Details for Freedman's Cemetery

Historical Marker — Atlas Number 5113006715

Data

Marker Number 6715
Atlas Number 5113006715
Marker Title Freedman's Cemetery
Index Entry Freedman's Cemetery
Address N. Central Expressway
City Dallas
County Dallas
UTM Zone 14
UTM Easting 706582
UTM Northing 3631530
Subject Codes cemetery; African American topics
Marker Year 1993
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark No
Marker Location facing Calvary Street, south of the southwest corner of N. Central Expressway and Lemmon Ave.
Private Property No
Marker Condition In Situ
Marker Size 27" x 42"
Marker Text This area of Dallas County was settled by former African American slaves shortly after the conclusion of the American Civil War. Freedman's Cemetery, a graveyard for African Americans, was established in 1869 on one acre of land purchased by trustee Sam Eakins. Another 3 acres was acquired for cemetery purposes in 1879 by trustees A. Wilhite, Frank Read, A. Boyd, T. Watson, George English, Silas Pitman, and the Rev. A. R. Griggs, a former slave who later became a prominent local church leader and champion of early public education for the African American community. The community of churches, commercial enterprises, and residences that had developed in this area by the turn of the 20th century was by 1912 a part of the City of Dallas. Construction of the Central Expressway through here in the 1930s virtually eliminated all physical above-ground reminders of the cemetery. Descendants of persons buried here and the City of Dallas agreed in 1965 to establish the Freedman's Memorial Park and Cemetery at this site. Beginning in 1989 representatives of the community worked with the City of Dallas and the Texas Department of Transportation to preserve the historic Freedman's Cemetery site prior to highway expansion. (1993)

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