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| Historian Terry Buckalew |
Our current exhibition is Bethel Burying Ground – A
Tribute to a Sacred Place. Historian Terry Buckalew rediscovered the burial site back in 2008, three
years before the city’s plans to renovate Weccacoe Playground, which currently
stands over it. The burial site was first purchased by the Reverend Richard
Allen and the original Trustees of Mother Bethel AME Church in 1810, and after
50-plus years of use as a cemetery, was then leased to Barnabas Bartol and his
sugar refinery business in the late 1860s. It soon became a storage and dumping
ground and was even cited by the city for its unsanitary conditions. The city would later purchase the property from Mother Bethel in 1889 with the intention of transforming it into a small park. The cemetery was then largely forgotten for over a hundred years.
Terry Buckalew:
The cemetery was cited by the Board of Health several times for being a nuisance, but the church always corrected the problem. Southwark was packed solid with buildings. The only open space was Bethel Burying Ground. That is why the city went after it.
TH:
Terry, how did you first learn about
Bethel Burying Ground, and what must have gone through your mind when you heard
about the City’s plans for the park?
I learn about the Bethel Burying Ground in 2008 in the course of working as a historical consultant on a documentary about Octavius V. Catto I read an article in the Tribune newspaper from 1914. It was written by Black journalist William Carl Bolivar and provided an overview of some of the prominent Black families in the southern part of the city in the 19th century. Bolivar wrote that some of them were buried at Bethel Church’s cemetery on the 400 block of Queen Street in South Philadelphia – the old Southwark neighborhood. I was not familiar with this burial ground and was curious. I wanted to know more. I fully expected to find the cemetery written about in book and professional journals. But there was nothing. I figured I would do a couple years of research and write up an article for an academic journal and that would be that. Then, in 2011, I read that the city was going to renovate the Weccacoe Playground which sat atop the Bethel Burying Ground and I couldn’t take the chance that the graves wouldn’t be disturbed. So that is when I went public with my research. I believed it was my civic duty to raise an alarm that an historic African American cemetery might be in jeopardy of being damaged.
TH:
In 2013, Douglass Mooney and Kimberly Morrell did an archaeological investigation for the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. What were some of their key findings as to the condition of the burial site and how many people might be buried at BBG between 1810 – 1864? What was your role in assisting with that project?
Terry Buckalew:
The most important finding was that the human remains of at least 5,000 African American men, women, and children from the 19th century remained buried under the Weccacoe Playground. I was there in 2013 at Weccacoe when the first coffin was identified. I was speechless. For the previous five years it was a personal goal of mine to not only prove that Bethel Burying Ground existed but that the bodies were never removed. In a matter of seconds that was all confirmed.
I really had nothing to contribute to the work of two excellent professionals - Doug and Kim. Early in the investigation I sat down with their team while they reviewed my research and asked about my sources. That was the extent of my direct participation.
TH:
Why did Richard Allen and the original
Trustees of Mother Bethel AME purchase the Bethel Burying Ground?
Terry Buckalew:
Richard
Allen and the Bethel trustees purchased the plot of land to offer the Black
community a dignified Christian burial after their death. The remains of African
Americans at this time were being treated disrespectfully by the white
community. Allen made it clear that all those who were unable to pay for the
burial of a family member should be given a burial plot without cost. The
burial ground also provided a place to honor the Black family and the roots of
the African American community.
TH:
The records of the cemetery
were lost in 1850, so can you explain as a historian how did you discover the
names of nearly 2500 people interred at BBG?
Terry Buckalew:
The church records were lost however the Philadelphia Board of Health death certificates still exist. I have identified 2,846 individuals by utilizing the records in the City Archive. Not all the records have survived. There are months and even whole years of records missing from the 1700s and the 1800s. On several occasions I was able to find in historic newspapers the mention of a funeral procession of Black Freemasons going to Bethel Burying Ground.
TH:
The individuals buried at
the site lived through unimaginable hardships, poverty and crimes against
humanity, yet they helped establish an extraordinary free Black
community. Can you speak to the heroism and the impact of their work?
Terry Buckalew:
The Bethel Burying Ground is the greatest repository of African American history in Philadelphia. The 5,000+ buried on Queen Street were courageous pioneers in the most racist northern city in 19th century America. They were oppressed, persecuted, assaulted, buried, sold and forgotten. In addition to the major race riots by the white community through the decades, there was a vicious daily street violence leveled against Black men and women.
Yet, research has shown despite all this, these women and men were able to weave a rich tapestry of family and community. They established their own churches, schools, beneficial societies and political organizations. The preservation of their remains and their stories demand our best efforts.
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| Ignatius Beck, Tribute Church Fan by Gina Lee Robbins. |
TH:
Who was Ignatius Beck?
Terry Buckalew:
Mr. Beck was a pillar of the Philadelphia African American community until his death at 75 years old in 1849. Frederick Douglass’ newspaper, the Rams’ Horn, in 1847 stated that Ignatius Beck, a person worthy of respect and honor, along with a hand full of others were the “solitary vigilance committee” in the country before the abolitionist movement. Beck was an original founder and “sturdy” station master of the Underground Railroad before the Quakers and William Lloyd Garrison took over from the previous generation. This is a remarkedly revealing historical statement.
Mr.
Beck was born to an enslaved mother on Joseph Beck’s tobacco plantation in
either 1774 or 1775. The plantation was on the outskirts of what is now Bowie,
Maryland. In 1791, at the age of sixteen he was legally guaranteed manumission
at his 25th birthday. When he was nineteen years old he was “rented”
out as a laborer to the contractor that was building the United States Capitol
Building in the nearby District of Columbia. The contracted annual rate for
slaves was $60 which all went to the slave’s owner. The owner’s only
obligations were to provide a set of adequate clothes and a blanket which
offered little protection against the deadly mosquitoes in summer and the
bitter cold in winter. Beck’s duties could have included timber and stone
sawing, brick making, bricklaying and the strenuous hauling that comes from
these tasks.
Upon his liberation at twenty-five years old Mr. Beck moved to Philadelphia. He married, started a family and a business. In addition he became a member of Bethel AME Church and a friend of Rev. Richard Allen. In 1810 on a business trip to Virginia he was kidnapped and placed in chains. Enslaved for two years he dramatically escaped and made his way back to his family and friends in Philadelphia. For the next thirty-nine years “Uncle Beck” worked tirelessly as a leader in his church, civil rights organizations, and the Underground Railroad. At one point he was employed as the sexton of Bethel Church which made him the manager of the Bethel Burying Ground that holds his remains to this day.
TH:
What would you like for visitors to get out of Bethel Burying Ground – A Tribute to a Sacred Place?
Terry Buckalew:
The truth matters. History matters. And the truth about the history of Black Philadelphians matters. This amazing exhibit should be viewed as a chapter in a history book. A chapter of violence and pain, but also a record of strength, courage, and love.
TH:
To learn more about Terry's research, visit: www.bethelburyinggroundproject.com, and visit the Art Gallery at City Hall to view Bethel Burying Ground - A Tribute to a Sacred Place.
In addition to Terry's findings, the show includes historical information about Richard Allen, Mother Bethel AME Church, and the early free Black community of Philadelphia. The show also presents the artistic work of 49 local artists who created over 100 individualized church fans as tributes to specific people interred at Bethel Burying Ground. For more information, visit: https://creativephl.org/bbg-tribute-to-a-sacred-place/
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| A special thanks to the artists who created church fans as tributes to those buried at Bethel Burying Ground. |
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