Fort Ward's Lost Graves: Who speaks for the dead? Ms. Elizabeth Douglass

Fort Ward's Lost Graves: Who speaks for the dead?  Ms. Elizabeth Douglass

“There should be more plots over there.  There wasn’t any fence between the Oakland Baptist Church Cemetery and the Old Grave Yard.  The Old Grave Yard stones and land was owned by the church.  I argued with the city over the Fitzhugh, Spence and other graves.  Virginia Fitzhugh and Corneillia Spence are both part of the Oakland Baptist Church Cemetery”.

“I went to see the city about the grave stones on the Jackson Cemetery.  I went three times to City Hall in the 1970’s.  I went to Fort Ward Park about the headstones.  I didn’t get any answer.  A man [from the city] told me what they didn’t throw away they sold”.

“All through here people are buried.  People buried in their backyards.”

Discussion with Ms. Elizabeth Douglas and Frances Terrell at the Old Grave Yard

October 10, 2012