March 5, 2025 Story by: Editor
The decision to relocate the remains of hundreds of African American tenant farmers from a former Virginia tobacco plantation to a dedicated burial ground has sparked mixed reactions among their descendants, according to The Associated Press.
While some descendants worry about the ethical and emotional implications of disturbing the graves of individuals who were once enslaved and later exploited as sharecroppers, others see the move as an opportunity to honor their ancestors with greater dignity than they received in life.
The remains—largely unidentified—are being exhumed from what was once one of the largest slave-owning operations in the U.S. to make room for an industrial park. Archaeologists have already begun exhuming approximately 275 burial plots, with some remains currently held at a funeral home before being transferred to a new burial site about a mile away.
Officials have been engaging with descendants to discuss genetic testing for unidentified remains and the design of the new cemetery, which will include a memorial archway.
“I don’t think anybody would want their ancestors exhumed or moved,” said Jeff Bennett, whose great-great-great-grandfather was buried at the plantation. “But for them to give us a lot of say-so in the new cemetery … I feel like (they’re) really doing it in a dignified way, in a respectful way.”
A Painful History at Oak Hill Plantation
The burial site, Oak Hill, was part of a vast family empire that enslaved thousands of people across 45 plantations and farms in four states, according to The Hairstons, a 1999 book by Henry Wiencek, which explores the intertwined histories of Black and white families who share the Hairston name. Samuel Hairston, the former owner of the plantation, was reputedly the largest enslaver in the South.
After emancipation, many formerly enslaved individuals left Oak Hill, Wiencek noted. However, those who remained as tenant farmers often endured economic exploitation, poverty, and racial violence under Jim Crow laws. The grand plantation house, built in the 1820s, was destroyed by fire in 1988, and the property has remained largely abandoned since sharecropping declined in the last century.
Concerns Over Exhumation
While some descendants support the relocation, others worry about the disturbance of graves belonging to individuals who suffered great injustices in life. “It just seems that 100 or so odd years after their death, there’s still no rest,” said Cedric Hairston, another descendant who generally supports the project but feels uneasy about the exhumation.
Many tenant farmers adopted the Hairston surname, with Cedric explaining: “We had no other name to identify with, as the government was collecting data for the census.”
As discussions continue about genetic testing, memorialization, and reburial, the relocation of these graves raises broader questions about how America reckons with its history of slavery and racial injustice.
Source: Newser
