Bill from Donald McEachin would give $ 3 million annually to preserving Black cemeteries | Education

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Rep. Don McEachin, D-4th, visited a cemetery on the campus of the University of Richmond on Saturday to advocate for his bill to provide $ 3 million annually to preserve and restore Black cemeteries.

On the school’s campus in 2018, a UR researcher rediscovered a cemetery for enslaved workers who lived at a nearby plantation 180 years ago. Now, the university is planning to build a memorial.

The African American Burial Grounds Preservation Act, announced two weeks ago, would allow cemeteries to apply for grants for restoration. While tens of millions of dollars have been spent on preserving Virginia’s battlefields, farmlands and parks, little to none has gone to cemeteries for Black and other minority communities.

Preserving these areas, McEachin said, “provides a better, more comprehensive understanding of our nation’s history.”

There are a number of Black cemeteries in Richmond – including the African Burial Ground in Shockoe Bottom, Shockoe Hill, Evergreen, East End, Woodland and Barton Heights – that often depend on volunteers for maintenance. Some have become overgrown with trees and brush and, in the case of UR, a road was built over the cemetery.

It’s unclear how many Black cemeteries there are nationwide, so McEachin and Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., Have supported creating a database.

The bill, co-sponsored by Reps. Alma Adams, DN.C., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., Would give the National Park Service $ 3 million annually to award grants to cemeteries that apply. Sens. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, also support the legislation.

At the state level, Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield, introduced a bill this year to create the Virginia Black, Indigenous and People of Color Historic Preservation Fund, which the House and Senate recently passed. The proposed budget would allot $ 5 million for it during the next two years.

“Our story of Virginia has been absolutely incomplete without this level of support,” Hashmi said.

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