Historic Black community in N.S. plans restoration of cemetery
Residents of the historic African Nova Scotian community of Beechville are planning work to revitalize the local cemetery after being awarded a grant from the Halifax Regional Municipality.
The $10,000 grant has been awarded to the Beechville United Baptist Church under the Anti-Black Racism Grants program.
The initiative, which was unveiled last year, is aimed at helping Black communities deal with systemic and historical challenges.
In recommending the funds, the city said the project will help preserve the stories and contributions of Beechville's ancestors, while fostering a "sense of pride, respect, and connection for families, visitors, and the broader community."
"It would be very important to our community that the gravesite is looking proper," said Iona Duncan-States, who is a member of the church cemetery committee. "The way it should be looking, for our loved ones."
The 85-year-old African Nova Scotian is also a deacon with the church and her mother, father, sister and nephew are buried in the cemetery.
She visits the graves every Sunday. She said she has noticed deteriorating conditions.
"The ground is sinking in spots," she said. "So we do need to do a total renovation of the gravesite. It's really in desperate need of repair."
Many members of the Halifax-area community that was founded in 1813 have family buried there, so it means a lot there is now money to restore the grounds.
Part of the grant will go toward helping identify some of the unmarked graves at the site.
A number of white crosses have fallen down at the church that has been a cornerstone of the community for nearly 200 years.
"To walk through the cemetery and see unmarked graves is kind of upsetting to me because there's still somebody there," said Josh Crawford, who is the funeral director in the community and cemetery assistant chair. "And so we're trying to figure out ways of recognizing who is in those plots."
Attempts will be made to identify some of the graves through archival research and by talking to residents. The eventual plan is to create a historical map of the grounds.
"And just placing a marker there to show that … somebody is there," Crawford said.
It's expected work will begin within the next six months.
Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Toronto Star
2 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Families of those killed in collapse of Georgia ferry dock sue companies that built it
ATLANTA (AP) — Relatives of seven people who drowned in waters off a Georgia island after a ferry dock walkway collapsed announced Wednesday they filed a lawsuit against the companies that designed and built it. Dozens of people were standing on the metal walkway over the water between a ferry boat and a dock on Sapelo Island when it snapped in the middle. Many plunged into the water and got swept away by tidal currents, while others clung desperately to the hanging, fractured structure. The tragedy Oct. 19 struck as about 700 people visited Sapelo Island for a celebration of the tiny Hogg Hummock community founded by enslaved people who were emancipated after the Civil War. Reachable only by boat, it's one of the few Gullah-Geechee communities remaining in the South, where slaves worked on isolated island plantations retained much of their African heritage. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW 'It was supposed to be a celebration of Black pride, but it became a day of great, great, great Black loss of humanity and life,' civil rights attorney Ben Crump, one of several lawyers behind the lawsuit, told an Atlanta news conference. 'We're filing this lawsuit to speak to that tragedy.' Attorneys for the families of those killed and more than three dozen survivors say the 80-foot (24-meter) walkway was weak because of a lack of structural reinforcement, poor welding and failure by the Georgia firm that built it to follow design plans. The walkway was 'so poorly designed and constructed that any competent construction professional should have recognized the flimsy and unstable nature of the gangway,' the lawsuit says. Regina Brinson, one of the suing survivors, said she was on the crowded walkway when she heard a loud crack and saw family friend Carlotta McIntosh plunge into the water holding her walker. Brinson and her uncle, Isaiah Thomas, also fell. Brinson recalled prying her uncle's fingers from her shirt to avoid being dragged underwater. Both Thomas and McIntosh died. 'The pain doesn't get any easier whatsoever,' Brinson told the Atlanta news conference. Kimberly Wood said she tumbled from the collapsed walkway clutching her 2-year-old daughter. Her older girl, 8, clung to the dangling walkway's railing. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Wood said she managed to tread water until she reached a life preserver tossed from the ferry boat. Her older daughter was rescued and treated for wounds to her hand, said Wood, who had an injured shoulder. 'I'm shaking now just taking about it,' said Wood, another plaintiff. The lawsuit targets four private contractors hired to design and rebuild the ferry dock and walkway for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. The project was finished in 2021. The walkway was fabricated by McIntosh County business Crescent Equipment Co. Its attorney, Clinton Fletcher, declined to comment. The project's general contractor, Virginia-based Centennial Contractors Enterprises, said by email that it doesn't comment on pending litigation. Architecture and engineering firms also named as defendants did not immediately comment. The lawsuit doesn't target the Department of Natural Resources or any other Georgia state agency. It says the department relied on its private contractors to ensure the walkway was safely built, which was 'beyond the scope of the DNR's internal expertise and qualifications.' The agency told The Associated Press last year that the walkway should have been able to support the weight of 320 people. About 40 people were standing on it when it snapped. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW 'There was supposed to be a certified professional engineer that signed off on that part of the project and that was neglected,' said Chadrick Mance, a Savannah attorney representing nine of the injured. Filed in Gwinnett County State Court in metro Atlanta, the lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for negligence, wrongful deaths and personal injuries. The cause of the collapse remains under investigation by the state officials, said Haley Chafin, a spokesperson for the Department of Natural Resources. State Attorney General Chris Carr also tapped a private engineering firm to perform an independent investigation. ___ Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia. ___ Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon.
Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Families of those killed in collapse of Georgia ferry dock sue companies that built it
ATLANTA (AP) — Relatives of seven people who drowned in waters off a Georgia island after a ferry dock walkway collapsed announced Wednesday they filed a lawsuit against the companies that designed and built it. Dozens of people were standing on the metal walkway over the water between a ferry boat and a dock on Sapelo Island when it snapped in the middle. Many plunged into the water and got swept away by tidal currents, while others clung desperately to the hanging, fractured structure. The tragedy Oct. 19 struck as about 700 people visited Sapelo Island for a celebration of the tiny Hogg Hummock community founded by enslaved people who were emancipated after the Civil War. Reachable only by boat, it's one of the few Gullah-Geechee communities remaining in the South, where slaves worked on isolated island plantations retained much of their African heritage. 'It was supposed to be a celebration of Black pride, but it became a day of great, great, great Black loss of humanity and life,' civil rights attorney Ben Crump, one of several lawyers behind the lawsuit, told an Atlanta news conference. 'We're filing this lawsuit to speak to that tragedy.' Attorneys for the families of those killed and more than three dozen survivors say the 80-foot (24-meter) walkway was weak because of a lack of structural reinforcement, poor welding and failure by the Georgia firm that built it to follow design plans. The walkway was 'so poorly designed and constructed that any competent construction professional should have recognized the flimsy and unstable nature of the gangway,' the lawsuit says. Regina Brinson, one of the suing survivors, said she was on the crowded walkway when she heard a loud crack and saw family friend Carlotta McIntosh plunge into the water holding her walker. Brinson and her uncle, Isaiah Thomas, also fell. Brinson recalled prying her uncle's fingers from her shirt to avoid being dragged underwater. Both Thomas and McIntosh died. 'The pain doesn't get any easier whatsoever,' Brinson told the Atlanta news conference. Kimberly Wood said she tumbled from the collapsed walkway clutching her 2-year-old daughter. Her older girl, 8, clung to the dangling walkway's railing. Wood said she managed to tread water until she reached a life preserver tossed from the ferry boat. Her older daughter was rescued and treated for wounds to her hand, said Wood, who had an injured shoulder. 'I'm shaking now just taking about it,' said Wood, another plaintiff. The lawsuit targets four private contractors hired to design and rebuild the ferry dock and walkway for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. The project was finished in 2021. The walkway was fabricated by McIntosh County business Crescent Equipment Co. Its attorney, Clinton Fletcher, declined to comment. The project's general contractor, Virginia-based Centennial Contractors Enterprises, said by email that it doesn't comment on pending litigation. Architecture and engineering firms also named as defendants did not immediately comment. The lawsuit doesn't target the Department of Natural Resources or any other Georgia state agency. It says the department relied on its private contractors to ensure the walkway was safely built, which was 'beyond the scope of the DNR's internal expertise and qualifications.' The agency told The Associated Press last year that the walkway should have been able to support the weight of 320 people. About 40 people were standing on it when it snapped. 'There was supposed to be a certified professional engineer that signed off on that part of the project and that was neglected,' said Chadrick Mance, a Savannah attorney representing nine of the injured. Filed in Gwinnett County State Court in metro Atlanta, the lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for negligence, wrongful deaths and personal injuries. The cause of the collapse remains under investigation by the state officials, said Haley Chafin, a spokesperson for the Department of Natural Resources. State Attorney General Chris Carr also tapped a private engineering firm to perform an independent investigation. ___ Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia. ___ Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon.
CTV News
5 hours ago
- CTV News
Halifax launches official Bluesky accounts as deadline to transition away from X approaches
A cell phone user looks at Bluesky Social in Lima, Peru, on Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. The Halifax Regional Municipality has officially launched Bluesky accounts one month ahead of a self-imposed departure from the X (formerly Twitter) platform following a council decision earlier this year. Last April, council voted 16-to-one that the municipality should discontinue its eight official X accounts, which have a total of 243,545 followers. Council made the decision after receiving a staff report which noted the municipality had been reevaluating its social media presence in recent years due to 'significant volatility' on the apps. 'Staff placed particular focus on the status of X, due to concerns with policy and operational changes undertaken by this platform and began to investigate alternative options among emerging platforms,' the report reads. 'As part of the assessment process, concerns regarding X's governance, operational stability, declining user engagement, misinformation, disinformation and the introduction of paid features limiting access to analytics were identified. 'Also, X's evolving policies and content moderation practices were deemed to be increasingly inconsistent with our organizational values, most notably diversity and inclusion, respect, integrity, accountability and evidence-based decision making.' Halifax has activated six Bluesky accounts, including: @ (main account) @ (Halifax Transit) @ (Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency) @ (Halifax events) @ (Halifax Parks and Recreation) @ (Halifax Planning and Development) Bluesky originated as a research project at Twitter in 2019, but it became an independent social media platform in 2021. The report cited the app as a strong alternative to X due to its similar interface to the older platform, the ability for people to see posts without signing in and transparent content moderation. 'Use of all X accounts managed by the municipality's Corporate Communications division will be discontinued by July 14, 2025,' a news release from the municipality reads. 'Halifax Water, Halifax Regional Police and Halifax Public Libraries are not part of the municipality's transition to Bluesky. 'While these organizations are related to the municipality, they each have unique governance structures, oversight boards and their own communications teams. As a result, they manage their social media strategies and platforms separately.' For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
