On Sunday, a Lexington County church held a rededication ceremony for the St. Michael African American Cemetery—a historical burial ground established for enslaved persons. Descendants of the enslaved persons buried at the site, churchgoers, and members of the community came out to celebrate the rededication of this burial ground with a service, concert, and reception.
One of those descendants was Pamela Redmon Smith. Smith’s great-grandfather, Belton Spann, is among those buried. Spann died after emancipation as a free man. From her mother, Smith says she’s heard many stories throughout her life of Spann, who she describes as a voter and property-owner. Part of his property on Lake Murray Drive is now a Wendy’s.
Smith says learning where her great-grandfather was buried felt spiritual.
“What it means [for me] is connection,” she says. “I feel like we need to continue to connect to our ancestors and finding where they’re buried. It gives us a sense of really [knowing] who we belong to. [It’s] overwhelming to know that. [It’s] like, okay, these [people] are the foundation. That’s who they are, the foundation.”
For St. Michael’s Pastor Frank W. Anderson, Sunday’s rededication ceremony is about reconciliation.
“Reconciliation is not pretending that the past was less painful than it was. It’s not asking descendants to forget the suffering of their ancestors,” he says. “True reconciliation begins with truth. [It] acknowledges wrongdoing. It seeks justice where injustice has endured, and it creates relationships in which dignity, trust, and mutual responsibility can grow.”
Anderson discovered the cemetery after his daughter went on a run…