The Freedman’s Cemetery in Dallas is a one acre plot that is bordered to the west by the Temple Emanu-El Jewish Cemetery and to the east by Central Expressway (75). If you like hunting headstones like I do, you will not find but two here. Reason: the African American community from this time marked the burials of their loved ones with wood headstones (long disintegrated) or meaningful ornaments (long lost). Very few of the original burials had formal stone markers. The cemetery dates back to 1861.
This area of Dallas used to be called Freedman’s Town. It was a lively part of the city with many shotgun houses, churches, saloons and businesses. But, it was slowly dismantled, chopped up and paved over. It was first bisected by two railroads in the 1920s. Then it was further assaulted by Central Expressway in the 1940s – the highway dispatched with not only the railroad but the homes for 1500 people. The final blow came from the widening of Central Expressway in the 1990s.
Stay tuned for more information regarding the preservation of this lone acre and the two headstones.
Image: May 31st, 2020 prayer vigil drone photograph from NBC 5’s website. As the cemetery has been whittled down to a single acre, this image shows the entirety of what is left. The area in which people are gathered is a formal memorial which will be discussed in a future post. The green lawn-looking area is where the vast majority of almost 5000 unmarked burials are now crammed.
