This article has been updated since it first appeared in print.
East End Cemetery has suffered years of neglect. (Photo by Eric Foster)
A 40-member coalition that includes descendants of people buried in East End and Evergreen cemeteries is urging Gov. Ralph Northam to block a transfer of public funds and investigate the Enrichmond Foundation’s operation of the two historic Black cemeteries.
In a March 10 letter to Northam, the Descendants Council expressed concerns about Enrichmond’s stewardship of the historic graveyards and called for greater transparency in the organization’s practices, requesting a comprehensive cultural landscape analysis of the two adjoining cemeteries and community meetings “to deliberate on the future of these sacred sites.” The letter alleges that Enrichmond neglected the cemeteries for much of 2020 before hiring landscapers who damaged and destroyed fragile grave markers.
“These are our ancestors, and the most important thing at stake is their dignity and respect, and our involvement and being treated with respect as part of this process,” group spokesperson Alicia Aroche says.
The Descendants Council group also asks the governor to halt a $150,000 grant from the Virginia Outdoors Foundation to Parity LLC, an entity run by Enrichmond Executive Director John Sydnor, for the purchase of two acres of land adjacent to Evergreen and East End. Enrichmond plans to build a “memorial park” around the historic sites, though it stresses that the project would not disturb any burial sites under strict conservation requirements.
The Friends of East End, which worked to restore East End Cemetery for nearly a decade until its relationship with the Enrichmond Foundation ended last year, launched a concurrent change.org petition that has gathered more than 12,000 signatures as of April 12.
"That’s an indication that people want some sort of accountability and oversight, and a halt to any further activity at the cemetery until we actually have a sense of how funds are being spent and what the plan is," says Brian Palmer, a member of the Descendants Council who previously volunteered with the Friends' cleanup and restoration efforts at the cemetery. "This has been a thoroughly opaque process, and substantive community engagement has been lacking."
In a news release issued after the letter's publication, the Enrichmond Foundation stated that although its efforts at the two cemeteries were delayed by COVID-19, the group now plans to release draft preservation plans for East End and Evergreen cemeteries for public review.
Sydnor expects the preservation plans to be posted on Enrichmond's website in about two weeks, and says the nonprofit’s efforts to restore the burial grounds have been led by an advisory board of historical experts and descendants of those buried in the cemeteries. Input gathered through the virtual public comment period will then be passed onto the advisory panel for review, he says.
“There’s a belief in the [Descendants Council] group that the state somehow is favoring us, but there are groups all over the state following the exact same process that we’re following with the state,” Sydnor said in an interview.
Additionally, the Enrichmond Foundation on Tuesday announced a partnership with The James River Institute for Archaeology, which has previously assisted in the excavation of the Lumpkin's Slave Jail site. The James River Institute's work will include identifying and protecting human remains and other significant archaeological findings at the two cemeteries, according to a news release.
Since the Change.org campaign was launched last month, Palmer says Mayor Levar Stoney's office has halted a $75,000 annual payment to Enrichmond and will no longer pursue plans for a right-of-entry agreement for the city-owned Colored Paupers Cemetery, where Enrichmond planned to conduct site research. Sydnor says the city funding would have supported Enrichmond's "efforts throughout the city."
The Descendants Council group also received a response from Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources Matt Strickler last week, though Palmer says the response urged the council group to enter mediation with the Enrichmond Foundation and didn't address the group's demands. Rather than seeing the issue as a dispute between two private parties, Palmer says, local, state and federal government agencies that have awarded funding to the Enrichmond Foundation in the past should be held accountable.
"We are descendants who want this sacred ground treated as sacred ground, and it's incumbent upon our public officials, our elected officials and appointed officials, to ensure that protection is put in place. It’s really that simple," Palmer says. "To try and abrogate that responsibility to two private parties, it just makes no sense when so much [state, city and federal] money is involved."
“These ancestors endured and thrived in conditions that none of us can imagine today, and honoring them and showing them respect is our duty and responsibility,” Aroche says.
