Today we’d like to introduce you to Jasmine Lee.
Hi Jasmine, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Incorporated in 1875 Olivewood Cemetery is the oldest African American cemetery in Houston. Of the nearly 4,000 burials, roughly a quarter of the individuals at rest in Olivewood experienced the horrors of enslavement while many more were born post-Emancipation. Olivewood Cemetery is also the final resting place for three of the four founders of Emancipation Park in
Houston, Texas as well as many pillars of the early free Black community of Houston and the surrounding areas.
Olivewood Cemetery is the final resting place of many notable figures in Houston’s early African American community:
- Richard Brock (1824-1906), one of the city’s first African American lawmakers, who served as Alderman for four years and was also a businessman and founding member of two Houston churches, co-founder of the first masonic lodge for Black men in Houston, donated land for a school, helped establish Emancipation Park in 1872, and with his wife Eliza, were parents of ten children.
- Elias Dibble (1811-1885), founder who was pastor of Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, the oldest African American church in Houston. Dibble was born enslaved and arrived in Houston after emancipation. With Brock and others, Dibble helped to establish Olivewood Cemetery. He also helped organize a Mutual Benevolent Society in 1865 to aid those in need, was a member of the Board of Commissioners for the Gregory Institute and helped lead the fundraising efforts to buy land to be used for the annual Juneteenth celebrations, which eventually became Emancipation Park.
- Lucy Farrow (1851-1911), a holiness minister and the niece of Frederick Douglass, is also buried at Olivewood. According to the Houston Chronicle, in 1906, she was part of the famous Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, where she was known as the “anointed handmaiden” who laid her hands on believers who received the Holy Spirit and the gift of tongues. She died in Houston in 1911.
This Texas Historic Cemetery and UNESCO Site of Memory for the Slave Route Project also illustrates unique African American burial practices developed in pre-Emancipation Black communities, including upright pipes as grave features, the use of ocean shells as grave ornaments, and upside-down or inverted text.
Since 2003, the Descendants of Olivewood have endeavored to preserve the dignity and history of Olivewood Cemetery with countless hours of hard work alongside the many volunteers that have graced Olivewood Cemetery.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road has not been easy for Olivewood Cemetery and the Descendants of Olivewood. For many of us, death represents a finality and we often don’t think of what happens to cemeteries afterward. Unfortunately, Olivewood was left neglected for decades after the last burials in the early 1960s. It wasn’t until Margott Williams, president and founder of Descendants of Olivewood, learned in the late 1990s that her great-grandmother couldn’t be buried alongside her family at rest in Olivewood. From that moment, Margott vowed to save Olivewood Cemetery from neglect and vandalism. With time, dedication, and massive volunteer support, Olivewood has been returned to a state where the public can learn about this incredible community. However, there is long road ahead of us and challenges Houstonians have become all too familiar with-extreme flooding. Flooding from events like Allison, the Tax Day flood, and Hurricane Harvey have dealt incredible damage to the cemetery. Headstones are often toppled or washed away. Erosion has continued to destabilize burials which can lead to a loss of human remains. Mitigating this type of destruction will take an extensive archaeological survey and funding.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Working with the Descendants of Olivewood and Olivewood Cemetery has been the most rewarding endeavor I’ve ever been a part of. My background is in anthropology, so of course, I am fascinated by the unique cultural aspects Olivewood has on display. But learning more about the beliefs, behaviors, and lives of the individuals at rest adds more context to the experiences of Black men and women from slavery through Emancipation. People are often buried in where they lived and can reveal a great deal about a community. At Olivewood, there is evidence of how those at rest built and supported their communities. Church affiliations, social clubs and mutual aid foundations, family and kinship networks are just some of the ways those at rest in Olivewood created places like Freedmen’s Town and other early Black communities across Houston.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Coming to Olivewood is different from visiting other historical sites because there, you are sharing the space with people that made history. At Olivewood, you are six feet away from 3 of the 4 founders of Emancipation Park. At Olivewood, you can occupy the same space as someone born in the late 1700s. As a visitor, you are keenly reminded that many of the people you are sharing space with experienced slavery and even more lived through Jim Crow and segregation. Olivewood cemetery offers a unique context through which visitors can learn more about the time these lives spanned. Olivewood isn’t just the date it was incorporated. It is rich with the context of the lives it contains. From the late 1700s to the early 1960s is an immense swath of history and cultures.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.descendantsofolivewood.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/descendantsofolivewood/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/descendantsofolivewood
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/OlivewoodTX
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt2b5b3_8S8DRqHsOt5fxsg
Image Credits
Jasmine Lee
