pp
2A
TIEWS/The Charlotte Post
January 25, 1996
Cemetery unsightly and hazardous
Continued from page 1A
the 1950s from a subsequent
owner, it decided not to do the
same for the African American
cemetery.
A group of African
Americans acquired the prop
erty and until about 15 years
ago, the cemetery was main
tained by a group know as the
Cedar Grove Cemetery
Association.
But maintenance ended
when John Davidson, the last
remaining member, died,
according to several folks
familiar with the story.
Davidson had run a funeral
home on Mint Street. His
daughter, who lives in
Tennessee, chose not to con
tinue his efforts.
Roberts said her group has
been trying for several years
to get the cemetery and a
nearby wooded lot cleaned up.
Both are trash-filled eye
sores and havens for illicit
activities, Roberts said. Drug
dealers and prostitutes have
operated in the area.
Organized dogfights have
been held in the wooded area.
Roberts said the neighbor
hood association has gotten
little cooperation from city
officials in solving the prob
lem, including determining
who owns the cemetery and is
responsible for it.
John McCarroll, president of
Grier Funeral Home, said he
used to take care of the ceme
tery and handle the sale of
individual lots for Davidson.
“As long as he lived I looked
after it for him,” McCarroll
said. “You can still bury in
there. There isn’t any law
against it.”
'The last known burial in the
cemetery was about three
years ago, in 1993, according
to J.D. “Jackie” Ferguson.
That was his wife’s grandfa
ther, Robert Jamison, who
was 95. “I have six in-laws
buried in there,” Ferguson
said.
Apparently much of the
cemetery was sold as lots to
families, who have continued
to bury family members there.
The earliest stone spotted
last week was placed in 1918
over the grave of Annie N.
Nesbitt, who was born in
1896. Nearby is the grave of
Lucille Nesbitt, who was
buried in 1919.
A large stone marks the
grave plot of the Grier family,
including John Grier, who was
bom in 1875 and died in 1936.
His wife Alice’s name is
carved in the stone and lists
1885 as the year of birth, but
no date of death.
Only the sunken rectangular
shaped holes mark where
many are buried in the ceme
tery, and gravestones have fell
onto other graves.
Family names on the stones
include Anderson, Alexander,
Ivey, Patterson, Joseph,
Patton, Harris, Moss, Love,
Nelson. One of the larger, an
apparently newer, stones is
for the Hairston family.
But as to who owns the
cemetery itself, no one’s sure.
On county tax rolls, the
owner is listed as the Cedar
Grove Cemetery Association,
with W.R. Ervin as agent or
contact.
W.R. Ervin, a local attorney.
is now retired. His son, also a
lawyer, said his father’s only
involvement with the ceme
tery is as the appointed repre
sentative during a sale of a
portion of the land to build the
school.
The association was appar
ently an unincorporated orga
nization, meaning it existed
only as long as its members
wanted it to, or until they all
died. Apparently they all
have.
Since there’s no way to
transfer property owned by
such an association, legal
ownership of the cemetery at
this time is not clear.
Community residents still
are trying to find out what
they can do to get the ceme
tery cleaned up.
“You don’t just go into some
body’s yard or cemetery and
start cleaning it off without
their okay,” said Roberts. “It’s
illegal.”
She said that city officials
are planning to discuss the
legality of the situation with
the city attorney to determine
what residents can do next.
That came after a meeting
Tuesday with Cynthia Woods
of the city’s recently estab
lished Community
Empowerment Division office.
Until then the community had
gotten nowhere, Roberts said.
The Taylor/LaSalle group
apparently fell through the
cracks of the various neigh
borhood help projects trum
peted around the city in the
past year.
Then, two weeks ago, they
held a press conference with
the help of the Charlotte
Organizing Project worker
Jane Burts.
“We don’t want to trespass
on anybody’s family burial
ground,” Burts said. “The resi
dents need to contact families
or someone who knows the
history. Anyone with informa
tion can call us at 372-0675.”
Roberts feels the neighbor
hood may get some results
now.
“Until we got hooked up
with CHOP nobody paid
attention,” Roberts said. “We
are a small group, but we
have conscientious workers.
o
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Awareness is glue to our success
MELODYE MICERE STEWART
In the
spirit of
Ma’at
Maya Angelou said,"You
may encounter many defeats,
but you must not be defeated.
In fact, the encountering
may be the very experience
which creates the vitality and
the power to endure.”
