A new piece of federal legislation, which was inspired by the plight of a historic Black cemetery in Cincinnati's Madisonville neighborhood, aimed at preserving African American burial grounds is headed to President Joe Biden's desk for approval.
The African American Burial Grounds Preservation Act, sponsored by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and co-sponsored by Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), was approved by Congress Friday as part of a $1.7 trillion spending package, Brown's office said in a news release.
The legislation will establish a program at the National Park Service to provide grant opportunities and technical assistance to localities to research, identify, survey and preserve these cemeteries, the release states.
Brown's office said the senator initially introduced similar legislation in 2019 after visiting United American Cemetery following news reports of vandalism and calls for repairs by the church that operates it, Union Baptist Church.
The cemetery − the oldest cemetery in Ohio designated for Black people − was founded in 1848 in Avondale. White citizens had the cemetery declared a public nuisance, and bodies and headstones were moved to its current location in 1883.
Civil rights leaders, abolitionists, poets, pastors, soldiers and even Cincinnati's first Black city councilman are buried there, according to a lawsuit filed by the church against Fifth Third Bank.
That suit, which is ongoing, was filed in June 2021 and claims the bank's nearby Madisonville building causes flooding in the cemetery and is therefore desecrating the graves there.
"Cemeteries like (United American) are important historical sites, and they’re tools for education and understanding the American story," Brown said in a statement. "Now we will be able to preserve these sites before they are lost to the ravages of time or development.”
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