In February 2022, my book on African American lodges and cemeteries in Tennessee, To Care for the Sick and Bury the Dead: African American Lodges and Cemeteries in Tennessee was released by Vanderbilt University Press.
This book focuses on African-American fraternal and benevolent lodges in Tennessee by examining the lodge cemeteries that many of these groups created. As I have outlined in other posts, there are a number of lodge cemeteries located throughout Tennessee, in all regions, in both rural and urban areas. It examines the improtance of fraternalism and benevolence in African American communities, commemoration in lodge cemeteries, segregated landscapes, the silences of these places, and the importance of funerals and cemeteries in fraternalism.
One thing I examine is how several groups had specific burial rituals that they used for their members. While much of the language of these rituals borrows heavily from the Judeo-Christian tradition, there are elements involved which may have African origins.
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| Burial ritual from the Benevolent Society. Taken from the 1890 constitution for the organization. |
I also examine the segregation that one can still see on the landscape at many of these cemeteries. Several are placed immediately adjacent or very close to a cemetery that was established for the white community. Others are placed in what were once segregated African American communities. An excerpt from the book:
"In several ways, geography played a crucial role in the placement and establishment of African American lodge cemeteries. In some cases, the cemeteries are a part of a larger neighborhood or community established in the post-Civil War era as African Americans created their own spaces across the state. While some of these communities still exist, in other instances one of the last remnants of these separate African American communities is the lodge cemetery, highlighting the ways these geographic landscapes were segregated, and the ways that segregation can still be seen on the landscape in the twenty-first century. Understanding the role of geography in the creation of African American cemeteries and community institutions provides more context for these cemeteries." (pg. 207)
You can find this book at Vanderbilt University Press, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online retailers.
