Taylor reclaims hundreds of unmarked graves belonging to its Black citizens

For more than a century, hundreds of Black residents in the Taylor City Cemetery have lost their gravestones. 

The backstory:

On Saturday, Taylor city leaders, The Taylor Conservation and Heritage Society, and residents gathered to honor them.

Near the front gates of the cemetery, thousands of gravestones shoot out of the ground, except for one section towards the back.

The sprawling field dotted with memorials was once a segregated portion of the cemetery reserved for Taylor’s Black population.

This weekend, the city reclaimed the site as the Historic African American Burial Section.

What they're saying:

"I want people to know where we came from," said Leslie Mae Washington Hill, the Welfare Workers Club president.

The monument stands in front of a large gravesite with more grass than headstones despite roughly 750 people lying below it.

"I feel like we are finally coming to know how to love each other," said Hill.

City councilmember Gerald Anderson's family is among them.

"Well over 100 years ago that my family has been buried here as well," said Anderson.

Some of the oldest gravesites go back 140 years ago. That was before Taylor was even a city.

"I think people being seen and being recognized goes a long way in this life and the next life and the afterlife, you know, just for the family to have some closure by being able to come out and remember their loved ones and seeing where they are, being able to find their grave and say their goodbye that some people never got to say," said Anderson.

The monument now stands in place for all the people without one.

Maybe more so for the families who lost their loved one’s final resting place over time.

"They say the dead don’t rest until they have a marker, and so I think a lot of people here finally found some peace, the families found some peace," said Anderson.

What's next:

The cemetery also just launched a tool on its website to give people exact directions to their loved one’s final resting place, even if there’s no gravestone. 

Visit the Taylor City Cemetery’s website and find the "Grave Location App."

Viewers can also click on "Search Cemetery Records" and insert a name for coordinates and memories.

The Source: Information in this article comes from FOX7 interviews.

TaylorBlack History Month