Danville, Washington (AP) – a solution to move the remains of hundreds of Afro -American farmers from a former Virginia tobacco plantation to a specialized funeral has caused a number of emotions among the descendants of Sharecroupers.
Some are worried about the consequences of disturbing the graves of people who have been exploited and enslaved. Others hope that the remains can be identified and repeated with more respect than they are given in life.
Mostly unidentified remains are moved from a site that has been part of one of the largest slave ownership operations in the country to make a way for an industrial park.
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When they were buried, they were not considered completely human, but now there are “Patriots coming out of their graves with equal rights in 2025,” said a descendant, Cedric Haster, said.
Archaeologists have already begun to exhly have approximately 275 plots, and some of the remains of farmers and their families are already in a funeral home, but will be moved to the new funeral site of about a mile. Officials consult with descendants about genetic tests for unidentified remains, as well as designs for the new cemetery, including a memorial arch.
“I don’t think anyone would want their ancestors to be exhumed or moved,” says Jeff Bennett, whose great-great-great-grandfather is buried in the plantation. “But to give us a lot to say in the new cemetery, to the details of the design and plaques and monuments we exhibit, I have the feeling that (they) really do it in a decent way, in a respectful way.”
Afro -American cemeteries have been neglected, abandonment and destruction over the centuries. But their efforts are gaining momentum, such as communities that discover that they are restoring these decisive relationships with past generations.
Although she generally supports the grave movement project, Hriston is worried about the resentment of the exhumation of the graves of people who have been brutalized as slaves and exploited as shareholders.
“It seems that 100 or more strange years after their death, there is still no rest,” he said.
The largest slave to the south
Ok Hill was part of a family empire that enslaved thousands of people in 45 plantations and farms in four states, according to Hairstyles, a 1999 book by Henry Winek, who chronicles the black -and -white hairstyle families.
Samuel Hurston, the owner of the plantation, was known the largest enslavement to the south, writes Waum.
But the big property has stood mostly empty and unused since Sharecropping ended the last century. The plantation house of the 1820 was destroyed by a fire in 1988.
Many who were enslaved in Oak Hill left after the emancipation, Wyisik writes. Those who remain as farmers have often been deceived by salaries and face lubricating poverty and sometimes violence in Jim Crowe to the south.
Some farmers took the surname of the hairstyles, partly because “we had no other name to identify, as the government collects census data. We did not bring a surname with us from Africa, “said Cedric Hriston, adding:” Many of our women wore and gave birth to a child of the hairstyle, never with the support of the law to announce that they were raped. “
The search for Fleming Adams cf.
One of the Sharecroupers was Fleming Adams-Sr., great-great-great-great-great-great-great-Prices. Known as “Flem”, he was born in a slavery on another plantation in 1830. Later he worked on Oak Hill, where he had to transfer through doors because he was so tall, Bennett said.
Adams and his wife, Martha, raised three sons – George, Daniel and Flem Jr. – before he died in 1916. His witness for death lists his place for funeral as Oak Hill.
“I hope we can find where Flem is,” Bennett said. “He was 7 feet tall, so they would look for a bigger ark. And hopefully there will be enough of his remains where they can make a DNA sample. “
Most of the graves in the two solitary cemeteries of Sharecropper were only marked by moss -covered stones without inscriptions. Rows of depression in the ground showed where the wooden coffins collapsed below. Loboli needles have gripped many of the plots.
“Open to everything and everything”
The public entity, the regional organ for industrial facilities in Pitsyilva-Danville, has acquired 3500 acres (1400 hectares) land involving the former Ouk Hill plantation and a Tennessee-based microporous battery has announced in November that it will build a $ 1.3 billion battery there. He expects to create 2000 jobs.
The Ministry of Historical Resources of Virginia gave permission at the end of November to move the graves, noting that the relocation was in line with the wishes of the families of the descendants. Bennett and others visited the sites in December.
Silence fell as they entered the first cemetery. JD Adams, a descendant of Oak Hill, said a historical marker must be placed.
“We need some time to determine what we want and how we want it,” Adams told Matt Rowe, director of the economic development of PittSylvania County.
Rowe replied, “I’m open to everything and everything.”
The industrial authority raised $ 1.3 million from land registration to fund the project, which is processed by an engineering and consulting company WSP.
The WSP archaeologist, John Bedel, said everything would be collected from every grave shaft, even if it was mostly soil and transferred to its new space, including the stone that marks it.
The company hopes to complete the transfer of the graves by the beginning of March. In the coming months, the new funeral and dedication ceremony will follow.
Past
Bennett and others recently watched personal belongings found in the graves. Protected in plastic bags, they included glasses, a medicine bottle and a 5-point coin of 1836. A man was buried with a bulb, a nest and an electric cord. Another man’s grave was lined with bricks, indicating that he was rich, Bennett said.
These bricks will be adjusted to the new funeral, probably in the memorial arch and will be inscribed with the names of the deceased, he said.
The descendants examine the funeral residential records to try to identify the buried in unmarked graves. Given the challenging nature of the task, they can write the names of anyone living in the area.
“I feel like we are repairing the importance of our ancestors,” Bennett said. “Generations have passed as people used this area to bury people. And now we are rediscovering their stories. And we hope that we can continue to tell these stories to future generations. “