Saying Goodbye To The Kojo Nnamdi Show
On this last episode, we look back on 23 years of joyous, difficult and always informative conversation.
Memorial for William Custalo, Richmond restaurateur and civic leader, and his family. East End Cemetery, Henrico County, VA.
For roughly a century, the state of Virginia has funded the maintenance and upkeep of confederate cemeteries by providing annual allotments to private entities like the Sons of Confederate Veterans, among others. But no such funding has been designated for historic African American burial grounds — a discrepancy that may soon change with a bill making its way through the General Assembly. For a growing group of volunteers and preservationists, the funding can’t come soon enough for the state’s rapidly deteriorating and neglected Civil War-era black cemeteries. Kojo explores the complexities around the effort to aid Virginia’s historic black burial grounds, and learns about efforts in our region to preserve those vanishing sites.
Guests
- Brian Palmer Photographer and Writer; Adjunct Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University
- Char McCargo Bah Genealogist, City of Alexandria; Historian; CEO, Finding Things for U
Photos of Virginia's Historic Black Cemeteries in East End and Evergreen
Memorial for William Custalo, Richmond restaurateur and civic leader, and his family. East End Cemetery, Henrico County, VA.
Tancil family plot (with original Richard F. Tancil headstone), East End Cemetery.
Tancil family burial plot with stones for Mary Tancil (left) and Dr. Richard F. Tancil, her father. Mary died of tuberculosis at 18. Dr. Tancil, a Richmond physician and bank president, was born enslaved in Fauquier County. Donations paid for a new headstone, seen here. A headstone for Mary’s mother, who was also named Mary, has not yet been found, East End Cemetery.
A volunteer cleans the headstone for Sallie Ann White, East End Cemetery.
Volunteers from VCU's ASPiRE program work at East End Cemetery.
A young student volunteer takes notes at burial plot for U.S. veteran Arthur Moore during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day visit to East End Cemetery.
Older section of East End Cemetery.
Dead and dying trees marked for removal at East End Cemetery.
Headstone for veteran Louis Burton, previously buried beneath a pile of illegally dumped trash, East End Cemetery.
East End Cemetery, January 2017.
Headstone of U.S. Army veteran Thomas M. Burney, Sr., at Evergreen Cemetery, Richmond, VA,
Desecrated Braxton family crypt at Evergreen Cemetery.
Headstones at night, Evergreen Cemetery.
Headstone for U.S. Army veteran William H. Fox, discarded before placement, Evergreen Cemetery.
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