Black-owned Burr Oak Cemetery, resting place of Emmett Till, heads toward National Register listing

Burr Oak Cemetery — the Black-owned south suburban cemetery that’s the final resting place of Mamie and Emmett Till, singer Dinah Washington, rapper King Von and generations of other prominent figures — appears headed for a listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Illinois Historic Sites Advisory Council has approved recommending that designation to the U.S. Park Service’s keeper of the National Register.

“I’m still on a cloud,” said Edward Boone, founder and chairperson of the nonprofit Friends of Burr Oak Cemetery. “Like I won an NBA championship. It’s really great … because I know, with the value of having that status, the resources that it will bring.”…

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