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Vol. 71 No. 25 | June 20, 2018 southphillyreview.com
GRACE MAIORANO/South Philly Review
Last week, the city, along with Mayor Jim Kenney, announced the development of the Bethel Burying Ground Historic Site Memorial at Weccacoe Playground in Queen Village. Residents paid their respects to the graves, placing flowers on the footprint of the site.
City marks historic past at kids’ park Weccacoe Playground in the Queen Village neighborhood was once the gravesite of nearly 5,000 African Americans By Grace Maiorano SOUTH PHILLY REVIEW
C
ommunity members gathered at Weccacoe Playground last week, solemnly placing carnations and LED candles on the footprint of an erstwhile grave as African drums beat in the distance. Officially announcing the development of the Bethel Burying Ground Historic Site Memorial, the scene, led by Mayor Jim Kenney, was the first of many public events intended to offer formal respect to the nearly 5,000 African Americans who were laid to rest at the Queen Village location during the 18th and 19th centuries. Some two centuries later, a cluster of committees and congregations throughout the city, including the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy, Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church Friends of Bethel Burying Ground and Queen Village Neighbors Association, to name a few, worked to resurrect the burial See BETHEL BURYING GROUND, page 11>>
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