Work continues on restoring African American Grounds at Oakland Cemetery

Historic Oakland Foundation (HOF) has a goal to completely restore Oakland Cemetery’s historic African American Grounds, and is now one step closer. This month HOF will finish a restoration project at the final resting place of one of Georgia’s first black female doctors.

Last October during the Capturing the Spirit of Oakland Halloween Tours, attendees donated a recordbreaking $7,500 to help restore the final resting place of Dr. Beatrice Thompson and her sister Estella Henderson. Dr. Thompson graduated from medical school in 1901 before establishing a practice in Athens, a rare accomplishment at the time for a woman, much less a woman of color. Estella Henderson, who was a lawyer and professor at Morris Brown College, is buried next to her sister.

“This year we begin a concerted focus on restoring the African American Grounds and the work on the Thompson lot is a monumental first step for the Foundation,” said David Moore, executive director at HOF. “We want to keep the momentum around this project going and in order to do so, we need support in the form of both community involvement and financial backing from public and private donors.”

An additional $300,000 is needed to complete the African American Grounds restoration project.

The Thompson lot contains nine recorded burials, four of which have monuments associated with them. HOF’s Preservation, Restoration, and Operations (PRO) Team restored each of these monuments, which were uneven, broken and unstable due to the passage of time. HOF’s gardens team will in turn improve the lot with period-appropriate landscaping.

A new headstone will be erected for Dr. Thompson and her husband, Sidney J. Thompson, who was a probation officer with the Fulton County juvenile court and founder of the first Atlanta Boys’ Club. The markers will be laid at a private dedication ceremony in the spring.

Throughout February, HOF will offer free guided walking tours of the African American Grounds during Black History Month. Visit oaklandcemetery.com for more information.