Welcome to the African American Heritage Memorial Park in Alexandria, Virginia, a place where history whispers through the leaves and the past is etched in bronze and stone. The park is a significant historical site that honors the legacy of African Americans. It features sculptures, artworks, and plaques that commemorate the contributions of African Americans to the local community and the nation. Visitors can take a reflective stroll through the park, learn about its significance, and pay respects to the influential figures it commemorates.
The park provides an insightful and educational experience that sheds light on the often overlooked aspects of American history. Known primarily for its compelling narrative of resilience and courage, this historic place is a hidden gem waiting to be explored by anyone interested in the real, untold stories of America.
The park was established in 1997 on a 5-acre piece of land that was chosen specifically for its historical significance. It is entrenched in a landscape once traveled by enslaved Africans and later by free African Americans.
From the establishment of Alexandria in 1749 to the present time, African Americans have been a vibrant part of this city's history. The City of Alexandria would not exist in its present form were it not for the economic, social, and cultural contributions of African Americans both slave and free. As Alexandria developed in the 19th century, African Americans began to establish enclaves with distinctive names and characteristics. Many of these areas such as: The Berg, The Bottoms, Cross Canal, Hayti, The Hump, Sunnyside, and Uptown survive today and retain historical significance for African Americans currently living in Alexandria.
From these original African American neighborhoods a sense of community developed, which let to the creation of churches, schools, civic and social organizations. The Alexandria African American Heritage Park, a gift to the City from the Norfolk Southern Corporation, will contribute to the rich cultural heritage of Alexandria. The history and accomplishments of African American leaders will stimulate young people to develop esteem, hope, determination and pride in themselves. The land for this memorial is of special significance.
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The memorial park coexists with the original landscape of the cemetery and preserves the interesting and varied plant life on this site.
The artistic works incorporated into this Memorial/Park offer symbolic testament to the efforts and accomplishments of a great many local individuals, institutions and organizations both past and present. The names and images etched upon these forms, as acknowledgment of but some of those who have 'passed this way before', represent the foundation, the builders, the source and substance of this historic and vibrant community.
The park also pays homage to Alexandria’s historic African American neighborhoods, such as The Berg and The Bottoms, through smaller sculptures scattered throughout the landscape.
Visitors to the park can follow the trail that winds through the site, leading them past wetlands that support local wildlife, including mallards and painted turtles. As you walk through the park, imagine the lives of those who came before-the aspirations they held, the struggles they endured, and the stories they passed down.
The African American Heritage Memorial Park includes a one-acre 19th century African American Cemetery. There are 21 known burials on this site and six identified headstones remain and are in their original location.
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The focal point of the park is a sculpture group of bronze trees called "Truths that Rise from the Roots Remembered" which acknowledges the contributions of African Americans to the growth of Alexandria. The memorial sculptures in the park are the creation of Washington, D.C. sculptor, Jerome Meadows.
The History of the Black Baptist Cemetery
In 1885, the Silver Leaf (Colored) Society of Alexandria established the Black Baptist Cemetery just west of the Alexandria National Cemetery. The Silver Leaf Society was one of several burial associations organized by African Americans in the late 19th century. Burial society members paid regular premiums to ensure that upon their deaths they would have a casket, funeral and final resting place. At some point the Black Baptist Cemetery was abandoned and in the mid-20th century, the area was used as a landfill.
Development plans in the 1980s and 1990s prompted City and contract archaeologists to study the site. Their discoveries of headstones, footstones, and coffin fragments and hardware revealed the site’s history as a burial ground and ultimately led to its protection. An archaeological report and a short article by the former City Archaeologist provide more information about the park's past.
Archaeological Discoveries
In 1985, a request to study property along Holland Lane led to a significant discovery. The caller asked, “Can we put up a homeless shelter? I hear there might be a cemetery.” A two-day investigation unearthed the fact that this long-forgotten land preserved African-American history beneath its brambles and silt. Research documented that the Baptist Cemetery Association, represented by Thomas Mann, purchased a one-acre parcel on John Street (now Holland Lane) in 1885.
Our reconnaissance of the property in 1985 located only one headstone, with the name Abraham Hunter, who died in 1891 at the age of 37. This area was at that time in Fairfax County, but was called “West End” by Alexandrians. The cemetery association was composed of members of the Silver Leaf (Colored) Society of Alexandria, Va.
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Twenty-eight known burials took place there (identified in the archaeology through such features as grave shafts and coffin fragments), including six with headstones. Most headstones can be read. Their family ties have lasted through the decades: ”My Mother” Matilda Gaines, born in 1837 and died at age 76 // Mary Rome, “Daughter of Mary E. Simms, born in Culpeper co., Feb. 15, 1858, died Jan.
The heart of the area are the few graves with headstones. The landowner, Norfolk Southern, gave the land to the city. A walkways goes by the headstones, through a small wetlands, and up a rise to the western edge of the park.
There a group of bronze trees entitled “Truths That Rise from the Roots Remembered” honors the people buried there, as well as six historic African American neighborhoods around the city.
The park incorporates the Baptist Cemetery and eight additional acres between Holland Lane and Hooff’s Run just south of Duke Street. It is a natural and meditative place where you can feel the spirit of the past and gain strength of the future.
The park also contains an outline of an 18th-century home, a baptismal pool reflecting religious heritage, and re-created crop fields representing labor done by enslaved Africans. The park's interpretive trails provide visitors with a deeper understanding of the African American heritage within a natural setting. The trails lead to spots that were home to free black communities during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Allen M. Bates Park in Kendleton, Texas
Upon completion, the African American Memorial by Hines Architecture + Design (Hines A+D) at Allen M. Bates Park in Kendleton, Texas, will be a major national treasure after the National Mall’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The 14-acre memorial park will be inside the 236-acre Bates M. Allen Park and provide trails that connect two historic Black cemeteries, Newman Chapel Cemetery and Oak Hill Cemetery.
The $10-million project is split into two phases: Phase one will deliver a 3-story precast memorial that centers a verdant park dubbed Juneteenth Plaza. Phase two will deliver the African American Learning Center at Bates Park that will acknowledge the Black labor which built much of Fort Bend County, Texas.
“The primary driver for me was to acknowledge the contributions of African Americans to Fort Bend County,” Hines A+D’s founder Daimian Hines told AN. “The memorial is designed to reflect fragmentation in the African American diaspora. It leverages the site’s richness to tell a story about movement, migration, and the scattering of people away from their established ancestral homeland. The project is years in the making and a joint collaboration between Hines A+D and Fort Bend County officials like Dexter McCoy, a Fort Bend County commissioner.
The precast structure will use symbolism from the Akan people. The precast structure coated in a powder red hue centering the memorial will be inscribed with symbols that derive from the Akan people originally of Sudan now in present-day Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Togo. In the future, the reflecting pond will soon host a historical marker from the EJI’s National Memorial for Peace and Justice’s Community Remembrance Project. This effort memorializes the documented victims of racial violence throughout history, including four documented racial terror lynchings that took place between 1877 and 1950.
