In parts of Oaklawn Memorial Cemetery, one of Mobile’s known Black burial sites, you can see glimpses of gray and moss-covered graves poking out of the long grass or behind fallen tree limbs. In other places, the barely visible dirt paths lead to beautifully cared-for plots with graves adorned in bright-colored flowers under the kind of dreamy and languid trees you might only find in the South.
Other paths, half-covered in weeds and grass, unspool into neglected tree lines and ground depressions where the graves of genuine Black heroes have been long consumed by nature.
“There are beautiful stories under all this,” said Ursel Forbes, observing the overgrown fields around her small family plot. She was checking it for flood damage with her brother John Forbes who was visiting from Texas. “What you can see is kept up by families and volunteers. So much of the rest is hidden or probably long gone.”
Recent flooding shifted one of her grandparent’s gravestones. Her brother said that just touching it could cause it to fall.
Among those resting at Oaklawn are the famed Buffalo Soldiers and Tuskegee Airmen, alongside veterans from as far back as World War One and all the wars after that. The U.S. Coast Guard and a local veterans group help where they can, but most of the upkeep is done by families.
Without their help, Oaklawn would go the way of many other Black cemeteries in the United States: unseen, forgotten, and eventually lost.
The cemeteries, often with unmarked graves and in less desirable areas, have long been a window into the past, where families have gathered to mourn and remember their loved ones. y Black cemeteries stand as a monument to Black heroes while also serving as a reminder of those who endured and overcame slavery, segregation and discrimination.
But as climate change brings increasingly unpredictable weather, Black cemeteries, in particular, are under serious threat.
Flooding can shift gravestones and the heavy vaults below. Prolonged rain…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply