Illuminating a Hidden Site

Abstract

This study was provoked by the recent detection of 541 unmarked burials signifying the recovery of the African American Burial Ground (AABG) on the grounds of Woodland Cemetery (WC) at Clemson University, South Carolina. A case study analysis of this coexistent sacred burial ground, initially for enslaved individuals of African descent interred during the pre-emancipation plantation era, seeks answers to fundamental questions: Was Clemson University aware of the AABG’s existence, and why did it take so long to act on preserving this sacred ground, historically known to the local descendant community? This study reveals that Clemson University’s negligence and cultural erasure during the 20th century has in the present day given way to an institutional commitment to truth-telling brought on by student activism and concerns about long-standing social inequities. The recovery of the AABG aligns with and contributes to work on “Black Geographies” and “Black Landscapes” (Woods, 2000; McKittrick & Woods, 2007; Boone, 2020; Hood 2020). The study examines the national reckoning among universities as they consider the legacy of slavery at their institutions and navigate justice (Wilder, 2014; Harris, et al., 2019). This research draws upon the author’s larger study on South Carolina’s landscape legacy and the synthesis of novel typologies beyond the normative classification of cultural landscapes (Padua, 2020). The commemoration of the AABG on campus is explored as a potential “reconciliatory landscape” conceptualized through the lens of “retrospective justice” drawn from the human rights literature (Russell, 2003; Roth, 2004). Status-quo attitudes are questioned as disruption to the norm instigates change and asserts social justice.