The African Friends to Harmony Burial Ground and Mutual Aid: Community Involvement Across Centuries

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "“We the People”: Historical Cemetery Archaeology in Philadelphia" , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Throughout the nineteenth century, the African Friends to Harmony Burial Ground in West Philadelphia (1826-c.1886) received burials arranged by the African Friends to Harmony benevolent society as well as deceased members of the African Baptist Church of Blockley/Monumental Baptist and Mount Pisgah African Methodist Episcopal Church. After the property’s sale in 1910, the cemetery was gradually forgotten but development overlapping the historical cemetery brought the burial ground back into public consciousness in 2019. The adjacent parcel owner accepted that their parking lot was built on historical graves, and earnest consultation with the descendant churches’ congregations led to the respectful relocation of over 100 sets of human remains to historic Eden Cemetery. The approach taken by the modern lot owner resulted in an all-too-rare mortuary project that adhered to descendant community wishes and legal requirements, plus ensured that the historic population will rest in peace.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• “We the People”: Historical Cemetery Archaeology in Philadelphia   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2022

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology