Description
Book SynopsisThis exploration of Richmond's burial landscape over the past 300 years reveals in illuminating detail how racism and the color line have consistently shaped death, burial, and remembrance in this storied Southern capital. Richmond, Virginia, the former capital of the Confederacy, holds one of the most dramatic landscapes of death in the nation. Its burial grounds show the sweep of Southern history on an epic scale, from the earliest English encounters with the Powhatan at the falls of the James River through slavery, the Civil War, and the long reckoning that followed. And while the region's deathways and burial practices have developed in surprising directions over these centuries, one element has remained stubbornly the same: the color line. But something different is happening now. The latest phase of this history points to a quiet revolution taking place in Virginia and beyond. Where white leaders long bolstered their heritage and authority with a disregard for the graves of the
Trade ReviewUndoubtedly,
Death and Rebirth in a Southern City is an invaluable resource for understanding deathways in Richmond and the region more broadly. At a time when the city's memorial practices are coming under increasing scrutiny, Smith's powerful text provides residents with a primer that might help us construct a more inclusive practice of memory.
—Erin Krutko Devlin, University of Mary Washington.,
Virginia MagazineDeeply researched and focused as much on the voices of those in the past and present who have used and engaged with these cemeteries as on the physical landscapes themselves,
Death and Rebirth in a Southern City offers an important new framework for engaging with burial sites as part of the constantly evolving dynamics of race, class, and religion in American society.
—Joy M. Giguere, Penn State, York, author of
Characteristically American: Memorial Architecture, National Identity, & the Egyptian Revival,
Journal of the Early RepublicDeath and Rebirth in a Southern City: Richmond's Historic Cemeteries engages audiences on the relevance of public history as studied through the preservation of white and Black burying grounds in a city that was once the capital of the Confederacy.
—Eleanor Breen,
The Public HistorianThis is a timely and compelling book that combines the strands of history, archaeology, ethnography, and preservation. Most importantly, it provides credibility for the voices of descendants and other community members who care deeply about these sacred and historic sites. The author has done a masterful job of providing the historic context for centuries of burials and helping the reader understand why these sites still matter today.
—Lynn Rainville, Washington and Lee University, author of
HiddenHistory: African American Cemeteries in CentralVirginia, and
Invisible Founders: HowTwo Centuries of African American FamiliesTransformed a Plantation into a College,
Buildings and LandscapesTable of ContentsIntroduction: The Southern Dead and the Present Moment
Chapter 1. The Churchyard
Chapter 2. The African Burial Ground
Chapter 3. The New Burying Ground
Chapter 4. Grounds for the Free People of Color and the Enslaved
Chapter 5. The Hebrew Cemeteries
Chapter 6. The Confederate Cemeteries
Chapter 7. The National Cemeteries
Chapter 8. The Post-Emancipation Uplift Cemeteries
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
