Someone burned a beloved child’s grave in a historic Black cemetery
They are all gone. The laminated birthday cards. The plastic toy piano. The doll with the blue bow on her head.
Fager first told me about Nannie two years ago, and I shared with you how her grave marker had pulled at strangers and left them with questions: Who was she? Had she lived free or enslaved? Who was leaving the laminated cards and vintage toys that appeared at the site around her birthday? Little is known about Nannie. Her marker bears no last name. But the two dates on it indicate she died during a time when many Black people remained enslaved across the country and just days before she would have turned 8. “Born May 26, 1848,” it reads. “Died May 18, 1856.”Researchers have also determined that the quality of her marker shows either someone with wealth cared about her or many people without wealth came together to raise enough money to make sure she wouldn’t be easily forgotten.
While it’s too soon to know who started the fire and why, the timing has left Fager and others concerned that it was motivated by hate. On Monday, hundreds of people gathered in the cemetery to commemorate Juneteenth. The fire occurred sometime after the event and before Fager discovered the scene the next morning.
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