Freedman's Cemetery - Dallas, Texas
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Freedman's Cemetery - Dallas, Texas

(Submitted by M. C. Toyer)

 

LOCATION / DIRECTIONS: 2700 block of Lemmon Avenue west of Central Expressway ( US Hwy 75)
(Dallas MAPSCO 45 C)

 

STATE OF TEXAS HISTORICAL MARKER:

 

FREEDMAN'S CEMETERY

    This area of Dallas County was settled by former African American slaves shortly after the conclusion of the American Civil War. Freedman's Cemetery, a graveyard for African Americans, was established in 1869 on one acre of land purchased by trustee Sam Eakins. Another 3 acres was acquired for cemetery purposes in 1879 by trustees. A. Wilhite, Frank Read, A. Boyd, T. Watson, George English, Silas Pitman, and the Rev. A. R. Griggs, a former slave who later became a prominent local church leader and champion of early public education for the African American community. The community of churches, commercial enterprises, and residences that had developed in this area by the turn of the 20th century was by 1912 a part of the City of Dallas. Construction of the Central Expressway through here in the 1930s virtually eliminated all physical above-ground reminders of the cemetery. Descendants of persons buried here and the City of Dallas agreed in 1965 to establish the Freedman's Memorial Park and Cemetery at this site. Beginning in 1989 representatives of the community worked with the City of Dallas and the Texas Department of Transportation to preserve the historic Freedman's Cemetery site prior to highway expansion.

 

MAP: (Courtesy MapQuest.com)

 

COPYRIGHT NOTICE : In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this publication is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.


( Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml )

Compiled by M C Toyer
[email protected]