By Robyn Moore, Reference Librarian
Finding historical African American cemeteries is a challenge for those seeking to know their history. Often, these cemeteries were unmarked, forced to be separate from the named burial sites, destroyed or displaced due to city development, or forgotten when the communities moved away. However, they may be mentioned in government records, local historical organizations, historical newspapers, and many other places. While we do not know of any comprehensive sources for finding an individual’s burial location or final resting place, the following resources may be helpful in tracking down relevant resources and conducting your search.
Searching the Web
The following websites are registries specifically for African American cemeteries.
Texas African American Cemetery Registry – The Texas Freedom Colonies Project
Site Directory — Black Cemetery Network
The site Find a Grave (https://www.findagrave.com/) may prove less useful for a researcher looking for African American cemeteries but is still a good resource that you won’t want to miss.
Search Cemeteries – Find a Grave
Searching our Catalog
One resource that the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) holds that many people may not know about are the archaeological reports done before some construction projects. Before construction is begun, the site is evaluated for historical significance. If it is determined to be historically significant, an archaeological investigation is done to see what the construction would be displacing. Through these investigations, burial sites that were once lost can sometimes be rediscovered. Search for archaeological reports in the TSLAC catalog, including keywords to target your area of interest, to see if any discoveries have been made.
Try using a special kind of search, called a Boolean Search, in our catalog with keywords such as “African American” AND “cemetery.” The all caps “AND” tells the search engine to use both terms at once. This can show resources such as Investigation of the Hockley Cemetery, 41BX911, and African American family of the Wetmore Community, in northeast San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, or Bioarcheological investigations of nineteenth-century African American burials at the Pioneer Cemetery (41BO202) in Brazoria, Texas.
Searching Local Resources
We also suggest that you contact libraries in your area of interest about their local history and newspaper collections. You may search for Texas libraries on our Find a Library page.
Another great strategy is to contact a local genealogy or historical group, like Travis County Cemetery Project. FamilySearch has wikis to help your search for sources by location.
Searching for the Funeral Home
Private funeral home and crematory records are not maintained by TSLAC. If you know the name of the funeral home or crematory that performed the burial, you may wish to contact that entity about available records.
If you do not know the name of the funeral home or crematory that performed the service, you may try using some of the tips from our Business and Company History Research Guide to try locating the entities that served your communities of interest.
Searching for a Death Certificate
You may want to search for the individual’s death certificate, which may have burial information. Although we do not have the certificates themselves, we do have some Texas vital statistics indexes available for on-site research at our library in Austin, Texas.
FamilySearch.org has some Texas vital statistics collections available to search online:
Searching Newspapers
Newspapers from the date(s) and area(s) of interest may have published an obituary, which can provide funeral home or cemetery information. Visit our website for information about newspaper resources, including online newspaper databases.
Historic Texas Cemetery Designation
If you locate a lost or threatened cemetery, you may be able to get it registered as a Historic Texas Cemetery (HTC). You can read more about this designation on the Texas Historical Commission’s (THC) website. THC has several grants that support care of these historical cemeteries. Care for these historic cemeteries is vital in preserving history and comes from grassroots volunteers like you. If you know of a historical burial site that needs care, reach out to THC for their support in maintaining this Texas landmark.
For more information about the collections at the Texas State Library and Archives, contact our reference staff at 512-463-5455 or ref@tsl.texas.gov.