About Woodland Cemetery Historic Preservation
The Woodland Cemetery and African American Burial Ground Historic Preservation Project was formed in the summer of 2020 following the recovery of unmarked graves in Woodland Cemetery. By early 2021, ground penetrating radar (GPR) identified more than 500 unknown graves, believed to belong to African and African American enslaved persons, sharecroppers, tenant farmers, domestic laborers, convicted laborers, as well as wage workers and their families. As we learn more about who might be buried in these graves, the preservation project is also working to research, memorialize, and share the full history of Woodland Cemetery, which was established in 1924 for white employees of Clemson and their immediate families by the Clemson Board of Trustees at the behest of President Walter Riggs.
The interdisciplinary project team consists of Clemson University faculty, students, and staff; local community leaders and public history professionals; and a Task Force and Legacy Council appointed by the Clemson Board of Trustees. The team is also supported by several offices on the Clemson campus. Additionally, the team brings in expert consultants from around the nation to offer guidance on this project.
Project Team
Research and Community Engagement Team
Telling an accurate history of the African American Burial Ground and Woodland Cemetery involves diligent and thorough historical research and outreach. The research and community engagement team works in libraries, archives, and in local communities to research important documents, listen to oral histories, and help recover the stories of individuals and families who may be buried at the site. The team also works to engage the public in these research, restoration, and preservation efforts.
Dr. Rhondda Thomas, Calhoun Lemon Professor of Literature, Call My Name Faculty Director, and Coordinator of Research and Community Engagement for the Woodland Cemetery and African American Burial Ground Historic Preservation Project
Alleyia Bailey, Undergraduate Research Assistant
Dr. Mandi Barnard, Research Historian
Marjorie Campbell, Project Manager
Dr. Sara Collini, Postdoctoral Fellow in University History
Lucas DeBenedetti, Undergraduate Research Assistant
Marquise Drayton, Community Engagement Assistant
Jessica Foster, Graduate Research Assistant
Dr. David Markus, Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice
Ka'tia Reyes, Undergraduate Communications Assistant
Deborah Robinson, Genealogist
Harolynn Williams, Graduate Research Intern
Undergraduate Student Researchers, Creative Inquiry in History: The Woodland Cemetery Preservation and Memorial Project HIST 3890 Spring 2023: Virginia Edlund, Demetra Karres, Rose Keller, Lauren Magnani, Alexis Thomas, and Dr. Jody Usher
Community Engagement Council
Collaboration and partnership with the African American communities surrounding Clemson University is essential. Community leaders from the four local areas surrounding Clemson, including Anderson, Clemson-Central, Pendleton, and Oconee County, advise on local research, community outreach, and preservation and memorialization plans for the African American Burial Ground.
Anderson
J. T. Boseman
Jack Henderson
Nekaun Swinger
Dr. Beatrice Thompson
Clemson-Central
Rosa Grayden
Dalphene Jameson
Pastor Zackary Johnson
Oconee County
Shelby Henderson
Kathy Jenkins
Helen Rosemond-Saunders
Pendleton
Terence Hassan
Clemson University Board of Trustees Task Force
The Clemson Board of Trustees appointed a Task Force to develop a preservation plan for the burial ground.
David Dukes, Chair
Dr. Louis Lynn
Kim Wilkerson
Legacy Council
The Legacy Council, appointed by the Task Force, assists with the development of the preservation plan and with community engagement.
President Emeritus James F. Barker
Dr. James Bostic Jr.
David Dukes
Dr. Rhondda Thomas
Project Affiliates
Several people and organizations across campus, South Carolina, and the nation also contribute to this project by providing scientific and historical research, expert consulting, and advising. Their support is invaluable to the project.
Dr. Joshua Catalano, Assistant Professor of History and Coordinator of the Public History Emphasis Area at Clemson University
Clemson Architecture Working Group for Woodland Cemetery and the African American Burial Ground
Clemson University Facilities
Clemson University Special Collections and Archives
Creative Inquiry + Undergraduate Research at Clemson University
New South Associates, Archaeology Survey and Preservation Plan Development
Preservation South and Summit Engineering, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) Survey
Dr. Michael Blakey, NEH Professor of Anthropology, Africana Studies, and American Studies and Founding Director of the Institute for Historical Biology at the College of William & Mary
Dr. Lawrence Conyers, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Denver
Chris Judge, Director of the Native American Studies Center at USC Lancaster
Dr. Lynn Rainville, Director of Institutional History and the Museums at Washington and Lee University
Project Alumni
Dr. Paul Anderson, Former University Historian at Clemson University
Marissa Davis, Former Graduate Research Assistant
Aundrea Gibbons, Former Undergraduate Community Engagement Assistant
Dr. La'Neice Littleton, Former Postdoctoral Fellow in Public Humanities and African American Life at Clemson University
Dr. Brian Stack, Former Community Engagement Assistant
Nolly Swan, Former Undergraduate Research Assistant
Former Undergraduate Student Researchers, Creative Inquiry in History: The Woodland Cemetery Preservation and Memorial Project HIST 3890: Gillian Barnard, Beau Clardy, Lucas DeBenedetti, Bryanna Grayson, Maddie Hund, Aimey Jimm, Jermaine Johnson, Ollie Joye, Katie McDowell, Janet McNeil, Derrick Phillips, Matthew Sloop, Hannah Sparks, Abbigayle Stewart, Destiny Stewart, Nolly Swan, Robin Urban, and Rebecca White
