Resources:
Sarah Rigg's Feature Article: Ypsilanti African-American cemetery is being rehabilitated after decades of disrepair
African American Cultural and Historical Museum (AACHM)
Transcription:
Lee Van Roth: You're listening to 89.1 WEMU. I'm Lee Van Roth, and this is On the Ground Ypsi. Efforts to better understand and preserve Ypsilanti's historic Woodlawn Cemetery are uncovering new findings and deepening connections between the site and the community that it represents. With me today is Dr. Debby Covington, who has been closely involved in this ongoing work. Dr. Covington, thank you so much for joining us here today!
Dr. Debby Covington: Thank you for having me!
Lee Van Roth: So, to start, can you tell me just a little bit about the significance of Woodlawn Cemetery and why this project has been so important to the surrounding community?
Dr. Debby Covington: Yes. So, Woodlawn Cemetery is one of only three historically all-Black cemeteries that have been in existence in the state of Michigan. So, that history alone is very important, but also that, in the North, cemeteries were typically integrated, because, in the South, you found a lot of segregated cemeteries. And of course, we know that there were anti-discrimination laws in the North. So, it's really unique that there is an all-Black cemetery in Michigan. It was founded in 1946 by Garther Roberson, Senior, who was a prominent pastor in Ypsilanti at that time. He had buried so many of his church members and community members in local cemeteries, and those cemeteries relegated Black people to the worst part of the property and provided the restricted hours when individuals could see their family members. So, it was his vision to make sure that Black people had a place for eternal rest that was dignified and honorable, where family members could come and connect with their loved ones at any time that the doors were open. Now, that was so important during that time because, although there was desegregation in the North, there was still de facto segregation in the North. And he also chose the lawn-type cemetery headstones because he wanted everyone that was buried there to feel equal. He didn't want people who had a little more money to be able to kind of flaunt that with a more elaborate headstone. He wanted to create the sense that we're one community, we're all one and that's why he chose that type of headstone. So, this project connects people with their loved ones, it connects the community. We have been engaged with restoring the cemetery since May of 2025.
Lee Van Roth: So, in addition to this community engagement piece that you mentioned, a lot of this work going into this project is connecting folks with their past loved ones, with their history in this area, there's also been a very technical research kind of side of this as well. How have those two different pieces kind of worked together to create this project, or I guess make this project into what it has been for this last year?
Dr. Debby Covington: Right. So, in May of last year, we kicked off the program formally with a community gathering of just the descendants. And the land was blessed. The project was blessed by one of the descendants whose grandparents are buried there. And so, while we have been publicizing this project, Kat Slocum, who is my partner on the technology side, she reached out to Terracon, which is a geophysics consulting company, and they have donated hundreds of hours of time using ground penetrating radar to detect grave sites. And as a result of their work, we have uncovered 500 grave sites. And originally, we thought that there were about 150 buried there.
Lee Van Roth: Oh, wow!
Dr. Debby Covington: But now, we know there's upwards of 500 people buried there. So, that technology side of it was very important. They have spent, I would say, about 20 hours on our site just surveying it, and they've used various types of state-of-the-art technology that was used to identify these graves. And they have a website that we can share with you later. And individuals can go there and see the results of the ground penetrating radar. And we also have a genealogy group that is working on finding the individuals that are interred there. And so, they're going through newspapers since 1946 and other archives to find the names. So, they have found over 217 of the 500 names of people that are interred there. So, that is a very exciting project. We have volunteers. We welcome volunteers on this project. A big part of our efforts last year was clearing the land. So, if you went there for the first time, this cemetery was totally invisible. So, our theme is "making the invisible visible." It was invisible because it was forested. And so ,we spent last summer with over 250 volunteers cutting down trees and brush. We had sheep out there for 10 days eating the bramble and especially the poison ivy. So, we we had a great gathering of community members to help with this project, so it has been multifaceted. It has been community engaged. It's amazing how quickly people build community when they come with their rakes and their weedwhackers and loppers. And then, they're just engaged, and they automatically come together to cut down a tree that's about to give, but it takes two more people to help it come down. And it's just an amazing way to see the community come together around a very important common cause of making the invisible histories of people that are interred there come to life.
Lee Van Roth: This is WEMU's On the Ground Ypsi. I'm Lee Van Roth talking with Dr. Debby Covington. So, Dr. Covington, I'm sure that there have been so many wonderful stories and just human interactions that you've had throughout this past year working on the Woodlawn Cemetery Project. What have you heard from folks who are either revisiting connections or maybe even discovering them for the first time throughout this entire process?
Dr. Debby Covington: Oh gosh! We have heard so many rich and wonderful stories from this encounter, from this engagement. It has just been incredible! One lady had been looking for her uncle. She's a genealogist, and she'd been looking for her uncle for years. And she went out to the cemetery and found his headstone. And she just stood over his headstone and wept. And she told us that it was like he had rejoined the family, and they had missed him for so long. So, that was quite, quite touching. What we're engaged in right now as a group is conducting listening sessions throughout the county. So, the communication between them, seeing the hugs and watching them work out their family trees together was just absolutely an incredible experience!
Lee Van Roth: And looking ahead as we come up on this one-year mark, what is next for the Woodlawn Cemetery Project and how can folks either stay informed or get involved?
Dr. Debby Covington: They can get involved by emailing woodlawncommunications@gmail.com, and there are various ways that they can get involved. And I'll just say a few to pique people's interest. We are in the process of documenting the whole project. And so, if people are interested in interviewing descendants, doing familial research, that's available as well. We need genealogy researchers. We also need help with organizing events because, starting in May, we will resume the, what we call, restoration days where we're actually on-site clearing land. We also have a gallery exhibit in place now with the African American Cultural and Historical Museum of Washtenaw County in Ann Arbor. So, those are some of the ways that they can get involved. We encourage people from all walks of life, from business, from government, whoever's interested in supporting this project, please join us!
Lee Van Roth: Dr. Covington, I want to thank you so much for joining me here today!
Dr. Debby Covington: Thank you, Lee, so much! We really appreciate WEMU, who has been our supporters for a number of years. You guys have been out and have had additional coverage on this project in the past. So, thank you for being a great supporter!
Lee Van Roth: For more information on today's topic and links to the full article, visit our website at WEMU.org. On the Ground Ypsi is brought to you in partnership with Concentrate Media. I'm Lee Van Roth, and this is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU, Ypsilanti.
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