Volunteers Work to Rehabilitate Abandoned Black Cemetery in Ypsilanti Township

Several volunteers have banded together to rehabilitate Woodlawn Cemetery in Ypsilanti Township, Washtenaw County. It is the only documented historically Black cemetery in the county. An estimated 150 African Americans are believed to have been buried here at a time when segregation carried through the population, even until death.

An effort is now underway to restore the Michigan cemetery, where many grave markers have been covered by brush and trees. So far, volunteers have found approximately 60 grave sites and hope to locate all of them by next year.

“It's important to remember our ancestors, and it's important to also remember the difficulties of the past,” said historic preservationist Kat Slocum in an interview with Bridge Michigan. “We have to continually learn from our past to ensure that our future is diverse, inclusive, and representative of the people that make up our entire community.”

According to a newspaper account, the Rev. Garther Roberson Sr. of Second Baptist Church established Woodlawn Cemetery in 1946. It was one of very few burial locations for Black people in Washtenaw County.

After Roberson died in 1955, ownership of the property was transferred to his wife, Estella Roberson, and Mrs. Booker Rhonenee. Soon after inheriting the property, the women declared bankruptcy, according to an article from the Ypsilanti Historical Society. The cemetery has been unmanaged since 1965.

Thanks to a $30,000 grant over two years from Washentaw County given to the Historic District Commission, volunteers have been attacking the cemetery's overgrowth, including trees that have grown up on some parts of the site, and uncovering the names on the headstones of the people buried there.  

The cemetery rehabilitation is supported through a collaboration between the African American Cultural and Historical Museum of Washtenaw County, the Historic District Commission, and Ypsilanti Township.