Charleston Cemetery Historic District Task Force
Although some African American burial society cemeteries are still active today, society membership has largely dwindled since the mid-20th century and many of these cemeteries face stewardship challenges. The Charleston Cemetery Historic District (CCHD) Task Force was formed in 2013 in response to this growing need to preserve the District’s endangered burial grounds, particularly those associated with African American burial societies. The Task Force includes representatives from many of the contributing cemeteries and is charged with ensuring the ongoing preservation and maintenance of the CCHD’s burial grounds as important places of remembrance and reflection.
African American Burial Society Cemeteries
Brown Fellowship Society One of the earliest known African American burial societies in the city, the Brown Fellowship Society formed in 1790 and established a cemetery on Pitt Street in 1794, which was seized by the City of Charleston for unpaid taxes in 1935 and sold to the Catholic Diocese of Charleston. The Pitt Street cemetery and the c. 1902 Meeting Hall on the site were razed and redeveloped in the mid-20th century as a parking lot for Bishop England High School, which was replaced by College of Charleston’s Addlestone Library in 2001. After the seizure of the original cemetery, the Society purchased a new plot in the CCHD between Cunnington Avenue and Pershing Streets in 1956 (see #23 on map), where several historic gravestones were relocated but no bodies were reinterred.
Robert De Large, a prominent Reconstruction-era politician who served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1871 to 1873, was buried in the Pitt Street cemetery in 1874.
Brotherly Association The Brotherly Association of Charleston (Brotherly Association) was founded in 1856 and opened its cemetery on the corner of Lemon and Skurvin Streets (see #5 on map) the same year. Established before the abolition of slavery, White trustees were required for the cemetery’s incorporation by the state legislature. In 1867, two years after the end of the Civil War, Brotherly Association members successfully sued to remove the White trustees from their organization.
The burial ground contains the grave of Thomas Ezekiel Miller (1849-1938), Congressman for South Carolina from 1889 to 1891; Miller was one of the last African American South Carolinians elected to Congress in the last decade of the 19th century as Black voters were increasingly disenfranchised under Jim Crow era legislation.
Friendly Union Society The Friendly Union Society was formed in 1813 as a relief society for widows and orphans, and its cemetery on Cunnington Avenue (see #6 on map) was established in 1856. Notable burials in the cemetery include Dr. William Crum (1859-1912), a physician specializing in tuberculosis who was appointed Port of Charleston tax collector by President Theodore Roosevelt; Judge Macon Bolling Allen (1816-1894), one of the first Black attorneys to practice in the United States; and William (1823-1900) and Ellen Craft (1826-1891), authors of Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom, an 1860 book chronicling their renowned escape from slavery.
Christian Benevolent Society Founded in 1839 by prominent free men of color, the Christian Benevolent Society purchased land for a cemetery on Pershing Street in 1856 (see #7 on map). Few headstones are still visible today.
Unity & Friendship Society Founded in 1844 by freemen of color, the Unity and Friendship Society established its cemetery on the corner of Cunnington and Huguenin Avenues in 1856 (see #8 on map). Prominent figures interred in this cemetery include politician Alonzo Ransier (1834-1882) and African American historic preservation contractors and craftsmen, Thomas Mayhem Pinckney (1877-1952), Benjamin Rhodes DeCosta (1867-1911), Herbert A. DeCosta Sr. (1894-1960) and Herbert A. DeCosta Jr. (1923-2008).
Alonzo Ransier, born into freedom in Charleston, became the first Black lieutenant governor in South Carolina in 1870 and gained a reputation as a champion of equal rights. He also served as a Congressman for South Carolina from 1873-1875.
Thomas Mayhem Pinckney specialized in the restoration of historic structures and was highly skilled in hand-carved woodworking. Pinckney worked on numerous historic rehabilitation projects with Preservation Society founder Susan Pringle Frost, who called his craftsmanship “lasting monuments to his genius and his love of our old city.”
The DeCosta family construction business was founded in 1899 by Benjamin Rhodes DeCosta, and for three generations, this company played an integral role in the local construction industry and historic preservation efforts. After almost a century of operation, the company was named one of the top 100 African-American-owned businesses in the nation in 1979. Third generation business owner Herbert A. DeCosta Jr. was also known for his civic involvement and dedication to improving the lives of African American Charlestonians.
Humane & Friendly Society Founded in 1802, the Humane & Friendly Society established their cemetery on Cunnington Avenue in 1856 (see #9 on map). Under its original auspices as the Humane Brotherhood Society, which was formed for darker-skinned freedmen excluded from the Brown Fellowship Society, the Society operated MachPelah Cemetery (named after the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the Old Testament) on Pitt Street, which was adjacent to Brown Fellowship Society Cemetery. MacPhelah Cemetery was sold to the Catholic Diocese in 1957. Along with the Brown Fellowship Cemetery, it eventually became part of the present-day Addlestone Library property, where burials remain. The Cunnington Avenue cemetery notably contains the graves of Reverend Daniel Jenkins (1862-1937), Dr. Alonzo C. McClennan (1855-1912), J. Arthur Brown (1914-1988), and Lieutenant Stephen Swails (1832-1900).
Daniel Jenkins, a Baptist minister, founded the Jenkins Orphanage for Black children in the 1890s, now known as the Jenkins Institute for Children. The orphanage was made famous by its jazz band that toured the country through the 1930s.
Physician Alonzo McClennan founded a hospital and nursing school for African Americans on Cannon Street in 1897. Though the Cannon Street Hospital was meant to predominantly treat the underserved Black population of Charleston, they also treated some White patients and received referrals from White doctors. In 1956, Cannon Street Hospital was replaced by McClennan-Banks Memorial Hospital in honor of McClennan and the hospital’s first head nurse, Anna DeCosta Banks.
J. Arthur Brown became president of the Charleston chapter of the NAACP in 1955, and of the South Carolina Conference in 1960. Brown worked on many projects involving desegregation and civil rights activism, and co-founded the Committee on Better Racial Assurance, a local human services agency that works to improve race relations.
Lieutenant Stephen Swails was a member of the 54th Massachusetts Colored Regiment, and became the first African American soldier to be promoted to the position of officer during the Civil War. After the war, he served in the South Carolina state senate, and survived an assassination attempt by a White mob.
Lewis Christian Union Founded as a “Colored” cemetery in 1879, Lewis Christian Union purchased burial grounds from the Friendly Union Society that same year (see #12 on map). The land eventually reverted back to the Friendly Union Society, who still owns it today, and Lewis Christian Union has ceased operation. Lydia Bonneau (1876-1891) was buried in this cemetery after her death in a nationally publicized accident, wherein a flywheel from the nearby gas and electric company exploded and partially destroyed her home.
Lacking active membership, Lewis Christian Union Cemetery was overrun by vegetative growth and nearly unrecognizable by 2012, when the Preservation Society of Charleston led a volunteer clean-up day as a first step toward the restoration and long-term maintenance of the cemetery. Overgrowth and trash were removed, damaged headstones were repaired and, today, the Preservation Society continues to support stewardship of this historic burial site.
Reserved Fellowship Society Founded in 1881, the Reserved Fellowship Society established its cemetery on the corner of Lemon Street and Huguenin Avenue in 1884 (see #13 on map). Captain Robert Magwood (1876-1956), originator of the Magwood fishing dynasty of Mount Pleasant, was buried here.
Source: https://www.preservationsociety.org/locations/african-american-burial-societies/
