Forgotten cemetery cleared as centuries-old Maryland church recalls its history of slavery
A small church cemetery in Bowie, Maryland that had been hidden from history due to years of neglect has been unearthed and in the process has illuminated a dark part of the history of American slavery.
The restoration of the cemetery behind the Chapel of the Sacred Heart was the result of a large-scale project of volunteers, parishioners and descendants of the buried.
In the 1700s, the Jesuits established a church and plantation on the site, where they kept enslaved people, including the ancestors of Kevin Porter.
“This is where they lived, this is where they came to socialize after a break, working all day,” Porter told CBS News.
As the Catholic Church acknowledges this horror of its past, in November the Archdiocese of Washington invited an anthropologist to map and document possible burials in the overgrown area next to the existing cemetery next to the church.
As volunteers, including members of the church and some seventh and eighth generation descendants, swept, raked and blown away the perennial debris, they uncovered centuries-old stones, tombstones and traces of burials.
“It is likely that hundreds of people are buried here,” said project leader Dr. Laura Mazur, an assistant professor of anthropology at the Catholic University.
Project staff flagged likely graves and cleaned up visible rocks. According to the church, at least 180 potential graves have been identified by ground penetrating radar to date.
The church said a committee of descendants, experts and church leaders would ultimately determine how to mark and honor the cemetery.
“It’s part of the story and it’s been talked about, but it needs to be talked about more,” said Reverend Michael Russo, parish vicar of Sacred Heart. “Other organizations and governments are looking to do the same. One of themThe State of Maryland considered a law requiring a formal review of burial sites across the state to determine where money is needed to find and preserve burial sites of historical significance to enslaved African Americans.”
Porter hopes to see a memorial at the site someday.
“It’s important that we expose them, honor them,” Porter said. “This place is important to our family. It is important to American history. I think we need memorials that tell those stories.”
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