In the Cheltenham area of Prince George’s County, through trees and brush and with not much to mark it, there is a spot where more than 200 Black youth were buried.
The few headstones that exist are weather-worn. Other spots are marked with just moss-covered cinderblocks. Many of the dead were buried without any grave markers at all.
After 100 years spent mostly forgotten, the cemetery for Black boys is gaining attention, and some Maryland leaders are moving to recognize the children and their graves.
Members of the state’s Legislative Black Caucus toured the burial ground on Tuesday to pay their respects.
The tour group was somber as they walked around the site full of graves, some going back to the 1880s.
At one point, members stopped to sing “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
For Caucus chair Del. Jhneanelle Wilkins, seeing how many boys were discarded without dignity was jarring.
“It really just shows the lack of worth and value that were given to young Black boys,” Wilkins said.
The graveyard at the site of Boys Village, a historic juvenile reform and detention center. The state-run detention facility was established in 1870, and boys ended up there for minor offenses like running away or theft.
Hundreds of those boys never made it home.
The records are sparse, and show many of the boys died from disease or natural causes. But at least two did not.
“They had frostbite and their legs were amputated after horrible neglect,” said Marc Schindler, the former assistant secretary for the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services.
Researchers say at least 230 children are buried in the woods in Cheltenham, though there could be many more, including some possible mass graves.
Some members of the Black Caucus live a few miles from the graveyard — and never knew it existed.
Feet away from the unmarked site for Black boys is a state veterans cemetery, pristinely maintained.
“We look at it in this present day with an administration trying to erase history,” said Del. Jeffrie Long, Jr. “And we’re walking amongst history right now that so many in the community aren’t even aware of.”
The visit served to raise awareness of the site and lead to action. There are plans to get the graveyard marked, find out which boys were buried there and learn how they died.
The Caucus wants to take it further, enacting reforms to reduce the number of children of color charged as adults who end up in state facilities — a commitment to right the wrongs of the past.
“They weren’t even allowed to be children,” said Maryland Sen. Michael Jackson. “What are you reforming them to? They were chattel. Another form of chattel.”
from Local – NBC4 Washington https://ift.tt/vWt9f0c
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