Until Tuesday, the tombstone of the Rev. J.J. Jefferson lay face down in the dirt of Roanoke’s Old Lick Cemetery, a historic African American graveyard decimated more than 60 years ago in the name of urban renewal.
But now the marker stands erect once more, facing in the direction of Mt. Zion AME Church, which Jefferson founded in 1884.
The church is long gone now — another casualty in the war for “progress” — but thanks to an all-volunteer nonprofit, the homes of some African American dead may fare better than those of the living.
“The goal of our organization is to bring respect and dignity back to this cemetery and make it a place where people can come on the summit and sit and meditate and consider what has happened and where we are going,” said Ellen Forbes Stick, president of Friends of Old Lick Cemetery.