African-American cemetery in Ypsi Township will be surveyed to identify lost graves

On the Ground Ypsilanti is an “embedded journalism” program covering the city and township of Ypsilanti. It is supported by Ann Arbor SPARK, the Center for Health and Research Transformation, Destination Ann Arbor, Eastern Michigan University, Engage @ EMU, Washtenaw Community College, Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission, and Washtenaw ISD.

The African American Cultural and Historical Museum of Washtenaw County (AACHM) is partnering with national engineering consulting firm Terracon for a noninvasive geological survey of Woodlawn Cemetery in Ypsilanti Township, the only known African-American graveyard in Washtenaw County and one of only a handful in the state of Michigan. 

Deborah Covington, chair of the AACHM board, says the cemetery was founded in 1946 by a local pastor named Garther Roberson, Jr. during the era of Jim Crow and racial segregation.

“Supposedly segregation wasn’t an issue in the north, but it was, de facto. Many Black bodies were buried in a white cemetery but in a non-white area [of the cemetery],” Covington says. “So Pastor Roberson decided to purchase a plot of land and give them honor they often didn’t experience in life. At least they could have honor and dignity in death.”

Sadly, by 1965, official records deemed the cemetery abandoned, and it became totally overgrown. Since taking on the cemetery project, the AACHM has hosted several workdays to remove brush, and the site can be seen from South Huron River Drive now. The cemetery is located in the southeast side of the intersection of South Huron River Drive and Hubbard Avenue.

Covington notes that many of the people who come to workdays have loved ones from only a generation or two back buried there. She says they are not working toward some kind of abstract Black history goal but rather are searching for family members’ graves.

Terracon will be on site March 9-20 to conduct a geophysical survey. Both Covington and Alex Corkum, an archeologist with Terracon, say that the survey will be “totally noninvasive.” No graves will be disturbed, Covington notes.

A first pass with some specialized radar tools has already given the team a great deal of information, expanding what they thought of as the boundary of the cemetery and adding more potential gravesites to a map the AACHM is working on.

Terracon is donating its work on the project at no cost to the AACHM. Corkum says this is in part “giving back” to the community, but it’s also an opportunity to teach technicians from Terracon locations around the U.S. to come to Ypsilanti Township and learn in a unique location, getting hands-on experience with dozens of different technologies.

“You don’t always get the opportunity to throw the kitchen sink at a problem,” Corkum notes. 

Additionally, he says, Terracon hopes to publish some of its technical findings in academic journals at some point. More information about the Woodlawn Cemetery project is available on the AACHM website.