Lesson Plan for Chapter 4: Death Can Not Make Our Souls Afraid: Mosaic Templars of America Zephroes in Macon County, Alabama, 1887-1931 by Shari L. Williams

This activity calls for students to locate a historic African American cemetery that contains Mosaic Templars of America (MTA) headstones. The goals are that (1) students will learn as much as possible about the deceased members of the MTA and about the community and people who are historically connected to the cemetery and (2) students will develop a political, economic, and social demographic profile for the deceased MTA members buried in the cemetery that will describe the community and people that existed when the MTA members were alive.

Suggested resources include local histories (possibly housed in the public library and in church and college/university archives), findagrave.com, familysearch.org, and Google. Familysearch.org offers free access to U.S. federal census records, vital records, and a multitude of state and local historic records.

Students should pay close attention to census population schedules, agricultural schedules (if researching a rural cemetery), and information in records that provide clues about the economic status of each person studied. There may be an online obituary or historical narrative for one or more of the deceased. Students can visit the selected cemetery in person to identify these graves and take photos of headstones. On an in-person visit, students should take note of the positioning of MTA headstones. For example, are MTA headstones grouped together or are they spread out randomly? What clues, if any, about the person are offered based on the positioning of the headstone? For example, in a grouping of headstones, is there a surname that is common?

If students are unable to visit a cemetery in person, they should find out the names of historic Black churches in the area and look them up on findagrave.com to determine if they have adjacent cemeteries. If a church has an adjacent cemetery, the student should scroll through the photos of the graves to identify MTA headstones. This method will work best for comparison purposes when students locate a cemetery that contains at least ten MTA headstones.

Students should aim to answer the following questions:

• What is the name and age of the cemetery? Is the cemetery affiliated with a church?
• Which burials are marked with an MTA headstone? What are the names of the persons buried? What is the earliest burial? What is the latest burial?
• What is the date of birth and date of death of the person buried?
• What is the name, number, and location of the person's MTA chamber?
• Are there more women or more men with MTA headstones? What are the kinship connections between deceased persons?
• What is the name of the church that is affiliated with the cemetery? When was the church established? Did any of the persons buried participate in the church? If so, how?
• How would you describe the person's economic status based on education level, occupation, and home ownership?
• How did the deceased persons in your cemetery learn about the MTA?
• What struggles challenged African Americans who resided in the community?
• Based on your findings, what are your conclusions about the ways that race, class, and gender affected the deceased persons you are studying in terms of everyday life and their decisions to join the MTA? Be sure to discuss the role of racial conflict in your interpretation.