Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial 10th Anniversary
The City of Alexandria invited the public to participate in the 10th anniversary of the dedication of the Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial (1001 S. Washington St.), September 6 and 7, 2024. This year’s remembrance honored the late Lillie Finklea and her work with her friend, the late Louise Massoud, to create the Friends of Freedmen’s Cemetery.
The memorial honors the hundreds of African Americans who died in Alexandria during the Civil War. Many were refugees from bondage in Maryland and Virginia, who were seeking protection under Union soldiers. In the early years of the Civil War, those who escaped to freedom in areas under Union control were called contrabands. Originating from the term “contraband of war,” this protected their refugee status and prevented their return to the Confederacy.
The site of the memorial, Freedmen’s Cemetery, was established by Union military authorities in 1864 in response to an overwhelming health and humanitarian crisis in Alexandria. More than 1,700 freed and formerly enslaved African Americans were buried in the cemetery during and just after the war. The cemetery fell into disrepair and nearly faded from memory before being restored and rededicated in 2007. The Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial opened in 2014 on the site of the cemetery, to honor the memory of the Freedmen, the hardships they faced, and their contributions to Alexandria.
Candlelight Vigil
Program
September 7, 2024
- Min. Siera Grace Toney, Soloist, Steal Away
- Audrey Davis, Welcome Remarks
- Lighting of candles, Wreath Laying
- Zeina Azzam, Poet Laureate, Crossing to Sanctuary: Alexandria’s Contrabands and Freedmen’s Cemetery
- Mayor Justin Wilson and U.S. Representative Don Beyer, Remarks
- Descendant Advisory Committee, Historical Reflections
- Audrey Davis, Significance of the Soil
- Min. Siera Grace Toney, Soloist, Oh, Freedom
Pastor Josette Franklin, Roberts Memorial United Methodist Church, Remarks
From the Poet Laureate
Crossing to Sanctuary: Alexandria’s Contrabands and Freedmen’s Cemetery
Written for the 10th anniversary celebration of the Contrabands and Freedmen’s Cemetery Memorial, September 7, 2024
© Zeina Azzam, City of Alexandria Poet Laureate 2022-2025
On this hallowed ground
grieving families and friends
marked resting places for their beloveds
with wooden grave markers.
They adorned the graves with oyster shells
that spoke of the sea and eternal life.
So many coffins held children.
They lay in wooden boxes,
elongated hexagons that reminded
where the small heads and shoulders reposed,
the funerary crate tapering
at legs and feet.
The earth mother around them
continues to offer hidden and untold stories
about simple buttons and nails
and Civil War bullets,
to reveal shards of everyday life,
even old stone tools.
We stand on this earth knowing that although
our ancestors’ remains now lie undisturbed,
their lives suffered a dark history.
It was a time when shackling Black bodies
was the law of the land, when
segregation and racial discrimination,
poll taxes and literacy tests,
Jim Crow and white supremacy
were everywhere,
the air everyone breathed.
But despite the hundreds of years
that enslaved flesh and bones and minds,
these ancestors, willful and bold,
could finally cross to sanctuary.
Exhausted and weak and thin
they crossed to sanctuary
even if many took their last breaths
after the passage to freedom.
We ask for their forgiveness—
for the villainy of generations past,
for those who desecrated their graves,
for the unfathomable sorrow of their descendants,
for the continuing injustices,
for all who suffer
because the powerful persist in pushing them
to the powerless margins.
We now come to them
in reverence and awe.
Rest in peace, our ancestors.
Rest knowing that you were
an early light
navigating a path of thorns to roses
through this archway in today’s Alexandria.
Our city mourns and grieves,
remembers, re-consecrates,
and lifts up your lives.
Rest in peace, our ancestors.
Rest in power.
Rest in justice.
Rest in dignity.
Rest in truth.
Rest in freedom.
Bus Tour of Pre-Civil Era Historic African American Churches and Sites of Alexandria
Friday, September 6 (Ticketed event)
Visit historic African American churches in downtown Alexandria that grew and flourished before and during the Civil War, learning their stories from the congregations. This tour which begins and ends at the Alexandria Black History Museum will also drive by other important African American sites. Box lunch will be provided.
10th Anniversary Luncheon
Saturday, September 7 (Ticketed Event)
Celebrate and commemorate the 10-year anniversary of Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial over an outstanding lunch with speakers honoring the preservation of African American history. The keynote speaker for the luncheon is Pastor Michelle Thomas, a leading figure in Loudoun County for her work with the NAACP, uncovering her area’s lynching history and her preservation of historic Black Cemeteries. Held at the award-winning Hotel AKA. Cost is $75 per person.
