D.C. youth volunteer to preserve long-neglected and historic Black cemeteries

Last year, Congress passed a measure to find and protect historic Black cemeteries nationwide. But the money to do the work hasn’t been allocated. Some aren’t waiting for lawmakers to act. Earlier this summer, dozens of people came together to help preserve a pair of cemeteries in Washington. From the News Hour’s Student Reporting Labs journalism training program, Claire Baek reports.
Amna Nawaz:
And now to a story from our student reporters.
Last year, Congress passed a measure to find and protect historic Black cemeteries nationwide, but money to actually do the work hasn’t been allocated. Some aren’t waiting for lawmakers to act. Earlier this summer, dozens of people came together to help preserve a pair of cemeteries in Washington, D.C.
From the “News Hour”‘s Student Reporting Labs journalism training program, Claire Baek reports.
This is where people are laid to rest, and its sacred space. Death reflects life. And the treatment of Black people in life is reflective of treatment of Black people in death.
Claire Baek:
In Washington D.C., the Mount Zion and Female Union Band Society cemeteries have endured challenges, such as erosion and a lack of funding.
At one point, developers almost built on this land. But on days like Juneteenth, volunteers like high school student Brooke Talbott come to take care of the burial grounds.
Brooke Talbott, Volunteer:
A lot of times, these stones are either unmarked or their family doesn’t know about it. So nobody’s coming out to help to, like, refurbish the graves.
Claire Baek:
One of those graves honors the life of a 7-year-old girl named Nannie. She is one of an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 people buried here. Some are known. Many are not. It took years of research to figure out who she was.
Lisa Fager, Executive Director, Black Georgetown Foundation:
She is been, pretty popular at the cemetery since I started in 2019, because people leave toys and cards and food at her grave site.
Claire Baek:
Lisa Fager is in charge of the foundation that oversees the burial grounds. She was the first to discover the remnants of a fire set on Nannie’s grave last year.
Lisa Fager:
Sad that somebody would vandalize the grave, but, ironically, it’s something so tragic became so beautiful with people coming together.
Brooke Talbott:
I think it’s important that this place highlights the plight of African Americans in this country, but also the triumph that they have — that, you know, we came to this country in bondage, but we are — we have risen so, so much.
Claire Baek:
Juliette Warga, who lives near the cemeteries, started volunteering here in high school. She quickly realized there was more than just history, but also a community.
Juliette Warga, Former Volunteer:
Think something that really drew me to the cemetery was the effort that was made to bring the people buried there to life.
Claire Baek:
The African-American Burial Grounds Preservation Act was passed in 2023 with the intent of funding research into finding and preserving Black cemeteries nationwide.
Lisa Fager:
A lot of cemeteries don’t look like cemeteries anymore. They’re under parking garages or buildings, particularly historic Black cemeteries.
Claire Baek:
This vault within the cemeteries was used as a stop on the underground railroad. Some people buried here were enslaved at nearby plantations, including Mount Vernon, the home George and Martha Washington.
To walk visitors through the history here, Warga created an online self-tour accessible by a Q.R. code displayed around the cemetery.
Juliette Warga:
Quickly, there were like 1,000 hits, and it was really cool to see that. Like, people were using it and hopefully learning from it.
Lisa Fager:
The facts are there in their lives and in their deaths and tell us the stories and the history that we need to remember, so that we don’t repeat it. And that’s what Black cemeteries do. They complete the story.
Claire Baek:
For the “PBS News Hour”‘s Student Reporting Labs, I’m Claire Baek.