Black Activists Fight To Stop Storage Facility From Erasing Historic African Cemetery In Maryland

Activists are fighting to preserve the historic Moses Macedonia African Cemetery.

In Montgomery County, Maryland, activists and local community members are fighting to preserve the historic Moses Macedonia African Cemetery, where the remains of formerly enslaved people and their descendants reside, while county officials push forward plans to redevelop the site into a multi-level storage facility.

Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, president of the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition, an organization that has battled officials over the direction of the land, told The Baltimore Banner, there are no markers to commemorate the cemetery’s rich history and significance to the Black community.

“Only McDonald’s, Whole Foods, dry cleaners, and a strip mall,” she observed.

According to advocates, the county’s current plan compounds the original desecration of the burial grounds in the 1960s when developers pushed Black families out of the River Road community in order to pave over that area. The county has countered that claim by asserting that there are no human remains underneath the lot proposed for development.

Meanwhile, the legal battle went to the Maryland Supreme Court before it was sent back down to a lower court to be re-litigated. If necessary, the Bethseda African Cemetery Coalition is willing to its case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“This is a David and Goliath fight, but we know who won that battle at the end of the day,” Coleman-Adebayo told the Banner. “A victory on River Road will prevent the atrocity and genocide that happened in this community from ever happening again.”

For the coalition, Juneteenth held a little extra significance. On that day, it hosted a small rally near the lot which was attended by approximately 100 people who sung and chanted their hopes for the fight to preserve the cemetery. Rosie Saah, an invited speaker representing the Palestinian Solidarity Network, said it was important to call upon the ancestral legacy of resistance to enslavement as the coalition continued its fight with Montgomery County officials.

“We remember on Juneteenth that enslaved people freed themselves. They continually resisted. So we must continue to resist and uphold the dignity of all in life and in death,“ Saah said.

The gathering was equal parts rally and community event that featured tables with food, informational cards, and books, which were given to attendees. One table featured a class project done by fourth graders at The Sienna School, a private school for students with dyslexia in Silver Springs, Maryland.

“If kids as young as 9 and 10 years old can tell that desecration is wrong, why can’t the adults in charge?” Robert Stubblefield, a coalition member who served as the event’s emcee, asked the crowd.

He added, “Black lives matter in life and in death, from the womb to the tomb, from the cradle to the grave.”