Memory, Legacy, & the Law: Remembering Baltimore's Dead

Who speaks for the dead?
Who protects our historic burial grounds?
What does a community owe to the people who came before us?

Join the Office of Student Affairs after the closing of our Community Remembrance Altar in the Main Lobby, for a screening of "Sacred Ground: The Battle for Mt. Auburn Cemetery," a 2012 documentary exploring Baltimore’s historic African American cemetery and the community’s efforts to preserve its legacy. A registered historic landmark and tragically neglected African American cemetery in Southwest Baltimore had fallen into such horrifying condition that bones littered the ground, and weeds cover all but the highest monuments. This documentary covers the community's efforts to restore its dignity.

Formed in 1872 in protest of segregation, the Cemetery was once known as “The City of the Dead for Colored People," because it was the only place in the City a person of color could be buried. Over the 150 years of its existence, the cemetery has often fallen into disrepair and has been the scene of gruesome situations. In 1918, 175 Black victims of the Spanish Flu epidemic lay unburied on its grounds for weeks as the usual laborers refused to bury them. The Mayor had to call in soldiers from Camp Meade to bury the bodies using army trucks and trenching machines. In 1930, the Afro-American reported that grave diggers working on the site accidentally unearthed skulls, bones, and caskets of the dead. Although it remained a popular burial ground, it has in recent decades again become dilapidated. The cost of maintaining the graveyard is $25,000 a year. In 2012, Mount Auburn was cleaned up and rededicated by the State of Maryland with funding from the Abell Foundation, and with much of the work done by 40 state prison inmates. In recent years, the “Resurrecting Mount Auburn Cemetery” project has documented the names of 55,000 buried there and continues to work on identifying gravesites.

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