|
STATE OF TEXAS HISTORICAL MARKER:
FREEDMAN'S
CEMETERY
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.
|
