Category Archives: Black History

-Georgia, Black History, Cemeteries, Churches and Temples, Vernacular Headstones

Documenting O’Neal AME Church Cemetery in Hampton, Georgia

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In 2024, I photographed the ruins of the O’Neal AME Church. At the time, I had not realized the cemetery was across the street, hidden in the woods. Recently, the cemetery has been under threat because a massive data center is being built around it. My friend and I decided to visit the cemetery. We were both interested in seeing how close the clearing for the data center was to the property lines and wanting to document any remaining headstones.

We walked the boundary lines of the cemetery. First, the cemetery is completely fenced in, with an approximately 75-foot buffer.

One of the vernacular markers in the cemetery

The cemetery itself was abandoned long ago based on early headstone photos. There is a mixture of professionally engraved headstones, vernacular, Eldren Baileys, and at least two dozen fieldstones. All cemeteries are important, but this cemetery contains the remains of people who were likely enslaved based on birthdate. The last obituary I could locate is from 1967. According to FindAGrave, the last burial appears to be in 1967. From historic aerials, it appears the church’s roof collapsed sometime in the late 1950s.

Reuben (1810-1890) and his wife, Eliza, are documented in the census records for Henry County for 1870 and 1880.
Eliza Keith (1820-1895)
Thomas Thrasher
The metal fence likely marks off a family plot.

Based on tax records, the ruins of the O’Neal AME Church will likely be demolished in the coming year, since the company “Hampton Technology Park,” out of Atlanta, owns the land being developed now and the land where the church is located. The address for Hampton Technology Park is 1776 Peachtree Street, which lists a few real estate companies as tenants, so further research would be needed to determine who owns the land.

The images below are from Qpublic.

The cemetery boundary
Land owned by Hampton Technology Park

The cemetery should be restored. The people buried here help tell the story of Henry County. Hopefully, there will be enough interest to save it.

The penny indicates someone visited this headstone and left it as a memento.
In Black cemetery traditions, a pitcher can represent a connection or passage to the afterlife. Until people started stealing the items, these grave goods could be found frequently in Geechee Gullah cemeteries.
Black History, Cemeteries, Illinois

The Grave of Emmett Louis Till in Burr Oak Cemetery (Alsip, Illinois)

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Emmett Louis Till (1941–1955) was a 14-year-old African American boy who was abducted and murdered in Mississippi after being accused of flirting with Carolyn Bryant, a white store owner’s wife. His lynching became a national story when his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, insisted on an open-casket funeral so the world could witness the brutal violence inflicted on her son.

For a more detailed account, Wikipedia provides a good summary.

He was buried in Burr Oak Cemetery on Chicago’s South Side. When a friend and I visited the cemetery the day after a rainstorm, the grounds were waterlogged and poorly drained. We were unable to approach his grave without wading through several inches of standing water. It is unfortunate that the cemetery contends with this issue, as my friend and I visited several other cemeteries that day, none of which had significant standing water.

-Georgia, Black History, National Register of Historic Places, Rosenwald Schools, Schools

Cross Roads Rosenwald School-Dixie, Georgia

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The Cross Roads School is a Rosenwald school built just outside of Dixie, Georgia in Brooks County. It was built as a two-teacher plan school in 1927. The school was in use until 1959.

In 2025, the school was listed on the Georgia Trust’s Places in Peril. There is a commitment from the school’s alumni and the local community to restore the schoolhouse into a community center.

-Georgia, Black History, Cemeteries, Churches and Temples, Vernacular Headstones

Mountain Creek AME Church-Sumter County, Georgia

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Mountain Creek AME Church is located in Sunter County. The main church building was constructed in 1890. The fellowship hall was added in 1990.

This building was on the property. The abandoned piano makes me wonder if it was the old Sunday school. It could have been an old school. I don’t believe it is an old church because tar paper isn’t typically used on churches.

-Georgia, -South Carolina, Black History, Famous People, Houses

Jesse Jackson’s Childhood Home-Greenville, South Carolina

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Located on Haynie Street, Jesse Jackson grew up in this house in Greenville, South Carolina. Born on October 8, 1941, Jackson graduated from Sterling High School. Known as a leader in high school, Jackson became known as one of the members of the “Greenville 8,” eight men and women who entered the Greenville public libraries to desegregate them.

Jackson’s mother, Helen Burns Jackson, lived in Greenville until she died in 2015.

-Georgia, Black History, Theaters

Liberty Theater-Valdosta, Georgia

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Liberty Theater was the center of Black nightlife in Valdosta, Georgia. It used to be a theater and nightclub, but the nightclub was demolished in 2023 after it became too unstable. Built in the 1930s, it is a contributing property to the Southside Historic District.