'People who truly built the University': The Old Chapel Hill Cemetery reflects UNC's racial history

Across from Hooker Fields and behind Connor Residence Hall, a corner of the University's history sits hidden in plain sight.

Students walk through it on game days, crossing from Cobb parking deck toward the Dean E. Smith Center, often without a second thought at how they're one more generation walking past the graves of those that came before them.

The Old Chapel Hill Cemetery was established in 1798 after a land grant given two years prior and serves as the final resting place for various individuals associated with the University. While holding historical significance, it also reflects the histories of Black individuals who contributed to the University's development. 

The cemetery contains approximately 1600 burials spread across six sections, labeled A-B and I-IV. The Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies were the first to establish plots on the land, with the earliest recorded burial belonging to 19-year-old George Clarke. 

The grounds are also the final resting place of various public officials, local authors, Confederate soldiers from the Civil War and veterans from subsequent wars. 

Historically, sections A and B were designated for Black burials, both enslaved and free individuals, due to the lack of Black church cemeteries in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Burials in these sections were typically marked by a simple field stone instead of inscribed headstones and often go unrecognized as grave markers. Because of this, many of those stones have been removed or relocated over time, resulting in numerous unidentified graves.

Notable individuals buried in these sections include George Kirkland, the first Black dentist in Chapel Hill; Wilson Swain Campbell, an ex-slave who established the Town’s first school for Black people; and George Barbee, who has one of the oldest stones in Section B. 

The cemetery has undergone instances of neglect and damage, including past acts of vandalism that have raised concerns about its preservation, with 40-50 monuments broken and toppled in 1974 and football fans damaging field stones in a rush to reach the stadium in 1985. It’s unclear if these damages were intentional or not. 

In April 1985, the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery Task Force was established to present recommendations to the Chapel Hill Town Council concerning maintenance and preservation of the cemetery, with their report from later that year raising concerns about the cemetery’s condition, citing sunken graves, sparse grass, damaged stone walls and broken grave markers, emphasizing the need for greater efforts to preserve its historical legacy.

Larry Rhodes, park maintenance supervisor in the Town’s Parks and Recreation Department, said that he and his team aim to maintain the integrity of the cemetery, specifically regarding the fieldstones of unmarked Black individuals as well as the burial plots of “certain dignitaries.” 

“We try to pay as much attention to the details within the cemetery, given its age and the nature, the way it was constructed, those types of things,” he said. 

Rhodes said that maintenance staff tend to the grounds at least once a week, making sure that the fieldstones are not misplaced, picking up trash, clearing up tree limbs and more, especially with the parking deck and athletic facilities being close by. 

If vandalism were to occur, Rhodes would report the damage and depending on its extent, the Town’s monument company would handle the necessary repairs.

He added that their biggest task is making sure that all gravestones and structures are “visible to everyone.” 

University archivist Nicolas Graham said that the lack of a clear record of everyone buried in the Black sections of the cemetery “mirrors the documentation we have for slavery at UNC.” 

“There is substantial documentation showing the use of enslaved labor for the construction and maintenance of campus buildings and of people working as unpaid servants on campus, but it's not a comprehensive record by any means, and it certainly requires a good bit of research and inference to really understand, to get a broad sense of of the role and impact of slavery at the University,” he said. 

Danita Mason-Hogans, Chapel Hill native and civil rights historian, said that the segregation of Black graves within the cemetery speaks to their position on campus and the families they served. 

"In terms of people who truly built the University, what we think about them, what we think about their labor, what we think about their memory, especially when you have something that’s dilapidated on one side, and beautifully manicured on the other side, I think it shows us a lot that is not inconsistent with the history of how people were valued back then," she said.

Mason-Hogans highlighted several efforts focused on honoring the contributions of Black individuals to UNC, including the "Slavery and the University" exhibit, archival records at Wilson Library detailing the lives of enslaved people and their owners, the Unsung Founders Memorial in McCorkle Place, and the University Commission on History, Race, and a Way Forward.

She added that it is important that people acknowledge the truth of the University’s history and work toward a “prescriptive repair” rather than erase people’s histories or diminish their contributions. 

“Until we do that, we’re always going to have desecration of people’s graves because people won’t know the truth and people won’t be able to do anything that honors that legacy,” she said. “And until we do, this will be a University for some people, not University of the people.”

@calebherrera

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