Luncheon Program:
- Welcome: Audrey Davis, Director of African American History, Office of Historic Alexandria
- Surprise Announcement: Eleanor Breen, City Archaeologist
- Buffet Lunch
- Introduction of Speaker: Gretchen Bulova, Director of the Office of Historic Alexandria
- Keynote Address: Pastor Michelle C. Thomas, Founder, Holy & Whole Life Changing Ministries International and President, NAACP Loudon Branch
- New Family Recognitions: Char McCargo Bah, City of Alexandria Genealogist
- Closing Remarks: Audrey Davis
Bus Tour to Arlington House
Saturday, September 7 (Ticketed event)
Over the 60 years leading up to the Civil War, Arlington House was home to at least 100 enslaved African Americans who lived and labored on the estate. Enslaved people at Arlington House lived difficult lives of forced labor. However, they found small ways to resist, in addition to building families and close connections with each other. The National Park Service interprets the history of the Lee and Custis families and the stories of those enslaved by them, including the Syphax, Burke, Parks, Branham, and Gray families, to present a more complete story of life at Arlington House.
Presentation and discussion will be led by Steve Hammond, Genealogist, Family Historian, and Syphax descendant and National Park Service guides. This event begins and ends at the Hotel AKA. Cost is $50 per person.
**This event requires some walking. Hour tour will be self-guided.
Earlier Ceremonies, Celebrations and Recognition
Rededication Ceremony, 2007
May 12, 2007
A rededication ceremony on May 12, 2007 honored the forgotten burial place of approximately 1,800 freedmen, who escaped the bonds of slavery, sought refuge in Alexandria, and contributed to the prosperity and cultural heritage of the City. The ceremony featured speeches, African drummers, a poem by Alexandria’s Poet Laureate, and the lighting of luminaries representing each of the burials. The Alexandria City Council issued a Proclamation declaring a Week of Remembrance.
Schoolchildren, scouts, community groups, and participants in bag-decorating workshops at the Alexandria Archaeology Museum and the Alexandria Black History Museum, adorned the luminary bags with heartfelt artwork, words and poetry. Each bag was labeled with the name, sex and age of death of one of the deceased Freedmen.
The event was the culmination of twenty years of research and community activism. From the Friends of Freedmen's Cemetery, to Alexandria residents, City of Alexandria staff, and schoolchildren who participated in luminary decorating, this was truly a community effort. In 2011, the City of Alexandria will again honor these men, women and children, with the formal dedication of the Contraband and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial.
Dedication of the Memorial, 2014
Journey to be Free
September 6, 2014
The City of Alexandria officially dedicated the Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial on Saturday, September 6, at 10 a.m. The memorial park honors the memory of the Alexandria’s Freedmen, the hardships they faced, and their contributions to the City. The September 6 dedication capped three days of events featuring Alexandria’s Civil War and African American history.
During the Civil War, the Alexandria Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery was the burial place for approximately 1,800 African Americans who fled to Alexandria to escape bondage. The cemetery fell into disrepair and nearly faded from memory before being restored and rededicated in 2007. Now, in the sesquicentennial of both the Cemetery and the Civil War, a new memorial honors this site and those who were laid to rest there. Their descendants, many of whom will be coming to Alexandria for the Dedication, now live in nearly all 50 states.
National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, 2015
In 2015, the National Park Service (NPS) approved the Office of Historic Alexandria's application for the Alexandria Freedmen’s Cemetery to be included in the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. This designation recognizes important historical sites in the United States that make a significant contribution to the understanding of the Underground Railroad in American history and that meet NPS requirements for inclusion as an individual site.
As part of this recognition, NPS recognized OHA’s ongoing commitment to quality and high standards and “to be stewards of all that the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom embraces.” The designation is also subject to periodic review by NPS to ensure that the Freedmen’s Cemetery site continues to be appropriately maintained and interpreted well into the future.
5th Anniversary Celebration, 2019
September 13-15, 2019
This moving and educational weekend event included a Friday evening opening address with local Contraband historian Char McCargo Bah. Other events included: a morning wreath-laying at the site, a luncheon to honor descendant families with a keynote address by National Park Service Superintendent of Fort Monroe National Monument, Terry E. Brown, a curated bus tour of Alexandria’s African American heritage sites, and an evening candlelight vigil at the memorial.
6th Anniversary Celebration, 2020
September 6, 2020
September 6, 2020 is the 6th anniversary of the Contrabands & Freedmen Cemetery Memorial dedication. Once on the edge of town and “lost” to time, now it tells the story of the thousands of refugees that came to Alexandria in search of freedom during the Civil War. Many arrived hungry and in ill health. Of the about 1,800 burials - more than half were of children. Take time to pause and remember the lives of those this cemetery remembers.
African American Civil Rights Network, 2021
July 24, 2021
On July 24, 2021, over 100 people came together to celebrate the addition of the Alexandria’s Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial to the National Park Service African American Civil Rights Network. The site’s inclusion on the network is a testament to the Black soldiers of the USCT who successfully petitioned in 1864 to have their fellow soldiers reburied with full military honors in the Soldier’s Cemetery, now Alexandria National Cemetery. The memorial recognizes this first known civil rights protest in the city, as well as the self-emancipated African American men, women, and children who fled to Alexandria during the Civil War. It was nominated by the Alexandria Archaeological Commission, with support from the City of Alexandria City Council and the Office of Historic Alexandria.
Watch the dedication of Alexandria's Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial as part of the National Park Service African American Civil Rights Network in July 2021.