Lesson Plan for Chapter 8: Cemeteries and Community: Foregrounding Black Women’s Labor and Leadership in Sacred Site Remembrance Practices

The Black Cemetery Network (BCN) is a national platform which was developed to bring public awareness to historic Black cemeteries and processes that have resulted in the erasure, underfunding, and marginalization of many Black cemeteries in the United States. These cemeteries tell stories and document histories of Black people and their communities that have often been silenced by forces of institutional racism and actively excluded historically from preservation efforts in the U.S. public memory making practices. This network, started by a Black woman scholar-activist, aims to bring attention to these underrepresented stories in American history.

The Black Cemetery Network website (https://Blackcemeterynetwork.org) has an interactive map or archive highlighting activities to identify, interpret, preserve, and record African American burial grounds. This archive includes the history, resources, and contact information for each cemetery. In addition, BCN’s Twitter page (@BCN_Storyshare) provides regular updates on Black cemetery preservation and advocacy activity in the United States, such as research, current events, and news and information features. This research exercise gives students an opportunity to engage with the Black Cemetery Network as they identify and critically examine the roles and responsibilities of Black women in African American burial and remembrance practices.

For this exercise, you will use the sources available to you on the Black Cemetery Network website and social media account. Choose an African American cemetery from the BCN archival map. Once you have identified a site, locate one church that either owned or was associated with the cemetery. Another option is to research/identify a funeral home that has directly worked with the cemetery, a benevolent society, or any health care facility that existed during the time in which the cemetery was active and served the African American community.

After you have found a cemetery and a church, funeral home, benevolent society, or hospital/health care facility, research the roles and positions Black women held and answer the following questions:

1. What roles, positions, and responsibilities did Black women hold in this network of community burial practices and sacred site remembrance?
2. Explain your research process, including any obstacles you encountered while searching for the roles of Black women. What can this tell us about how women's roles within these institutions are valued?
3. How do your research and findings compare and contrast with the discussions and findings regarding the roles and responsibilities of African American women in relation to cemeteries and sacred site maintenance and remembrance practices presented in this chapter? How do you explain these similarities and/or differences?