Lost Black City Buried Beneath GRAVES Of Arlington Cemetery

[Segami]

<>


" ARLINGTON, Va. — Charter buses roll up to Arlington National Cemetery every day, depositing tourists who scramble uphill to see the eternal flame on President John F. Kennedy’s grave. People stream in all directions, toward the Tomb of the Unknowns or to remember at tombstones of loved ones lost to war.

Few, however, head downhill to a quiet corner near the Iwo Jima Memorial.


Down here, there are no memorials to ancient battles, no ornate headstones honoring long-dead dignitaries. There are only rows of small unassuming white tombstones, many engraved with names like George, Toby and Rose.


They are the only visible reminders that part of the nation’s most storied burial ground sits atop what used to be a thriving black town — “Freedman’s Village,” built on land confiscated from Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.


Milton Rowe recently shuffled around the famous grounds, slowly making his way up a hill with Wayne Parks. There’s nothing here now to tell visitors that freed slaves once lived here, but the two men say they feel a kinship, a connection with this land because they can both trace their ancestors to Freedman’s Village.



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<http://newsone.com/nation/associated-press/lost-black-city-buried-beneath-graves-of-arlington-cemetery/>

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. What an amazing story...

Thank you for bringing it here...

[LiberalAndProud]

2. Why didn't I already know this?

:kick:

[Xithras]

5. I learned about it in school

When we were studying the Civil War, my teacher explained that Arlington was seized by the Union Army and was initially used military offices. Whent he government gained formal and legal permanent control of the land, they started burying the bodies on his estate both as a message and an insult to him. When liberated slaves started flowing north out of the battle zones, a town for them was set up for them on one end of his land. Again, it was a big middle finger pointed directly at Lee.

Do you know the premise used by the government to legally seize Arlington? He didn't pay his property taxes. Lee actually sent a representative to pay the taxes, but the government refused to accept them, returning instead a letter requesting that he personally come pay them himself. He obviously declined their request.

Many years after the Civil War, Lee's son sued the government and won a sizeable settlement for the real value of the entire estate. The federal government responded by having the then-current Secretary of War hand over the check. Who was that secretary? Todd Lincoln, the son of Abe and Mary.

Just some little known Civil War trivia.

[Statistical]

8. Pretty interesting stuff. n/t

[ellie]

10. Thanks! I love history

and that was a great story.

[Xithras]

3. Nothing now?

When I was in DC about 12 years ago, I visited Arlington and the museum in the mansion. Inside, there was a large miniature of the site, with the Freedmans Village clearly reconstructed and explained. Has that been removed?

[Hekate]

4. It's no doubt included in Maria Goodwin's The Guide to Black Washington...

The guide to Black Washington: places and events of historical and cultural significance in the nation's capital /
Sandra Fitzpatrick, Maria R. Goodwin
https://www.senate.gov/reference/reference_item/blackwashington.htm

Maria gave me a copy when a mutual friend introduced us, but I can't find it just now. It's a very good read, definitely history from a different perspective. For one thing, there were always freedmen (and women) living in and around Washington DC.

For another, not to be disrespectful here, but cities and graveyards have always been built one atop the other. Ancient Troy alone is known to have had at least 7 layers of Troys.

However I agree with the sentiment that we should be preserving or at least recognizing our own relatively short layers of history, and if the National Park Service has anything to do with it, there's probably something onsite.

Hekate

[Born_A_Truman]

6. Map

Sorry, blew the margins...

[Old Troop]

7. Fascinating

Did you know that Central Park was constructed over several black villages. Villages that saw significant inter-racial marriages?

[arcadian]

9. Unrec - That picture is bullshit

That is NOT Arlington, there are no headstones that look like that in Arlington and there is also no large body of water near Arlington as dipicted in the picture. That is some sloppy ass "journalism" and I'm frankly surprised that I was the first one to notice it. My guess, that is a WWII cemetery in France.

[Xithras]

12. The picture may not be legit, but the story is.

And, yes, the headstones are there. I've seen them. Out of respect, the Army maintains them and replaces them just as they do with all of the military graves at Arlington. They can only be distinguished by the fact that they're marked "Civilian".

On Edit:

A here's a photo of the real graveyard that I found on the web. The grass is only dead because it was taken midwinter. I was actually mistaken when I said that they were marked Civilian. Apparently they were actually marked "Citizen", because that was seen as a more honorable title to give the freed slaves.

[arcadian]

20. The story as presented is inaccurate.

[Political Heretic]

23. How so?

[Segami]

13. Thanks and you are correct but I'm sure it was an honest oversight by the journalist. If you search

Goggle Images for Arlington Cemetery, you will find this thumbnail photo titled ' Arlington '. If you go to that site, you will find the same photograph which reads:

"Next we visited the American cemetery at Omaha Beach, which looks very similar to Arlington cemetery and is in fact American-owned land in France. It was kind of exciting to see explanations and plaques in English first and then French! "


<https://academics.skidmore.edu/weblogs/students/r1schill/archives/2005/10/normandy.html>

[harkadog]

18. Why would you think it was an "honest oversight"?

The picture in the OP looks better than the real picture. That's why the journalist used it. We don't need to cover up for the media on this site.

[Segami]

21. I'm not covering up as you claim, but if you Goggle the story title, you will notice

that other sites carrying the SAME story article using the same photo. Short of your sharp vision to spot the photo mistake, even posters on this thread didn't catch the mistake. I think its fair to treat this as an oversight and nothing more.

[snot]

22. Pardon me, but b---sh-t.

[Segami]

29. Just for clarity, what exactly do you consider to be " b---sh-t "?

[EFerrari]

11. Black Men Built the Capitol. (BookTv presentation)

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/292233-1

[Bluenorthwest]

14. Thanks you for posting this

I am so moved by this story, it is pointed and telling that it is not far more widely known history. I did not know the origins of Arlington, nor of Freedman's Village and the citizen graves, a term that makes me tear up. This is just an amazing piece of American history. Thanks to everyone who posted details and links and things. Today, I learned from DU.

[EFerrari]

16. Sojourner Truth lived there and she famously refused to abide by

the segregated trolley car rules. She'd hop on, raise a rukus and hop off.

[butterfly77]

15. The graves of slaves ...

are also under Manhattan...in New York.

[cherokeeprogressive]

24. You are absolutely correct. That fact doesn't dovetail with the attempt of the OP to cast a shadow

on the US government though. Arlington can be seen as directly tied to the government. Graves in NY can't, or won't.

How many buildings, parks, and what-not are built on the sacred ground of the First Nations? Too many to count.

[ThomWV]

17. I believe the property belonged to Lee's wife, inhereted and never lived on by the family.

I recall reading that somewhere several years ago, that the property was inhereted by Lee's wife and that they never lived there.

[Gaedel]

28. Lee rarely lived there

but his wife did. During most of lee's postings, his wife stayed at Arlington with her family while Lee "bached it" on a variety of army posts. Mrs Lee moved south to Richmond after the beginning of the Civil War and was unable to move her heirlooms and other belongings. After the war, Lee, and later his sons, made frequent requests for restoration.

[arcadian]

19. Curious, why was this post edited by a mod?

And what was the edit? Shouldn't the entire post be yanked for presenting inaccurate information?

[Political Heretic]

25. That is a little weird, eh? Though I don't think the post should be removed because of a photo

that shows the wrong crosses. The content of the post is true.

[pinto]

26. It was edited to conform to copyright standards. We can only allow

re-posting four paragraphs of copyrighted material.

:hi:

[Solly Mack]

27. K&R

Thank you!!