Forgotten Souls No More

NEWBURYPORT – At least 18 African-American, former residents of this port city were buried a century ago in the Oak Hill Burying Ground without headstones, but last week they were no forgotten no more.
Almost 100 current residents gathered at the bottom of the hill near Auburn Street where they are buried to pray over them and install granite markers and a bronze plaque so future residents will know they are buried there.
While local historian Ghlee Woodworth read aloud the names of black businessmen and servants, authors and activists and their families who may be buried there, the dozens of attendees placed the 6-inch by 6-inch markers, labeled “Once Known,” into small holes on the graves.
Near the top of the hill under trees that provides deep shade on a warm day now stands a bronze 12- by 24-inch plaque, with the title HISTORIC AFRICAN AMERICAN SECTION.
It states: “THIS AREA HAS A CONCENTRATION OF GRAVES AND STONE MARKERS FOR BLACK MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN BURIED IN THE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURIES. THERE ARE ALSO MANY UNIDENTIFIED GRAVES HERE, FOUND BY GROUND PENETRATING RADAR, WHICH ARE NOW MARKED ‘ONCE KNOWN’ – ALL WERE INDIVIDUALS KNOWN IN THEIR DAY EVEN IF WE NO LONGER KNOW THEIR NAMES TODAY. THIS SECTION OF THE CEMETERY IS ACROSS THE STREET FROM AN HISTORIC BLACK NEIGHBORHOOD CALLED “GUINEA VILLAGE” DURING THAT ERA.”
Senior Planning Director Geordie Vining, a driving force in the Newburyport Black Initiative, wrote of the event, “All these men, women, and children were distinct individuals who were recognized during their lifetime, even if their names have been forgotten today. These granite markers will serve as a means to locate their burial sites.”
Standing in for Mayor Sean Reardon, who was called away for a meeting at Whittier Tech, Vining said a lot of black cemeteries have been wiped off the map and are now under golf courses, commercial sites and parking lots.
State Rep. Dawne Shand, D-Newburyport, read a poem entitled, The African Burial Ground by Yusef Komunyakaa. Although the poem was written about a New York City cemetery, Shand said she thought it was appropriate for the black section of the Old Hill Cemetery.
The Rev. Rebecca Bryan, minister for the First Religious Society, Unitarian Universalist Church, said, “There are so many acts and steps that we can do to make this a welcoming place, a place where everyone is known and seen.”
Bryan pointed out that Newburyport with more than 19,000 residents has only 107 black residents. That is about the number that Woodworth said was the black population in Newburyport at its height in the early 19th century.
The minister told the crowd with only one black person in it that too often Newburyport is referred to as a white community.
“Every time we say that, we’re erasing not only the people who have died who are not white people, but the people that are here today and all of their diversity,” she said. “Remembering is part of reparations.”
Bryan offered a prayer to those who are buried under the “Once Known” granite markings, and Woodworth had the attendees kneel to touch the stones.
After the prayer, the attendees pushed the markers into the holes.
Nearby were a handful of marked graves for black residents, including a “faithful servant” named Fortune, Susan Cogswell and a Union Street barbershop owner, John C.H. Young, all of whom died in the 1800s.
Woodworth said the people who were buried in the unmarked graves may have been their relatives.
“Is it possible their family members are buried around them? Yes,” she said.
The cemetery project cost about $7,700, of which $5,250 were donated by the Unitarian Universalist Church, the Newburyport Lions Club and individual donors. The remaining $2,450 was allocated from the city’s property taxpayers through the Community Preservation Act.
Expenses included $1,450 for the ground-penetrating radar work, $2,250 for the plaque and $4,000 for the “Once Known” markers.