Cultural Historian Cory J. France returned to Goucher College Oct. 14 to receive the campus’ Rory Turner Prize for Cultural Sustainability. France presented a lecture summarizing his recent work, “Scenes at the Stakes,” which focuses on the restoration of historic Black gravesites in South Carolina.
France’s discussion, titled “Black Cemetery Citizenship: Memory, Place and the Stakes of Care,” was an explanation of community-led restoration efforts at Palmetto Cemetery, one of many Black burial grounds throughout the nation in the process of reclamation.
“‘Scenes at the Stakes,’ my capstone and working manuscript centers Black cemetery citizenship – the ways we remember, return and refuse to forget,” France said. “It’s rooted in Palmetto Cemetery, a historic Black burial ground in my hometown, Columbia, S.C.”
Like many historically Black cemeteries, France said upkeep of the Palmetto Cemetery relies on “no grant money. No headline tours. Just descendants showing up, like they always have, to tend the resting places of their kin.”…