Service-Learning Project Seeks to Preserve African-American Cemeteries

Frances Staten, a professor of sociology and psychology, is leading a series of service-learning classes to preserve local African-American cemeteries. Sadly, the cemeteries that house the memories of the past are often forgotten. Without proper maintenance, grave markers are easily lost. Staten and her students are seeking to preserve Grambling’s cemetery, Grambling Memorial Gardens, through a continuing service-learning project entitled “Save Our African-American Cemeteries.”

In the current project, Staten and her class have fashioned flower vases out of Powerade bottles. The class is using the makeshift vases to replace vases and flowers that have been stolen from graves at Grambling Memorial Gardens.

Staten and her students delivered the vases and flowers to Grambling Memorial Gardens during Grambling’s Founder’s Week on Oct. 1. The visitors also took the time to clean and pay homage at the graves of Grambling’s founders, Charles and Martha Adams, since the service-learning project is dedicated to their memory.

Assisting the class is Jason Church, a materials conservator in the Materials Conservation Program at the National Park Services’ National Center for Preservation Technology and Training. A specialist in grave and cemetery preservation, Church believes it is especially important to preserve the history provided by older grave markers, some of which were handmade prior to the mass production of grave markers, before they are lost to time.

“We’ve lost the importance of homemade grave markers. Someone who knew that person and loved that person made them,” Church said. “It’s important to photograph these grave markers, so that future generations know where they are. As cemetery restorers, the next time we go, we realize that these markers might not be there.”

Kennedi Hildreth, a junior sociology major, was worried about working in a cemetery at first, but quickly saw the benefits of participating in Staten’s service-learning classes.

“I thought I would be standoffish about being in a cemetery, but it’s very interesting. You get to see all the old gravestones, and it’s a unique way to learn about the history of Grambling,” Hildreth said. “Last year, we went out and looked over the veterans in the cemetery, and we replaced the flags and flowers on Veteran’s Day. We have also taken a survey of dates to see who lived to be a centenarian, and we studied married couples. Usually, those who were married lived longer, but died not too long after their spouses. Now, we are trying to piece together the family history of Grambling’s founder, Charles P. Adams.”