Though I will always be of Wilson, I have lived in Atlanta for most of my adult life. It is very much “home” for me, too, and is a bottomless well of African-American culture and history that often informs the way I process research and works related to Black Wide-Awake and Lane Street Project.

I’ve recently begun visiting metro Atlanta’s historic African-American burial grounds. How have they weathered exploding population growth, shifting demographics, outmigration, land loss, and other pressures? The first in a series — Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, Fulton County.

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I’ve lived in Atlanta more than half my life, but only recently ventured into the city’s storied Oakland Cemetery. The cemetery’s “Black Section,” founded in 1866, covers 3.5 acres and more than 12,000 known burials. (That’s less than half the size of Vick Cemetery, but three times the graves.) The grounds are now the focus of extensive restoration efforts by Historic Oakland Foundation.

In 2021 or ’22, Wilson city council voted to fund interpretive signage at Vick Cemetery, but never moved forward. Signboards like this one would help the community connect history and family to the present seemingly empty field that is Vick.

This audio cell phone tour is fantastic and is on my wildest dream list for Lane Street Project.

Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, February 2025.