T
Known But To
hose revered four words are carved into the white marble of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. Sadly, those four words apply to many graves here in Fort Bend County. These forgotten lives have common traits. They tend to be in cemeteries of people of color. Some are likely the last resting place of slaves. Many are humans who were still denied their basic rights by states clinging to racism with Jim Crow laws after slavery was eliminated in our Civil War. All of these grave sites have been poorly maintained. Some are inaccessible without a chain saw and cutters to fight through dense brush. Many tombstones have fallen over or lie in pieces. Some have fire ants and weeds covering the graves. All of us in Fort Bend should feel concern for allowing this situation to occur.
God
During Black History Month 2022, I sought to do a weekly social media post on African Americans from Fort Bend who made Fort Bend Strong. I started with the first African American in United States history to be elected sheriff of a county, Walter Moses Burton, here in Fort Bend. Sheriff Burton was born into slavery, became our elected sheriff, and served seven years as our elected Texas State Senator. Next on my list was Olympic Gold Medal swimmer and the pride of Austin High, Simone Manuel. My third posting was about Benjamin Franklin Williams. I learned Williams lived in the Freedman’s town of Kendleton, but there was controversy as to where and when he was buried. The Texas State Historical Association said the “date and place of his death are not known.” Other sources said he was buried in Kendleton.
The most extreme example of forgotten gravesites was the “Sugar Land 95.” Ninety-five victims – 94 men and one woman – were discovered in unmarked graves during construction of the James Reese Career and Technical Center in 2018. They were victims of the Convict Lease Program. This horrific program used a loophole in the Thirteenth Amendment to imprison freed slaves on false charges, so they could be turned over to the landowners to work the sugar cane fields. The landowners did not care if they worked these “new” slaves to death. Some of the Sugar Land 95 were buried so quickly that their leg irons were still on their bones. The landowners would then get another prisoner from prison and work him or her to death. This practice went on for nearly thirty years. We are fortunate for our community’s response to the discovery of the Sugar Land 95. Fort Bend ISD sought advice from local experts like Reginald Moore and other interested organizations. A common plan emerged: mark the graves, get DNA evidence to identify the 95, and raise private funds to build a museum and learning center near the eternal resting place of these forgotten people. The Sugar Land 95 showed that we are Fort Bend Strong!
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MAY / JUNE 2022 l TO ADVERTISE, EMAIL: kay@absolutelyfocusmedia.com
