African American cemeteries winning new recognition in Va.
The minister’s voice reverberated through the oaks and hollies just southwest of George Washington’s tomb, calling on visitors to remember those “unnumbered trail blazers who rest beneath this hallowed space.”
He was referring to scores, and perhaps hundreds, of slaves and their families whose remains lie somewhere beneath the butterscotch-colored soil on a ridge above the Potomac River .
William “Billy” Lee, Washington’s manservant throughout the Revolutionary War, was buried here about 1828, researchers say. West Ford, a longtime servant of the Washington family, is thought to be the last person buried here, in 1863.
The rest of the names are unknown. But the details of their final resting places may soon be identified through a multi-year archaeological survey to be launched May 30. Before beginning the project, the plantation organized Thursday’s blessing ceremony.
The survey at Mount Vernon is one of several local efforts to learn more about the burial sites of African Americans, both enslaved and freed, during the early years of the United States.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/african-american-cemeteries-winning-new-recognition-in-va/2014/05/15/5f0a2fce-dc68-11e3-bda1-9b46b2066796_story.html
