NASHVILLE, TN — The Nashville City Cemetery Association is honoring the lives of approximately 6,000 enslaved people, as a memorial bench honoring their lives has been fully funded and ordered as of March 20. The enslaved individuals are laid to rest in unmarked and unknown graves at Nashville City Cemetery. Representatives from the Nashville City Cemetery Association said the polished, inscribed granite bench will serve as a lasting anchor to a bigger memorial. Representatives said they are working to establish a permanent memorial named the Memorial to Enslaved Persons Project, which acknowledges the lives of the enslaved individuals laid to rest.
“All but about ten—including Salley Acklen—lie in unmarked graves. Their lives were shaped by unending labor and resilience,” said Nashville City Cemetery Association representatives. “Your support will help recognize their dignity and spirit in the heart of Nashville.”
Representatives also said they are looking for the Memorial to Enslaved Persons Project to restore dignity to the deceased who are being honored. Representatives said they are working for the memorial to recognize the profound contributions that enslaved persons made to the foundation and growth of the Nashville community.
Among the contributions made to Nashville by enslaved, formerly enslaved, and subsequent generations of formerly enslaved persons who settled in Nashville are the historically and musically famous Jefferson Street, the moniker “Music City,” and much of the creative base that fostered Nashville’s musical working class.
“Among them are children like Mary, who died enslaved at just 3 years old in 1849; Sam, who endured a life of bondage and died at age 8 in 1864; adults like Pompey, whose 45 years were spent as the property of his enslaver until his death in 1850; and Susan, who lived to 97 but never knew freedom, passing in 1853,” said Nashville City Cemetery Association representatives.
“Their names appear in cemetery records, but their lives remain mostly forgotten and their graves unmarked.”
Representatives from the Nashville City Cemetery Association said that, though there is exciting progress on the memorial bench, which is now fully funded, they are not done yet. Representatives are still reaching out to Nashville and Tennessee for community support in creating a dignified site. They said the site would include a memorial garden, an interpretive marker, and other meaningful elements.
Representatives said that the Nashville City Cemetery Association is a membership organization that works to protect, preserve, restore, and raise public awareness of the Nashville City Cemetery. They said that the Nashville City Cemetery Association is in collaboration with the Historical Commission of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee.
Nashville City Cemetery Association representatives said the Nashville City Cemetery itself is located on 1001 4th Avenue South and is the oldest continuously operated public cemetery in Nashville. Representatives said the cemetery opened on January 1, 1822. By 1850, the cemetery was the final resting place for more than 11,000 people of every race, religion, and economic status.
Updates regarding the Memorial to Enslaved Persons Project by the Nashville City Cemetery can be found on its profile page on givebutter.com.
Donations for the Memorial to Enslaved Persons Project can be given at thenashvillecitycemetery.org/donate.
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