Our First Year: South-View Cemetery 125 Years
This historic "colored" cemetery, a final resting place for many Atlanta trailblazers, celebrates its 125th year anniversary this year.
Editor's Note: Cascade Patch celebrates its first anniversary this month. This piece, by Jamie Cox, is today's "Our First Year" feature. It first ran April 15, 2011.
South-View Cemetery in East Atlanta will hold a 125th Charter Day and Mausoleum Dedication on Sunday, April 17, from 2-4 p.m. to celebrate the lives and unique stories of those laid to rest on its grounds.
According to South-View's historical records, South-View, 1990 Jonesboro Rd., was established in 1886 after six African-American businessmen and former slaves (including George W. Graham, Robert Grant, Jacob McKinley, Charles H. Morgan, John Render, and Albert Watts) petitioned Georgia for a place to bury their loved ones.
From that date forward, South-View became the resting place of prominent African-Americans from all professions and walks of life.
Old Fourth Ward patriarch Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr. and Atlanta's first black millionaire Alonzo Herndon, once a west side resident, are buried at South-View. Educator Jean Childs Young, who lived in southwest Atlanta, and Auburn Avenue leader John Wesley Dobbs, grandfather to Atlanta's first black mayor, Maynard Jackson, also have South-View grave sites.
Lisa Borders, former Atlanta City Council President and current President of the Grady Foundation, will speak at the Sunday celebration. Borders is the granddaughter of former Wheat Street Baptist Church Minister Williams Holmes Borders, Sr., who is buried at South-View.
Kenneth Morris, President of the Frederick Douglass Family Foundation and a descendant of the great abolitionist, will also address the audience.
For more information on the 125th Charter Day Celebration, go to www.southviewcemetery.com or call 404-622-5393.
Tammy Garnes
2:14 pm on Friday, April 15, 2011
I recently photographed many of the historical records for Southview. Absolutely amazing! They will be available on Ancestry.com for everyone to view in a few months. Great story!
Péralte Paul
2:45 pm on Friday, April 15, 2011
Thanks for the info on ancestry.com.
Sandra Taliaferro
5:05 pm on Friday, April 15, 2011
Great story. Can't wait for those records to go live on Ancestry.
Tammy Garnes
6:55 am on Saturday, April 16, 2011
@Peralte and Sandra Hey you guys! Yes, they were pretty incredible to handle. So old, so brittle, so beautiful. The lab at the Georgia Archives spent quite a while repairing them, then I was able to finally photograph them all. So many names. A gold mine for researchers.
Karen Adams Anderson
6:02 am on Monday, April 18, 2011
What a blessing, that some black businesses from the 1920's are still alive and well!!
Ceci Haydel
10:37 am on Thursday, November 24, 2011
My first father The Reverend Dr. Samuel Williams is buried there,
Janita Poe
10:55 am on Thursday, November 24, 2011
Hey Ceci, you have too much black Atlanta legacy going on! (And, you have the nerve to be down-to-earth!)
Yolande M. Minor
5:19 pm on Thursday, November 24, 2011
Jamie, I love the beautiful history of your story to showcase Atlanta's black legacy through the graves of God's people . This reminds me of the adversities we have come from (slavery) to become strong and courageous people and the fights we have undertaken before we have entered our final resting place. This story shows the significance of who we are and legacy we have to continue. Excellent Story and Pictures !!!