A place for memory : Baltimore's historic Laurel Cemetery /

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Imprint:Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, [2023]
Description:xvi, 204 pages illustrations (black and white) ; 24 cm
Language:English
Subject:
Format: E-Resource Print Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/13075920
Hidden Bibliographic Details
Varying Form of Title:Baltimore's historic Laurel Cemetery
Other authors / contributors:Shearn, Isaac, 1982- editor.
Klugh, Elgin, 1973- editor.
ISBN:9781538156131
153815613X
9781538156148
Notes:Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary:"This book highlights and historicizes underexplored and forgotten people and events associated with Laurel Cemetery (1852-1957)--the first non-denominational African American cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland--stressing the importance of their work in laying the social, economic, and political foundation for Baltimore's African American community"--
Other form:Online version: Place for memory Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, [2023] 9781538156148
Description
Summary:

Laurel Cemetery was incorporated in 1852 as a nondenominational cemetery for African Americans of Baltimore, Maryland. It was the final resting place for thousands of Baltimoreans and many prominent members of the community, including religious leaders, educators, political organizers, and civil rights activists. During its existence, the privately owned cemetery changed hands several times, and by the 1930s, the site was overgrown, and garbage strewn from years of improper maintenance and neglect. In the 1950s, legislation was adopted permitting the demolition and sale of the property for commercial purposes. Despite controversy over the new legislation, local opposition to the demolition, numerous lawsuits, and NAACP supported court appeals, the cemetery was demolished in 1958 to make room for the development of a shopping center. Prior to the bulldozing of the cemetery, a few hundred gravestones and an unknown number of burials (fewer than 200) were exhumed and relocated to a new site in Carroll County. Ongoing archival research has thus far documented over 18,000 (projected to be over 40,000) original burials, most of which still remain interred beneath the Belair-Edison Crossing shopping center property, which occupies the footprint of the old cemetery.

This book highlights and historicizes underexplored and forgotten people and events associated with the cemetery, stressing the importance of their work in laying the social, economic, and political foundation for Baltimore's African American community. Additionally, this text details the unsuccessful fight to prevent the cemetery's destruction and the more recent grassroots formation of the Laurel Cemetery Memorial Project to research and commemorate the site and the people buried there.

Physical Description:xvi, 204 pages illustrations (black and white) ; 24 cm
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:9781538156131
153815613X
9781538156148