Projects
Learn about our work
Anson Street African Burial Ground Project
Research and Community
In 2017, the City of Charleston requested that we guide the memorialization process for the 36 Ancestors that were uncovered during construction at the Charleston Gaillard Center in 2013. From the start, we knew that community had to play a big role, here is the story of that process.
Mapping Black Burial Grounds
Preservation Society of Charleston + ASABG Team partnership
The Preservation Society of Charleston (PSC) received an African American Civil Rights Grant from the National Park Service in 2022 to support the Mapping Charleston’s Black Burial Grounds Project. This initiative aims to create a community-driven, open-source inventory of Black burial grounds throughout the City of Charleston. ASABG team members, La'Sheia Oubré and Joanna Gilmore, collaborated with the PSC to implement a community engagement program focused on understanding and honoring these sacred sites. Together, they worked to ensure that the history and significance of these burial grounds are recognized and preserved.
Monrovia Street Cemeteries
Broken ties
Adjacent to the Pacific Box and Crate development there are four burial grounds for people of African descent. Three are well-maintained but one, Mt. Zion Presbyterian Church cemetery fell out of the collective consciousness sometime since the construction of I-26 and is overgrown and inaccessible to friends and family of the deceased.
Ephrath and Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church Cemeteries
A call for new legislation
The sale of 88 Smith Street in downtown Charleston highlighted the need for new legislation that protects the burial grounds of African descendant people, whose presence has been excluded from historical narratives.
To learn about how you can support the restoration of burial grounds follow this link to the African American Cemeteries Restoration Fund, which is managed by the Preservation Society of Charleston.
