Resting place of Sugar T. George, Creek Freedmen Leader
Old Agency Cemetery, Muskogee Oklahoma, abandoned and neglected burial site of Muskogee Creek Freedmen.
Hopefully someday descendants of leaders buried in this burial site will work to restore this historic place.
Angela as I look at this image of Sugar George's burial site I'm struck by how repetitive the destruction is among the sacred sites of Indian Territory Freedmen.
ReplyDeleteHaving recently visited a similar site (Brazille Cemetery) and experiencing first hand the amount of work necessary too bring these sites back is truly mind blowing.
As you know there are some efforts among the Choctaw and Chickasaw Freedmen Descendants to reclaim our heritage by organizing to clean up these sacred burial sites but the task requires some serious networking and personal responsibility of the descendants of these men and women.
Most are located in rural areas where many of the descendants may have moved away. Also the state of Oklahoma for some "unknown" reason the does not appear to embrace and preserve the history of all of it's people, especially the history of those enslaved by the Five Tribes.
Perhaps a letter writing campaign to the governor, state legislature, and the tribes can be "persuaded" to become involved in the preservation effort?
Clearly something should be done, the question is what and by whom?
This breaks my heart! Please tell us how to mobilize and create a way to assist with preserving and protecting these sites! And thank you, Angela, for bringing attention to the resting place of great heros.
ReplyDeleteI was advised of similar damage to tombstones and monuments in our family plot at the Konawa Cemetary several years ago. The damage was caused by an earthquake that caused the ground to settle in parts of the plot. We contracted with the local monument company to make the necessary corrections. I was so grateful there were still there to handle righting, leveling the stones and replacing broken pieces. A trust needs to be established to pay for the maintenance and upkeep of these heritage sites by their respective tribes and an effort made to validate the names on the markers against the tribe's historical role listing.
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