Community vows to honor those in unmarked Sugar Land graveshttps://www.chron.com/business/article/Community-vows-to-honor-those-buried-in-unmarked-13096212.phpUnder a canopy of crepe myrtles among the manicured environs of Sugar Land, activists stood in near triple-digit heat Sunday afternoon to pay homage to the African-Americans buried in unmarked graves just feet away on the site of a Fort Bend ISD construction project.
They gathered with their children, relatives and friends, waving pan-African and Black Panther flags, as community leaders spoke through a megaphone about the some 95 graves that have been found at the site along University Boulevard and Chatham.
Those buried are believed to have been part of the state’s convict-leasing system, in which prisoners, primarily African-Americans, were contracted out for labor. The statewide program was initiated shortly after slavery was outlawed more than 150 years ago.
Under a canopy of crepe myrtles among the manicured environs of Sugar Land, activists stood in near triple-digit heat Sunday afternoon to pay homage to the African-Americans buried in unmarked graves just feet away on the site of a Fort Bend ISD construction project.
They gathered with their children, relatives and friends, waving pan-African and Black Panther flags, as community leaders spoke through a megaphone about the some 95 graves that have been found at the site along University Boulevard and Chatham.
Those buried are believed to have been part of the state’s convict-leasing system, in which prisoners, primarily African-Americans, were contracted out for labor. The statewide program was initiated shortly after slavery was outlawed more than 150 years ago.
“We’re going to give these ancestors a proper acknowledgment,†said Kofi Taharka, national chairman of the National Black United Front, as the group walked in a procession alongside the construction site.
The group praised and prayed for Reginald Moore, guardian of the nearby Old Imperial Farm Cemetery, who had long believed additional graves existed in the area.
Moore, who was at the event Sunday, had warned the school district not to build on the site. He has been studying the history of the area for years and believes there are more hidden graves in areas nearby.