Evergreen Cemetery in Provenance<\/em><\/h3>\nI learned about Evergreen Cemetery in my research for my novel, Provenance, when a prominent character\u2019s death became a pivotal scene in the book. On his deathbed, my character, Hank Whitaker, reveals to his unsuspecting family that he is really a black man who has been passing for white. His mother-in-law, Charlotte, tries to quickly mitigate the effect that Hank\u2019s news will have on her daughter and grandson. The following excerpts from Provenance is an example of one of the ways used Evergreen to convey how society used race and class to determine the worth of a human being.<\/p>\n
If they were going to salvage anything, she would have to move fast. By tomorrow, Hank\u2019s deathbed confession would be rumor. Within three days, the efficiency of gossip in Richmond society would ensure that Hank Whitaker\u2019s passing was all people talked about. Charlotte was not about to wait for talk to turn to action \u2013 there were severe consequences for colored folks who tried to pass for white. She\u2019d seen trees bearing the bodies of black men for doing a lot less than Hank had. \u201cThey will not take their vengeance out on Maggie and Lance, no matter what Hank did,\u201d Charlotte vowed.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a7\u009b<\/em><\/p>\nShe looked at the piece of paper crumpled in her hand. She\u2019d gotten the number of an undertaker from a colored nurse in the hospital\u2019s segregated ward.<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cGo to the hospital and get him tonight,\u201d she instructed the undertaker after giving him the pertinent details. <\/em><\/p>\n\u201cBury him in Evergreen,\u201d she said referring to the Negro cemetery in Richmond\u2019s East End. She didn\u2019t tell him Hank Whitaker was her daughter\u2019s husband, she told them she was paying for the burial because his family couldn\u2019t afford it. \u201cWe\u2019re not having a service. I\u2019ll come <\/em>around tomorrow to pay whatever it costs.\u201d With that, she had taken care of the inconvenient remains of Hank Whitaker.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\u00a7\u009b<\/em><\/p>\nShe alone had presided over Hank\u2019s burial. With the scent of freshly dug earth in the air, the two gravediggers lowered the plain pine coffin into the new grave.<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cAre you sure you won\u2019t be wantin\u2019 a marker for the grave?\u201d the undertaker asked her a second time. \u201cEvergreen\u2019s sixty acres, Mrs. Bennett. If you ever want to find this grave again\u2014\u201d Charlotte shook her head, no, before the man could finish.<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cThen will you be sayin\u2019 a few words before they close the grave?\u201d he asked, hoping this woman was not as cold and heartless as she appeared. Again, Charlotte declined.<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cJust cover him up,\u201d she said. \u201cCover him up good.\u201d <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nEvergreen Cemetery Today<\/h3>\n
![\"800px-Evergreen_cemetery_rva\"](\"https:\/\/donnadrewsawyer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/800px-Evergreen_cemetery_rva-300x225.jpg\")
Evergreen was founded and maintained by the families of the people who were buried there. Unlike the white cemeteries in Richmond, Evergreen received no public funds or support. As African-American families left the South and integration diminished the need for segregated facilities and services, sacred places like Evergreen soon fell into disrepair. Today Evergreen Cemetery is abandoned, overgrown and vandalized. Abandoned Virginia #22 – Evergreen Cemetery Richmond by Brian Sterowski<\/a>, filmed in July of 2015, shows Evergreen as it is today.<\/p>\nA recent photo essay in The Nation<\/em>, Reclaiming Black History, One Grave at a Time by Brian Palmer and Erin Hollaway Palmer<\/a><\/em>, is a powerful statement on the years of official neglect that, along with the English ivy and other invasive plants, have swallowed the East End Cemetery of Evergreen Cemeteries. The history of prominent early 20th<\/sup> century African-Americans and World War II veterans buried there is now further obscured by the indignity of also having their graves buried. A BBC film by Colm O\u2019 Molloy<\/a> is about photographer, Brian Palmer<\/a>, who is working to document the graves in East End Cemetery as a way to raise the awareness of this loss of history and heritage.<\/p>\nHowever bleak the current state of Evergreen Cemetery, there may still be a future to the past this historic site represents. Several historic and civic associations, as well as local college students and community volunteers, are working to save the history that Evergreen represents for all Americans. A video of Evergreen Cemetery Historic Marker Dedication by the National Park Service<\/a> features magnificent images of Evergreen\u2019s history and a glimpse of what its future could hold.<\/p>\n
