AUSTIN, Texas — The Bethany Cemetery opened in 1893 as the first Black cemetery in Austin. It opened when the Oakwood Cemetery ran out of room for Black graves in its small, segregated section.
“They had a small section and when it was full, there was no more room. So, we didn't have any place to bury our dead," said Sue Spears, president of the Bethany Cemetery Association. "So some men in the community got together, and they created the Bethany Cemetery Association."
However, the historic cemetery could be soon taken over by the Denner Group, a development company that wants to use parts of the south and west sides of the cemetery for a mixed-use development project with housing.
It's something Spears, who has been taking care of the cemetery since the mid-1990s, never wants to see.
"That land use is not appropriate next to a historical cemetery,” Spears said.
The cemetery holds a great deal of cultural significance, with numerous former slaves and buffalo soldiers buried there.
“Some of them were born slaves. They experienced Jim Crow,” Spears said. “And they lived through all that turmoil, and now that they have supposedly a resting place, then their resting place is going to be disturbed.”
Spears said those people should not be discarded in this way.
“To me, they were marginalized in life and [are] still being disrespected in death,” Spears said.
After hearing about the proposed development, a number of local activists – including Chas Moore from the Austin Justice Coalition – wanted to get involved.
"The least the City can do is pay some respect to my ancestors and Black and brown folks that are that are buried in a cemetery,” Moore said.
The Austin Justice Coalition is going to pay for the initial upkeep of the cemetery and eventually install security cameras. The group said it will also have people coming out to help clean it as soon as possible.
"It's important to honor and respect and pay homage to history because it's part of who we are," Moore said. "It's part of our healing process as a as a society."
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