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Descendants of escaped slaves honor ancestors in Alexandria

Zoey Maraist | Catholic Herald Staff Writer

Elizabeth Good Brooks-Evans throws rose petals on the memorial statue during the Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial Fifth Anniversary Celebration in Alexandria Sept. 14. ZOEY MARAIST | CATHOLIC HERALD

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The statue at the Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery is a bronze sculpture called “The Path of Thorns and Roses” by artist Mario Chiodo. ZOEY MARAIST | CATHOLIC HERALD

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Simple stone slabs mark some of the graves at the Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery in Alexandria. ZOEY MARAIST | CATHOLIC HERALD

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Shirli Hughes from Alfred Street Baptist Church sings during the Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial Fifth Anniversary Celebration in Alexandria Sept. 14. ZOEY MARAIST | CATHOLIC HERALD

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Alexandria staffers Derrin Meikle (left) and Izetta Mobley carry a wreath to lay in front of the memorial statue during the Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial Fifth Anniversary Celebration in Alexandria Sept. 14. ZOEY MARAIST | CATHOLIC HERALD

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Descendant Corrin Nicole Franklin Reed speaks during the Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial Fifth Anniversary Celebration in Alexandria Sept. 14. ZOEY MARAIST | CATHOLIC HERALD

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Corrin Nicole Franklin Reed, a lifelong
Alexandrian, always believed her family was from Philadelphia and North Carolina.
But in reality, her ancestors had lived and died in her hometown. Reed and the
other descendants of the thousands of African Americans buried at the Contrabands
and Freedmen Cemetery in Alexandria hadn’t learned about that part of their past
because for many years, no one remembered the cemetery existed.

“This is my home turf, my stomping
grounds,” she said. “I had no idea that my roots were literally here in
Alexandria.”

The cemetery, located near Route 1 and the
Beltway, was forgotten decades after it was created in the midst of the Civil
War. After Union troops took control of the port city of Alexandria, slaves in
search of freedom flocked to the area. One estimate says that 10,000 people
arrived in 16 months, and in total about 20,000 African Americans came during
the war. The men and women were considered confiscated property or contrabands
of war, which prevented their return to their legal owners in the Confederacy. 

The flood of refugees took a toll on the
city and little aid could be offered to the newcomers. Still, women such as
Julia Wilbur, a white, northern Quaker, and Harriet Jacobs, a freedwoman,
organized schools and the collection of medical and material support for them. The
contrabands worked as bakers, nurses, servants and laborers. They lived in
shantytowns. Many died of smallpox.

Alexandria Poet Laurate KaNikki Jakarta performs one of
her poems at the Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial Fifth Anniversary
Celebration in Alexandria Sept. 14.

ZOEY MARAIST  |  CATHOLIC HERALD 

lr contrabandsIn need of a place to bury the contrabands,
the military governor seized property owned by Francis L. Smith, who was Robert.
E. Lee’s lawyer and a wealthy parishioner of St. Mary Church, according to
parish historian Kitty Guy. Some 1,700 contrabands and freedmen living in Alexandria
were buried there, half of them under the age of 16. Their graves were marked
with wooden headstones. 

Initially, African American Union
soldiers also were buried there. But with the support of Alexandria
Quartermaster Captain J.G.C. Lee, the living veterans petitioned that the deceased
soldiers be reinterred in the Alexandria National Cemetery.

The soldiers wrote: “We are not
contrabands, but soldiers of the U.S. Army, we have cheerfully left the
comforts of home, and entered into the field of conflict, fighting side by side
with the white soldiers, to crush out this God insulting, Hell deserving
rebellion. It has been said that the colored soldiers desire to be burried in
the Contrabands Cemetary, we have never expressed such a desire, nor do we ask
for any such distinction to be made, but in the more pertinant language of
inspiration we would say, (Ruth 1:16-17) ‘Entreat me not to leave thee, for
whither thou goest I will go.’ ” Their request was granted.

After the war ended, Smith regained his
property. In 1917, his descendants conveyed the land to the Diocese of
Richmond, and its leader, Bishop Denis J. O’Connell. The diocese sold the land
in 1946 and years later a gas station and an office building were built on the
property. 

In 1987, historian T. Michael Miller found
19th-century newspaper articles referring to a Freedmen’s Cemetery in Alexandria.
Once people knew it was there, support for rededicating the cemetery grew. The
city worked with the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway
Administration to use funds associated with the Woodrow Wilson Bridge
replacement project to buy the property and raze the buildings. 

Archaeologists excavated the site and identified
540 graves in the cemetery that once held 1,200 more. Some graves were
destroyed in construction, some lay beneath the sidewalk and street that separates
the cemetery from St. Mary’s Cemetery. Today, simple stone slabs mark the existing
graves in the plot of grass. A memorial structure tells the story of the contrabands
and lists their names and ages. Using information from the ledger of burials, Native
Alexandrian and genealogist Char McCargo Bah tracked down as many of the living
descendants as she could. 

Those who were able gathered at the
memorial to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the cemetery’s rededication Sept.
14. They listened to poetry and spirituals and talked about how much the
cemetery meant to them. “I’ll forever visit and try to contribute and honor my
ancestors,” said Reed. “I’m just thankful for their strong will, for we would
not be here today (without it).”

Though she lives in Silver Spring, Md.,
now, descendant Elizabeth Goods Brooks-Evans grew up in Alexandria. She attended
St. Joseph School and was the first African American woman to attend St. Mary
Academy, both of which are now closed. She’s grateful to Bah for finding her,
for the archaeologists and for all the city officials who made the memorial possible.
“(Without them), these graves could still be below a gas station,” she said. “I
actually can feel a lot of emotion just being here with these graves. To think
of what they were going through, it’s just too touching.”

 

After the ceremony, those gathered placed
a wreath in front of the memorial and threw white rose petals on the dramatic bronze
sculpture, “The Path of Thorns and Roses” by artist Mario Chiodo. 

On the base of the sculpture is a quote
from freedwoman Harriet Jacobs: “I am thankful there is a beginning. I am full
of hope for the future. A Power mightier than man is guiding this revolution;
and though justice moves slowly, it will come at last. The American people will
outlive this mean prejudice against complexion.” 

Find out more

Christian Bentley, a parishioner of St. Joseph Church in Alexandria
who has ancestors buried in the Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery, is organizing
a monthly Saturday morning rosary at the cemetery. To learn more, contact him
at [email protected]

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