landing, and they didn't want them to go back down into the city, and so they wanted a way to kind of corral them.

So the slaves were actually brought out here and put up here in what they call Hill City in these little shanty camps.

- [Narrator] From its humble beginnings as a contraband camp, Hill City developed into one of the first Black neighborhoods in Chattanooga.

Among the many needs of its newly freed population was a place to bury their dead.

- Joshua Beck, from my reading, he was an abolitionist.

He supported the Union effort.

And from what we can tell, he was a part of that Underground Railroad.

He sympathized with the slaves, and he wanted to help.

He saw fit to help provide a burial ground.

He had it arranged through his sons that it was to be deeded to the Episcopal Church.

- [Narrator] Like so many Black cemeteries, Beck Knob was nearly reclaimed by the landscape, becoming so overgrown that people living across the street were unaware of its existence.

- Some of them didn't realize that it was a cemetery here.

They didn't realize it, but, you know, since then, they have indicated that they wanna help in the preservation and the cleanup and the maintaining, and whatever we wanna do, they wanna be a part of the preserving effort.

- [Narrator] Recent accomplishments by preservationists, including Beck Knob's addition to the National Historic Registry, have helped secure the cemetery's future.

- We are trusting that getting on the National Historic Registry will not only afford us to protection from other outside forces that normally sometimes are too big for us to deal with, we are also hoping that we'll be able to engage in some of the grant writing and reaching out to some of the other partnerships that will help us to acquire the funds and resources to restore some of the grave markers, and to perhaps even come back with a fence and a signage that will be worthy of what the importance of this cemetery.

- [Narrator] Dealing with aesthetics is only part of the battle when it comes to preserving these cemeteries.

Aging preservationists are struggling to pass the torch to the next generation.

- When you look at Black cemeteries, I can't speak for the whole country, but I know a lot of states are having this issue because the younger generation can't really relate to a lot of this.

A lot of the old people have died out, and so the younger generation, they don't have the connection to these Black cemeteries.

And a lot of states are trying to grip with "What do you do with them?"

You know?

So we wanna preserve them, but at the same time, we want young people to recognize their history.

We need to bring young people out here and show them what can be done if people stick together and have a common interest and a common pride.

- I believe that we can get future generations to step up in the preservation of cemeteries by taking them to these sites, showing them how important these sites are, but also engaging them in that research to tell the stories of these sites.

I believe that when young people realize that there are people just like them, that have lived the same experiences that they've lived, that shared the same life experiences as them, the same lows, the same highs, the same joys, and the same triumphs, that they'll become interested in documenting these places and telling these stories.

- [Narrator] While preservation efforts continue for many Black cemeteries, there are countless others that have been long forgotten.

Franklin resident Kimberley Clutsam felt driven to help preserve a cemetery near her home after reading a 20-year-old newspaper article.

- I was actually just Googling things to find out more about the area, and that's when I stumbled upon they found what they thought was a homicide.

There was a child unearthed, and they assumed it to be a homicide.

He was in a casket, but nobody knew that he was there.

And they ended up finding, after a few days of digging, 20 burials.

(light thoughtful music) - [Narrator] Intrigued, Kimberley began researching the area's history and found evidence of a much larger African American burial site.

- So I researched the family that lived here on the plantation.

I researched all their slaves.

I was able to get all their slave names.

And we actually had a little area attributed to the slaves.

And every time I came over here, I would, you know, say a little prayer for them.

Maybe it's my faith.

Maybe, you know, I always felt like I felt convicted about this, felt like that something needed to be done.

And the more I was told no, that nothing could be done or that nobody cared, or that there were too many loopholes that these burials would fall through, so they just weren't taken care of, and that this had gone on for years, I was more determined.

I felt more determined.

Actually, I probably drove my family crazy because I was so afraid that they were gonna come down here and tear the road up, or do something before they investigated.

- [Narrator] Kimberley's determination paid off.

After reaching out to city officials and local archeologists, steps are being taken to further investigate the area and recognize the cemetery boundaries.

- I believe that there are lost cemeteries everywhere.

But if you know they're there, then that's when you should act.

If you know they're there and they're, you know, really close to the road or under the road, or they're in a place that's really just awful, then they need to be moved.

This has been an emotional journey for me and also for my family, but it's been something that I feel like has really been good for us advocating.

It's been good for me, advocating, finding my voice.

I'm so grateful that the mayor of our city listened to me, that our community has gathered around and they've been very encouraging.

And I have really been overwhelmed with support.

And I think that if people knew how many people in their community probably would speak up alongside them, they would speak up also.

(bright reflective music) - It's important to preserve these cemeteries, but it's also important to do it the right way.

So we often do encounter cemeteries that have been abandoned, abused, neglected.

And my first thought is always, "Where are the churches around there?

"Are there surviving churches that might have members "who know about that cemetery?

"Let's go talk to those congregations first "and see what we can find out.

"Let's go talk to elders in the community "and then the neighborhoods "who might know more about how the cemetery got started "and who might be buried there."

And that's a good way to start getting people involved with the process to begin with.

Get into those neighborhoods, but do so with respect for those who still live there because what I have found out, they know and they can help you do your work.

- More than likely, there is a community member that knows the history of the site, that can point you in the right direction.

Additionally, I would begin that search by also looking into land deeds and property ownership to follow that chain of ownership over time.

Next, I would inventory the cemetery, taking photographs of the grave markers, as well as writing down the information that is on the grave markers.

And from there, I would turn to the US census to see if I could find those individuals that are buried in that cemetery, because it's more than just a burial, right?

We're talking about people, we're talking about lives, and we're trying to document their presence and their stories.

- I see the history here for African Americans as underrepresented in the documented history that people have a chance to read and appreciate.

And I see this project as part of adding to that body of knowledge of African American presence.

So I think as much as we can illuminate that presence and that history adds not only to the African American community's knowledge of itself but also to the broader history so that it's a history of all citizens.

- For cemetery preservation to be successful, it's not just a matter of showing respect and dignity, it's keeping it moving forward and letting people know these are depositories of information and knowledge and identity and culture.

They're not just places for the dead, they're places for us, too.

(light thoughtful music) (bright contemplative music) (bright contemplative music continues) - [Announcer] "Last Rites: "Saving Tennessee's Black Cemeteries" is made possible by the financial support of: Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area.

Tennessee Education Lottery, proudly funding over two million scholarships and grants with $7 billion raised for education.

The Tennessee Education Lottery, game-changing, education-benefiting fund.

Dell Technologies.

Delta Dental of Tennessee.

And Ryman Hospitality Properties Foundation.

(bright acoustic guitar music)