Investigating Historic African-American Mortuary Traditions in Central Virginia

FAIN: RZ-50420-05

Sweet Briar College (Sweet Briar, VA 24595-5001)
Lynn Rainville (Project Director: November 2004 to June 2010)

Archaeological and archival research into the mortuary traditions of African Americans living in the Virigina Piedmont from the 18th to the mid-20th centuries. (36 months)

This proposal requests three years of funding to research African-American mortuary variability in central Virginia, from the 1770s to the 1950s. An interdisciplinary team of scholars will contribute to our understanding of enslaved, Free Black, and twentieth-century African-American gravestones, cemetery landscapes, and mourning practices. The results will be disseminated via an on-line database. This project is particularly timely because many historic black cemeteries are not documented on county maps, resulting in unintentional destruction during new construction. This research will help raise awareness about African-American burial grounds and increase our understanding of a rarely studied aspect of African-American culture.

Associated Products

Hidden History: African American Cemeteries in Central Virginia (Book)
Title: Hidden History: African American Cemeteries in Central Virginia
Author: Lynn Rainville
Abstract: In Hidden History, Lynn Rainville travels through the forgotten African American cemeteries of central Virginia to recover information crucial to the stories of the black families who lived and worked there for over two hundred years. The subjects of Rainville’s research are not statesmen or plantation elites; they are hidden residents, people who are typically underrepresented in historical research but whose stories are essential for a complete understanding of our national past. Rainville studied above-ground funerary remains in over 150 historic African American cemeteries to provide an overview of mortuary and funerary practices from the late eighteenth century to the end of the twentieth. Combining historical, anthropological, and archaeological perspectives, she analyzes documents—such as wills, obituaries, and letters—as well as gravestones and graveside offerings. Rainville’s findings shed light on family genealogies, the rise and fall of segregation, and attitudes toward religion and death. As many of these cemeteries are either endangered or already destroyed, the book includes a discussion on the challenges of preservation and how the reader may visit, and help preserve, these valuable cultural assets.
Year: 2014
Primary URL: http://www.worldcat.org/title/hidden-history-african-american-cemeteries-in-central-virginia/oclc/844372944&referer=brief_results
Primary URL Description: WorldCat listing
Secondary URL: http://books.upress.virginia.edu/detail%2Fbooks%2Fgroup-4298.xml?q=author%3A%22Rainville%2C%20Lynn%22
Secondary URL Description: Publisher's listing
Access Model: Book
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9780813935348
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

Savings the Remains of the Day: the cultural heritage of historic American cemeteries (Article)
Title: Savings the Remains of the Day: the cultural heritage of historic American cemeteries
Author: Lynn Rainville
Abstract: A discussion of laws, successful and not, that protect historic African American cemeteries. In the editor's introduction to the piece, she concludes "Rainville's piece is an excellent illustration of the usefulness of gray literature in investigating all aspects of the archaeological record. What's more it points to the value of the internet and interactive databases which provide the means for informing as well as reaching out to various groups, such as potential descendant communities. This essay offers a critical lens on how history in the United States is valued, particularly how social and racial undertones influence preservation [of historic black cemeteries.]"
Year: 2009
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Journal of Field Archaeology

Home at Last: mortuary commemoration in Virginian slave cemeteries (Article)
Title: Home at Last: mortuary commemoration in Virginian slave cemeteries
Author: Lynn Rainville
Abstract: This article discusses strategies for locating slave cemeteries, recording gravestone attributes, and analyzing mortuary rituals within enslaved communities on ante-bellum plantations in Virginia. At the end of the article, guidelines are provided for protecting these sacred sites.
Year: 2009
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Markers: Annual Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies

Learning from God's Acre: locating and protecting historic African American Cemeteries (Article)
Title: Learning from God's Acre: locating and protecting historic African American Cemeteries
Author: Lynn Rainville
Abstract: This article will help genealogists understand the importance of African American cemeteries, and how they can be useful in filling in missing pieces of family, neighborhood, and local history, as well as for what they reveal about the historic context of ancestors. It is intended to be a practical guide that will help genealogists map and document cemeteries. I discuss how to locate African American cemeteries, what genealogists can learn from these cemeteries, and how these important historical sites can be preserved and protected. I also present case studies: true stories that will illustrate how basic principles, techniques, and procedures can be applied in the field.
Year: 2015
Format: Journal

African American Cemeteries in Central Virginia (Web Resource)
Title: African American Cemeteries in Central Virginia
Author: Lynn Rainville
Abstract: Virginia contains thousands of family burial grounds and consecrated cemeteries. These final resting places preserve invaluable biographical information about the past residents of the county. The AACAAC Project is dedicated to locating, documenting, and preserving historic African-American cemeteries in two Virginian counties
Year: 2006
Primary URL: http://http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/cem/

Protecting Our Shared Heritage in African-American Cemeteries (Article)
Title: Protecting Our Shared Heritage in African-American Cemeteries
Author: Lynn Rainville
Abstract: America's historical cemeteries are cultural treasures. yet they face a variety of threats, ranging from over-eager real estate developers to uninformed property owners, petty vandalism, and grave-robbing. This article discusses challenges the author faced while documenting and preserving African-American cemeteries in her home state f Virginia, and offers potential solutions to the problems archaeologists throughout the country will face when undertaking such a task.
Year: 2009
Primary URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25608572?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
Primary URL Description: JSTOR site
Secondary URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233560815_Protecting_Our_Shared_Heritage_in_African-American_Cemeteries
Secondary URL Description: Researchgate
Access Model: Journal article
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Journal of Field Archaeology
Publisher: Boston, MA: Boston University Press

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