Tending the graves of enslaved Black folks at Button Farm gives living descendants the chance to acknowledge the past and embrace truth.
by Renata Sago, Word In Black
Deep in the brush of Seneca Creek State Park in Maryland, a group gathered on a small field to clear overgrown trees and shrubs. They stood together in a circle and read the names of deceased loved ones. Some wept. Others observed in silence. For centuries, the surrounding area has carried the legacy of one of the nation’s oldest free Black communities. The site, itself, on the historic Button Farm, is home to an informal burial ground. It requires a thorough clearing at least once a year — and, this year, there was a formal event.
“It attracted a pretty diverse group of people,” says living historian Anthony Cohen. “Different ethnic backgrounds and ages. Some people talked in depth about [the deceased] — what effect they had on their lives. The opportunity opened up for different people of different backgrounds to share their story, and I believe that is a way of really highlighting the commonalities as opposed to their differences.”
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Cohen has managed Button Farm for more than 20 years, introducing visitors to 19th-century plantation life through guided tours. In the early 2000s, he received a phone call from an archeologist and former colleague whose team had done a field study. They had uncovered a 40-by-40-foot burial ground on the site and had concluded, based on the kind of stones and markers, that it was a cemetery for enslaved Africans. Additional research suggests that the site might also include burials of a local Black family who had worked on a nearby plantation.
“We don’t know who is buried there. We believe that it’s Black people, and we believe that it’s enslaved people because there are no headstones with people’s names on them,” Cohen says. “No one’s ever identified white people as being there. So we go with what the archeologists are currently saying until someone comes up with something else.”
The presence of an informal burial ground at the park provides, for visitors and locals, evidence of the past and an introduction to the histories of early African American burial traditions. Some of these practices are common throughout the United States and others, regional. For example, Cohen notes that some African American cemeteries face eastward and are in low-lying areas. There is evidence of certain plantings on some grounds, while others feature shards of pottery in tribute to the deceased.
A Connection to Racial Healing
The recent burial clearing at the farm is part of several in-person and virtual events in partnership with Coming to the Table, a national organization whose intention is to deepen racial healing in the United States. Local facilitators lead monthly conversations about racial justice, bringing together descendants of enslavers and descendants of the enslaved.
Sally Collela, who identifies as white, is co-leader of the Montgomery County, Maryland chapter of CTTT. She is a descendant of several generations of white Marylanders — some of whom had enslaved Black people in the area. She says the hardest part about racial healing is having people feel comfortable enough to speak.
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“People have had either no experience talking about race and racism or the experience that they’ve had has been exhausting and unproductive,” Collela says. “I think for most white people, there’s a reticence in — I’m not going to have the right terminology. I’m going to say something wrong. I’m going to defend someone.”
For her, it’s essential for living descendants to acknowledge the past and present and to embrace truth-telling as necessary for justice and equality. She believes the burial ground clean-up created a natural, powerful link between the attendees.
The Power of Shared Stories
“The physical experience of all of us being together — different ages, different races — engaged in a very respectful act of clearing, cleaning, tending, an area that, at times, has been forgotten — it’s symbolic.”
Venetia Bailey also attended the burial clean-up and found it special to participate with people across socioeconomic status. Bailey, who is a co-facilitator for CTTT, identifies as a Black and African American descendant of the enslavers and enslaved. Since joining the local chapter in 2017, she has observed the emotional and physical release of heavy topics.
“Some people have very strong connection — a family member that might have been lynched, for example, and some families talk about it and carry that history down through oratory stories, and other families don’t talk about it because it’s too painful,” shares Bailey. “People have different behaviors that may come up as — that are disguised as — helplessness, judgment, anger, unworthiness, but also strength, courage, resilience,” she notes. “It’s unique to each individual.”
This series was produced in partnership with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