If they were going to salvage anything, she would have to move fast. By tomorrow, Hank\u2019s deathbed confession would be rumor. Within three days, the efficiency of gossip in Richmond society would ensure that Hank Whitaker\u2019s passing was all people talked about. Charlotte was not about to wait for talk to turn to action \u2013 there were severe consequences for colored folks who tried to pass for white. She\u2019d seen trees bearing the bodies of black men for doing a lot less than Hank had. \u201cThey will not take their vengeance out on Maggie and Lance, no matter what Hank did,\u201d Charlotte vowed.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a7\u009b<\/em><\/p>\n She looked at the piece of paper crumpled in her hand. She\u2019d gotten the number of an undertaker from a colored nurse in the hospital\u2019s segregated ward.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cGo to the hospital and get him tonight,\u201d she instructed the undertaker after giving him the pertinent details. <\/em><\/p>\n \u201cBury him in Evergreen,\u201d she said referring to the Negro cemetery in Richmond\u2019s East End. She didn\u2019t tell him Hank Whitaker was her daughter\u2019s husband, she told them she was paying for the burial because his family couldn\u2019t afford it. \u201cWe\u2019re not having a service. I\u2019ll come <\/em>around tomorrow to pay whatever it costs.\u201d With that, she had taken care of the inconvenient remains of Hank Whitaker.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u00a7\u009b<\/em><\/p>\n She alone had presided over Hank\u2019s burial. With the scent of freshly dug earth in the air, the two gravediggers lowered the plain pine coffin into the new grave.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAre you sure you won\u2019t be wantin\u2019 a marker for the grave?\u201d the undertaker asked her a second time. \u201cEvergreen\u2019s sixty acres, Mrs. Bennett. If you ever want to find this grave again\u2014\u201d Charlotte shook her head, no, before the man could finish.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThen will you be sayin\u2019 a few words before they close the grave?\u201d he asked, hoping this woman was not as cold and heartless as she appeared. Again, Charlotte declined.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cJust cover him up,\u201d she said. \u201cCover him up good.\u201d <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n A recent photo essay in The Nation<\/em>, Reclaiming Black History, One Grave at a Time by Brian Palmer and Erin Hollaway Palmer<\/a><\/em>, is a powerful statement on the years of official neglect that, along with the English ivy and other invasive plants, have swallowed the East End Cemetery of Evergreen Cemeteries. The history of prominent early 20th<\/sup> century African-Americans and World War II veterans buried there is now further obscured by the indignity of also having their graves buried. A BBC film by Colm O\u2019 Molloy<\/a> is about photographer, Brian Palmer<\/a>, who is working to document the graves in East End Cemetery as a way to raise the awareness of this loss of history and heritage.<\/p>\n However bleak the current state of Evergreen Cemetery, there may still be a future to the past this historic site represents. Several historic and civic associations, as well as local college students and community volunteers, are working to save the history that Evergreen represents for all Americans. A video of Evergreen Cemetery Historic Marker Dedication by the National Park Service<\/a> features magnificent images of Evergreen\u2019s history and a glimpse of what its future could hold.<\/p>\nEvergreen Cemetery Today<\/h3>\n
Evergreen was founded and maintained by the families of the people who were buried there. Unlike the white cemeteries in Richmond, Evergreen received no public funds or support. As African-American families left the South and integration diminished the need for segregated facilities and services, sacred places like Evergreen soon fell into disrepair. Today Evergreen Cemetery is abandoned, overgrown and vandalized. Abandoned Virginia #22 – Evergreen Cemetery Richmond by Brian Sterowski<\/a>, filmed in July of 2015, shows Evergreen as it is today.<\/p>\n