Zion Christian Cemtery/Sons of Zion Cemtery - Memphis, Shelby County

Zion Christian Cemetery sign. Photo by author.

In April 2013, I visited the Zion Christian Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee, located in the 1400 block of South Parkway East. This may be one of the oldest African American cemeteries in Memphis, having been established by the Sons of Zion in 1876.  It was during the yellow fever epidemic of 1878 that many of the burials in the cemetery began in earnest.  More than 30,000 African Americans may be interred here.  Green Polonious Hamilton, an African American teacher and author of The Bright Side of Memphis (1908), stated in that work, "a few far-sighted brainy men of the race, anticipating the needs of the colored people of Memphis . . .purchased a large tract of land outside of the city limits to be used as a cemetery. . . Zion Cemetery is patronized by the best classes of colored people." [To read Hamilton's work, an African American guide to Memphis, you may find it on Google Books at http://books.google.com/books?id=m9vVAAAAMAAJ&vq=zion&pg=PA18#v=snippet&q=zion&f=false.]

As with many African American cemeteries in Tennessee, it endured many years of neglect.  In the early 2000s, a group formed the Zion Community Project with the intention of maintaining the cemetery and making its story known.  Their website, http://www.zioncommunityproject.org/, has great information on the history of the cemetery and the group as well as its continuing efforts to preserve the cemetery.  There is also a search engine to allow you to search for ancestors possibly buried in the cemetery.

Obituary for Rev. Morris Henderson, interred at Zion Christian Cemetery. Memphis Daily Appeal, October 30, 1877.

Advertisement found in the Memphis Daily Appeal, May 29, 1881.

The day that I visited was a beautiful day;  however, I had scheduled so many other research things that I was unable to spend a great deal of time at the site.  I hope to return one day when I can devote several hours to walking through the cemetery and observing the tombstones, the carvings, and the getting a better sense of its spatial organization.  There is also a state historic marker at the site that documents some of its history.  A future blog post will discuss the Sons of Zion in more detail.

State historic marker at the site. Photo by author.

Zion Christian Cemetery. Photo by author.

Zion Christian Cemetery. Photo by author.