Kentucky State University

Cemeteries can be rich sources of historical information, not only for individual families but for the communities in which they are located. Kentucky State University's Center of Excellence for the Study of Kentucky African Americans (CESKAA) has been working with the Board of the African Cemetery No. 2 in Lexington since 1998.

African Cemetery No. 2, which is located on 7th Street, covers approximately 8 acres with over 5000 graves, of which only 1200 are identified and fewer than 600 have legible markers. Members of the Colored Peoples Union Benevolent Society No. 2 purchased the first parcel of land in 1869, although some of the graves predate the purchase date. This group cared for the cemetery until the 1930s, when the cemetery fell into decline. After several false starts in trying to restore the cemetery, the land was eventually deeded to the African Cemetery No. 2, Inc. in the 1970s. The current Board is very active in trying to restore the property, with plans to turn it into a memorial garden and education center.

To achieve the goals of restoration, preservation and long term maintenance, the Board is also working with a number of groups in the community including the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government and various departments at the University of Kentucky. Support is being provided by the College of Architecture, Historic Preservation, Landscape Architecture, Agronomy and the Office of Research and Graduate Studies.

Students in Dr. Dennis Domer's class, Case Studies in Preservation, have been actively involved in researching the history of the cemetery and will be conducting oral history interviews with members of the community who have knowledge of the cemetery as well as of African American burial customs and traditions. At a recent class meeting, Dr. Betsy Brinson of the Kentucky Historical

In addition to the oral history interviews, other planned projects of the cemetery board include cataloging the scope of Lexington's early African American community; studying graveyard motifs in the cemetery; developing a memorial park and landscape design; and identifying graves of significant African Americans such as educators, pastors, veterans and jockeys.

Submitted by Betsy Morelock