Beginning with the our mass
kidnaping from Africa and
continuing through the Middle
Passage, enduring the horrors
of enslavement, segregation,
lynching and, today, institu
tionalized racism - clearly, we
have encountered many
defeats and have a powerful
story of endurance to tell.
Yet we are the only ethnic
group in-America to leave the
historical and cultural indoc
trination of ourselves and our
children to others.
The critical importance of
learning our historical lessons
With the advent of the Million Man March,
the millennium window opened and the
opportunity for the African American com
munity to address the internal needs of the
community has arrived.
is a point which cannot be
overemphasized. According to
an academic study presented
to the National Association of
Social Workers, black families
with "a sense of racial pride,
evidenced in discussing black
history and racism with their
children, are better equipped
to handle the stresses of
everyday life, set family goals
and achieve material success."
With the advent of the
Million Man March, the mil
lennium window opened and
the opportunity for the
African American community
to address the internal needs
of the community has arrived.
Martin King wrote, "When a
people are mired in oppres
sion, they realize deliverance
when they have accumulated
the power to enforce change."
District
Continued from page 1A
wide open, no incumbents
running.
"It's time for them to put up
or shut up," Richardson said.
Bill Culp, Mecklenburg
County Elections supervisor,
is also surprised by the lack of
interest in the race. He said
many of the districts have one
person running, but most are
incumbents.
"I'm not going to discuss
those who have signed up, but
I'm asking what's happened to
all those those who should
run," Culp said. "Where are
all those who ran for nomina
tion in '94?"
Norman Mitchell, a retired
federal employee and westside
community activist, may file
for the position, but isn't sure.
"I'm reevaluating the situa
tion," he said. "The whole
thing right now is the time
involved. I'm involved with a
lot of things and I'm enjoying
them.
Former city council member
Hoyle Martin and Exum may
also file.
School could get computers
Continued from page 1A
receiving technology from
IBM,” she said. “As a condi
tion of accepting that we are
asking that similar technology
be put at Cochrane and
Statesville Road and other
schools affected by the
Education Village.
“We could mirror what’s
going on at the Education
Village at Cochrane. We could
do a communications magnet
and have a continuum from
David Cox Elementary and
Garinger High School.
“It is wide open what we can
do at Cochrane,” Burgess said.
Burgess said the school
board has not found a solution
to allowing three southeast
Mecklenburg elementary
schools to become nearly all-
white.
Several African American
were critical of former Supt.
John Murphy’s plan for de
pairing Matthews, McAlpine
and McKee elementary
schools with inner city schools
and allowing their enroll
ments to increase to as much
as 97 percent white.
Sarah Stevenson, a former
school board member and now
county commissioner candi
date, told the school board last
week the system appeas to be
re-segregating.
“The mission is to become
the premier integrated sys
tem, but it looks like its
becoming the premier segre
gated system,” Stevenson
said.
Stevenson suggested that
the board study the plan
more, before making major
changes in the system. Anna
Hood, chairman of the Black
Political Caucus, charged that
African American children
were still bearing the burden
of busing since they often can
not attend the magnet schools
in their neighborhoods.
“Some of our children are
assigned out of their home
area for all or most of their
school years,” Hood said in a
written statement. “Some chil
dren are not accepted in the
magnet programs in their
areas due to walk zone limita
tions and non-application to
the magnet schools.
“While magnets and new
schools are getting necessary
resources, some of our older
schools are lagging behind in
resources, thereby creating an
unequal playing field for our
children.”
The current proposal would
reassign as many as 5,700
students and all but abandon
efforts to integrate schools in
southeast Charlotte, while
continuing to add magnets in
the inner city.
Today, African Americans
are the richest Africans on the
planet - we have the most
skills, resources, access to
technology, capital, etc. than
any other African people.
Unlike other American eth
nic groups, black people have
not institutionalized a mecha
nism in which to teach the
history of black people to
black people for the purpose of
our own empowerment.
We have the power to
change this. Today, we are as
disconnected from each other
as we are from our history.
The "glue" which made for a
more cohesive group in the
60's was the glue of aware
ness. We understood that we
shared a common history,
struggle and destiny.
The wisdom and writings of
virtually all of our historical
leaders, including Douglass,
DuBois, Wells-Barnett,
Woodson, Bethune, King and
Malcolm, underscore this
essential fact. Now it's time
for us to learn it.
^Geneva Daniel
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