Halloween! All Souls' Weekend! Some look at it as a pagan holiday, while others let loose, break out whatever pop culture costume the can don, and wreck havoc in the 'hood, all for just a night full of sugar rushes.
Yesterday was drizzling and overcast, which was the perfect setting for a field trip, along with my fellow Friends of Music Hall board members & volunteers, to the Union Baptist Cemetery. All the Halloween fun without the quintessential craziness that comes along with it.
Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2002, it is the second oldest African-American Baptist cemetery in Cincinnati, founded in 1864 by members of the Union Baptist Church.
Led by architect and historian Chris Hanlin, the tour of the cemetery integrated stories of our African American history as many civil rights leaders, ministers educators, athletes, musicians, and others are interred here.
Here are snapshots for you to either get spooked or enjoy! Happy All Souls' Weekend!
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| This building once housed a receiving vault. In the winter months, remains were housed in the vault until the spring thaw where they were ultimately transferred to regular plots. |
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| Wallace "Bud" Smith. World Lightweight Boxing Champion who competed in the 1948 London Olympics. In November of that year, he turned pro with a first round knockout of Torpedo Tinsley at Cincinnati Music Hall. |
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| Norval C. Vaughan. Invented personal armor to be worn under clothing. Also the first African American doctor to treat a patient at City Hospital (now UC Medical Center) |
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| Beaty family plot. Powhatan Beaty, who fought in the Black Brigade, his wife, and son, A. Lee Beaty, district attorney of Southwest Ohio. |
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| Myron "Tiny" Bradshaw. Jazz musician and composer. |
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| Mushrooms |
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| Dr. Darwin Turner. At age 16, he was the youngest person to receive a degree at the University of Cincinnati. |
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| Porter family plot. Jennie D. Porter was the first African American woman to serve as a public school principal. Hays-Porter School, located in the West End, is named after her., |
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| Mother Magnolia Wyatt. First woman to be ordained in Georgia. She came to Cincinnati to serve as pastor of the Church of the Living God. |
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| Wilbur Allen Page, WWI veteran and pastor of Union Baptist Church, 1919-1985. Around the corner from the church is Page Tower, senior building named after the pastor. |
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| Charles E Hunt. Civil rights activist and Pullman Porter instructor |
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| More mushrooms |
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| Fountain Lewis. Barber to the elite. HIs clients included Kentucky Senator Henry Clay and Richard Mentor Johnson, U.S. Vice President under Martin van Buren. Lewis was also a major contributor to the construction of Music Hall and was on the board of trustees at Union Baptist Church. Read more about Lewis in this blog. |
