For years, as James Russell drove through Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, he noticed the courtyard with two tombstones next to a small square on Mississauga Street.
I knew it was more than a grassy plain in a quiet village.
“Every time I pass, I say, really someone has to deal with this issue and finally, last November, someone had to be me,” Russell said.
“I think he was a little angry … that’s enough.”
The courtyard through which it has passed for years is known as the Black Cemetery, also the site of Niagara Baptist Church.
The church congregation was established in 1829 and a meeting house was built two years later, according to Ontario Heritage Trust.
The congregation was mostly full of settlers, but it became almost predominantly black as enslaved people fled the United States and formerly enslaved people came from Britain.
28 possible burials, 19 possible tombstones
The church was closed in 1878, but the Ontario Heritage Trust said there were at least 15 burials in the cemetery.
But Russell said he could find 13 more, a total of 28, using ground penetration radar. He added that he also believes there are 19 tombstones.
He said the search for unmarked graves in old residential schools inspired him to try to use radar technology.
Howard Bogusat shows the map with the results of the ground penetration radar. According to reports, the radar shows the location of the graves and unmarked headstones. (Bobby Hristova / CBC)
The land is owned by the city, but Russell, a Toronto resident and longtime visitor to the city, is leading the research efforts and has spent about $ 3,000 of his own money on the project.
“People who are buried here have children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren who I’m sure would love to know where their ancestors are buried,” he said.
“I should have done it a long time ago,” he said.
Unearthing gravestones is the first step
Russell was in the cemetery on Tuesday. He set up a grid using small orange flags.
Following a map of the ground penetration radar, Russell sprayed a grass-friendly paint on the ground and pasted a Canadian flag at every possible burial site.
The blue dots will represent where the informed headstones are.
Russell was also with Howard Bogusat, who was walking down the courtyard, dowsing to try to locate more potential unmarked graves.
A blue outline and a Canadian flag mark the possible graves in the black cemetery. (Bobby Hristova / CBC) Howard Bogusat is dowsing at the Niagara-on-the-Lake burial site. He has assisted in the search for the unmarked graves reported. (Bobby Hristova / CBC)
Betty Disero, mayor of Niagara-on-the-Lake, was also there. He told CBC Hamilton that the municipality supports Russell’s efforts and is grateful to take the lead.
“It’s almost as if they’re waiting to be found because the tombstone is with the graves unmarked,” he said.
“We will be able to give these people the recognition and dignity they deserve.”
Russell is offering council members an update next week and may also ask if the municipality can help cover search costs.
“I’m excited that the first step has been taken. The rest will be a long year or two … it has to be done,” he said.
“These people need to be given names and faces”
Although the human remains found will not be disturbed, Russell said he has contacted the archeology departments at McMaster University and the University of Toronto to do more research on the gravestones.
None of the tombstones are more than a foot and a half deep according to radar scanning, Russell said.
His vision is to re-erect and clean the gravestones, as well as find out all they can about the nine potential gravestones without gravestones and give them new gravestones.
Sarah Kaufman is the managing director of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum. He says the documents point to 15 people potentially buried in the black cemetery. (Michael Charles Cole / CBC)
Sarah Kaufman, managing director of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum, told CBC News that it may be difficult to trace some of the information because the history of blacks was not always well documented, but digging up gravestones will make a big difference.
He said the identities of 15 people buried there are almost certainly confirmed.
Two of them, Herbert Holmes and Jacob Green, died fighting to prevent Solomon Moseby from returning to slavery in the United States, according to Kaufman and the Ontario Heritage Trust.
“Holmes took the reins and kept the horses from moving … and Jacob Green put something on the wheels to keep it from turning,” Kaufman said.
Kaufman said that while many people may assume that Niagara-on-the-Lake is a colonial community, it is rich in black history and Russell’s research will be added.
Kaufman points out some of the artifacts and documents that indicate who may be buried in the black cemetery (Michael Charles Cole / CBC)
“I think it will help complete the narrative of our community to give a healthier story about who the people who lived here were,” he said.
She hopes the museum can help people learn more about the people buried at the site.
Russell hopes his efforts will help passers-by realize that the earth is a sacred graveyard rather than a patch of almost empty space.
“Respecting the living also has a lot to do with respect for the dead,” he said.
“These people need to be given names and faces.”
For more stories about the experiences of black Canadians, from racism against blacks to success stories within the black community, check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project that black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
(CBC)