In my novel Provenance I call attention to people and places that have been excised and excluded from American history. A place that plays a pivotal role in Provenance is Evergreen Cemetery in  Richmond, Virginia. Throughout its 59 acres, renowned as well as unknown African-Americans were finally laid to rest. These are the graves we know about – there are many more that have been lost to time and indifference.

In the Sunday, April 3, 2016 issue of the New York Times, Sandra A. Arnold, founder of the Periwinkle Initiative and the National Burial Database of Enslaved Americas wrote an opinion piece, Why Slaves’ Graves Matter. She talks about the effort to preserve the public memory of enslave Americans.

“Their overlooked lives are an inextricable part of the historical narrative of our country—and not simply because they were the ‘beneficiaries of the 13th Amendment.’ We should remember enslaved Americans for the same reasons we remember anyone; because they were fathers, mothers, siblings and grandparents who made a great contribution to our nation.”

Arnold’s article mentions the recent discovery of a burial ground founded by enslaved Americans in Queens, New York where I grew up. In school we were taught the history and taken to historical sites that celebrated the Quaker and Anglo-Dutch history of our community but no mention was ever made of the contribution of or even the existence of African-Americans in Queens. Organizations like the Corona-East Elmhurst Historical Preservation Society (www.ceehps.org) are now working to educate the public by sharing the inclusive history that previous generations were robbed of.

Arnold’s piece is well worth your time to read. It reminds us that before and throughout their lives, slaves were first people with hearts and souls. Their graves, even lost in history, deserve the respect that they may not have had in life. Here’s a link.