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I’ve been waiting for a day when the light would be right to take photos of the gravestones of enslaved people buried in the Old Burial Ground in Cambridge.
Jane, died 1741, age 22, enslaved by Harvard Steward Andrew Bordman
Jane, died 1741, age 22, enslaved by Harvard Steward Andrew Bordman
Another stone nearby is for Cecily, who was 15 when she died in 1714 (enslaved by Harvard Treasurer William Brattle).
This stone is at a slightly different angle, so I’m going to wait a little while to see if the sun hits it better soon.
This stone is at a slightly different angle, so I’m going to wait a little while to see if the sun hits it better soon.
In the 19th century, someone decided it would be a good idea to plant several large trees, which makes this a very challenging graveyard for photos.
In the 18thc, Harvard had exclusive permission to graze its sheep in the burying ground.
In the 18thc, Harvard had exclusive permission to graze its sheep in the burying ground.
Getting better. Maybe another 10 minutes. Intermittent clouds mean I’m sitting here waiting.
People have left offerings. Pebbles and pennies.
This is the best I could do. There is a small depression in the stone that stayed in shadow. A reminder that this monument is not made of top quality stone.
A small percentage of the people enslaved in New England received this style of gravestone. Some may have had other types of offerings or markers. In 1780, the Free African Union Society in Newport was founded as a burial collective, conducting funerals and renting out its pall.
Wealthy enslavers did sometimes erect these Anglo-American style gravestones for enslaved people. For example, Frank (d. 1771, enslaved by John Hancock) has a gravestone in the Granary Burying Ground in Boston. But gravestones were also really important to free communities.
In Cambridge, free Black residents established the enclave of Lewisville near the site of Radcliffe quad. It was a small neighborhood with houses and the Lewis family graveyard. When the area was redeveloped, the tombs were destroyed (bones may have been moved, but it's unclear).
A few years ago, I wrote a little bit about craftsmanship, gravestones commemorating enslaved people, and monuments erected by free Black communities in Rhode Island in the 18th and early 19th centuries:
atlasobscura.com/articles/the-b…
atlasobscura.com/articles/the-b…
