The silence of centuries has recently been replaced by a single standing plaque commemorating the contributions of the slaves and freedmen buried in the western end of the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery. The vast extent of their true contributions could never be completely inscribed on a sign such as the new plaque on South Road, but one need only walk through campus to experience their craftsmanship in the form of buildings and walls still standing today. The representation within the plaque is a small but sure step towards the University recognizing and celebrating the colors within its white washed history, a past whose partiality continues to shift shapes in the eyes of the present.

            Although the plaque was erected in a matter of hours, its creation stems as far back as the late 1960’s, when its idea stood as one of the 22 original demands made by the Black Student Movement (BSM). It is only over the previous four years that the idea has moved into the possibility of creation, with an increase in activism driving the steps towards acknowledgement. Acknowledgement isn’t the only thing contained within the representation of whom and what the plaque stands for, however, as noted by Erin Davis, president of the BSM, “After walking through [the cemetery], I noticed that a lot of the headstones said, ‘Gone but not forgotten.’ The marker outside of the cemetery is a way to make sure that those who are buried there are not forgotten.”

            Many people don’t realize that the dead live on today in more than memory. The descendants of those resting in the cemetery live in Chapel Hill and elsewhere, yet it is only the general memory they may celebrate when returning to visit their ancestors’ graves, as many do not know the exact resting place of their family members. The plaque to them represents a step towards the possibility of finding out the exact location of their own relatives who lay silently waiting discovery and clarification. It is in the memories and stories of their ancestors, rather than in books, that many of the contributions made by slaves and freedmen to the University and Chapel Hill are stored, with nothing but time and death threatening the loss of details about such huge contributions. 

            Veora Atwater is fortunate enough to know the exact burial location of her many family members buried in the cemetery. However, it is only through her family’s efforts that the graves of her ancestors have remained intact throughout the years. Her relatives were not slaves, yet they struggled to promote the education and wellbeing of African Americans in and around Chapel Hill.  Her most notable ancestor is her grandfather Reverend Louis Henry Hackney, who died December 19, 1937 and was buried in the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery four days later. (Atwater, Veora)

            Rev. Hackney (pictured below at bottom left) was born the ninth of eleven children, and did not receive an education as a child. A detailed account of his education is not available, yet it is known that he earned a degree from Shaw University in 1892. Over the course of his life Rev. Hackney acquired a good amount of land, and can be considered as having lived well off. Yet he worked hard in everything he did, and his belief in education led him to found and build the town’s first black high school, Hackney High School.  Hackney High, created because blacks had no options for education in town after the seventh grade, and built on land owned by Rev. Hackney, eventually evolved into Lincoln High School.  Veora Atwater attended Lincoln High in her youth, and recalls her grandfather’s contributions to the community with a sense of humble pride, honored to be a descendant of a man holding within him the faith and energy to pursue progression in days where things weren’t easy to come by.   Unfortunately, Rev. Hackney died when Veora was still a baby leaving her with only the memories of others and of his accomplishments to form her own memories of him. When visiting his grave, and the graves of the others in her family, Veora is reminded of her childhood. She wonders how her grandfather might have changed her own life path had he lived long enough for her to know him personally. Contemplating, she states, “How can you remember something that you don’t know?” Though she was not able to create her own living memories of him she loves the memories and accomplishments he left behind. 

            Although the town does not maintain the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery enough to reverse the effects of vandalism and erosion, the living personal memories of people such as Veora give them determination to maintain the remaining physical presences of those who have passed away, taking matters into their own hands where greater institutions with funding have failed.  These living relatives hope that one day the town may see the segregated section as a significant storehouse of Chapel Hill’s past and take action towards its maintaining and promoting further awareness of what is held within its dirt and walls.

            The commemorative plaque is a permanent physical presence reaching out beyond the old silence within the cemetery’s history, giving those who pass by a quick but informative look into a history which has yet to be completely investigated, and exposing the necessary truth about the segregation and white supremacy which is a part of our country’s and Carolina’s history. A new section to be added to the cemetery will naturally allow for an integration of races in their final resting place, and gives an opportunity for those who wish to reside in the cemetery when their time comes the chance to do just that.

            An ashes garden where relatives and friends of the deceased may scatter their loved ones is scheduled to be created in the woods to the east of the cemetery.  Within this garden, diversity and racial integration within the cemetery will be achieved, and the issue of limited burial space will no longer be a problem.  People such as Charles Kuralt, whose dying wish was to be buried in the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery, will be easily accommodated into the cemetery without the need for touchy negotiations over creating burial space where there is none. Hopefully, with the completion of the ashes garden, its usage will bring the history and future of the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery into the awareness of the public, creating the desire to maintain and preserve the hordes of history found buried below and resting above the cemetery’s diverse grounds.