Black History

PRESS ROOM: Va. Expands Funding to Restore African-American Cemeteries

THE AFRO — It doesn’t take more than a brief visit to East End Cemetery to see that racial inequality impacts not only the living; it extends to the dead as well.

Published

7 years ago

February 25, 2019

Oakland Post

By Maryum Elnasseh

It doesn’t take more than a brief visit to East End Cemetery to see that racial inequality impacts not only the living; it extends to the dead as well.

Many of the graves in this Henrico County cemetery, the final resting place for hundreds of African-Americans who lived during the 19th century, are overgrown with weeds, their spots unmarked, sunken and fading away.

East End is one of many historic African-American cemeteries neglected for decades around the nation. But this week, the General Assembly made 19 more of these cemeteries eligible for state maintenance funds.

One of the graveyards — the Tucker Family Cemetery in Hampton — may hold the remains of William Tucker, believed to be the first child born to Africans brought to America in the 1600s.

“In order to preserve these gravesites, especially on the 400th anniversary of the first Africans being brought to our shores and sold into slavery, the city of Hampton would like to add these cemeteries,” Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, said in introducing SB 1128.

The bill and its House companion, HB 2681, introduced by Del. Delores McQuinn, D-Richmond, will add seven Hampton cemeteries to the list of burial grounds eligible to receive funds from the Department of Historic Resources.

Other bills that have passed both the House and the Senate would provide funds to six African-American cemeteries in Alexandria, three in Martinsville, one in Suffolk and two in Pulaski County.

The bills expand on previously enacted legislation to allocate funds to refurbish and maintain graves of African-Americans who lived during the 1800s.

McQuinn started the efforts in 2017 by securing funding for East End Cemetery and nearby Evergreen Cemetery. Last year, the General Assembly added African-American cemeteries in Charlottesville, Loudoun County and Portsmouth.

This story was produced by the Virginia Commonwealth University’s Capital News Service.

This article originally appeared in The Afro.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

One Fair Wage Battle Continues to Broaden Across Federal Lines

Don't Miss

Black History Month Salute: George Bonga

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of July 29 – August 4, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 29 – August 4, 2026

Published

3 hours ago

August 1, 2026

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Black History

OP-ED: ‘The Trusted Messenger’ and the Black Vote

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Now, as we approach one of the most important Midterm elections in the history of this nation, it appears that, once again, the Black Press will be expected to carry the message about voter turnout, while political and campaign dollars go to the White mainstream media.

Published

3 days ago

July 29, 2026

bpusa-syndication

It is a well-established fact that the Black Press is and always has been the “Trusted Messenger” of the Black community. With that being said, it is also very interesting that when many political organizations and donors decided to support Voter Registration and Get Out The Vote, those donors gave their dollars predominantly to Black organizations like the Urban League, the NAACP, the League of Voters, and other nonprofit groups. Those groups will prepare and send out press releases about such voter participation efforts since Black people were responsible primarily for the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

What is most interesting is that those press releases rarely find their way onto CNN or the major news networks. Those press releases and calls to Black voter participation are carried in the Black Press. However, the dollars that support those press releases being written, nor the ads that carry the message of those releases, reach the Black Press. Historically, the dollars behind those messages do not find their way to the very Black Press that carries those messages.

Now, as we approach one of the most important Midterm elections in the history of this nation, it appears that, once again, the Black Press will be expected to carry the message about voter turnout, while political and campaign dollars go to the White mainstream media.

Those who are spending the billions of dollars that will go to Campaign Finance appear to have forgotten that elections are won and lost on a single vote.

Now is the time to remind the candidates, the political Initiatives and Propositions that will appear on the ballots across this nation, that the Black Vote must not be taken for granted. It does not belong to any particular political party or interest group. It can not be judged by whether it exists in a Blue or Red State.

The Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and supporters of Initiatives should not assume that our votes are unimportant.

Elections are won on a single vote.

The United States Supreme Court in Reynolds vs. Sims, 1964. That case established the ‘One Person, One Vote” rule. The rule in that case made it mandatory to base legislative seats on population within districts rather than on geography, and guaranteed Equal Protection coverage under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

That principle has not been abolished, and neither should we act as if our one vote does not count. Let us not forget our own values, and we look toward the Midterm elections. The “Trusted Messenger” can make the difference.