Volunteers clean burial ground for former slaves near Dallas

[TomSea]

Volunteers clean burial ground for former slaves near Dallas
Elvia Limon

IRVING, Texas — Jammie Simon can point to the tree where the body of his great-grandfather, Minnie Shelton, was laid to rest.

But like many of the nearly 200 former slaves and others buried at Shelton’s Bear Creek Cemetery, Simon’s great-grandfather, the former owner of the burial ground, no longer has a tombstone.

Simon said since finding out about his family’s connection with the cemetery in 2000, he’s helped a handful of community members maintain the small and often-forgotten cemetery, including building and placing white wooden crosses where tombstones use to stand, according to a Dallas Morning News report.

Read more at: http://www.phillytrib.com/news/volunteers-clean-burial-ground-for-former-slaves-near-dallas/article_f48c0d49-4062-5460-9e5f-448726dafff1.html