Glenwood Cemetery, Huntsville: An African American Burial Ground and Its Keepers

Glenwood Cemetery in Huntsville, Alabama, is an African American cemetery established by the City of Huntsville in 1870 to replace the original slave cemetery, known as "Georgia." It captures the passage of Black lives from slavery into Reconstruction, holds the graves of important Black figures, and is a rich storehouse of local African American history.

What the ground holds

The cemetery's history is written in its landscape: its layout, its hand-lettered gravestones, and the depressions and mounds of unmarked graves all reflect the people buried there and the community that buried them. It offers a rare view of a kind of history that is fast disappearing in other cities — and preserving it matters to the story of the African American civil rights movement.

A classroom project that became a record

A database of the burials has since been created, and the cemetery serves as a community resource for education and research.

The African American Civil Rights Network

Created by the African American Civil Rights Act of 2017 and coordinated by the National Park Service, the African American Civil Rights Network recognizes the civil rights movement and the sacrifices of those who fought discrimination and segregation. Through a collection of public and private sites, it tells the stories of the movement's people, places and events.

Sources

Based on "Glenwood Cemetery (Huntsville, Alabama)," African American Civil Rights Network, National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain.