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C e l e b r a t i n g 4 9 Ye a r s o f S e r v i c e
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Serving More Than 50,000 African American Readers Throughout The Metropolitan Area / Vol. 49, No.48 Sept 11 - Sept 17, 2014
Valerie Connors places a flower at the base of the sculpture entitled “The Path of Thorns and Roses,” the centerpiece of the Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial, during a dedication ceremony on Sept. 6. /Photo by Avis Thomas Lester
Cemetery Dedication Draws Descendants By Avis Thomas-Lester WI Editor-at-Large For years, brothers John and Donald Taylor bought their gasoline at the Mobile station at the corner of S. Washington and Church streets in Alexandria, Virginia. They had no way of knowing
that the business was located on hallowed ground and that some of their ancestors had a connection to it. On Sept. 6, the Taylor brothers counted among hundreds of people who convened at the spot for the dedication of the Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial in honor
of the 1,711 African-American men, women and children who are buried there. The event drew descendants of 145 of those interred in the cemetery. “We had no idea that our loved ones were buried there,” said John Taylor, 78, who lives three blocks from the cemetery, as he stood under a bronze sculpture
that pays homage to the ancestors interred there who came to Alexandria during the Civil War seeking freedom from slavery. “We grew up not far from here. We’ve both lived here all of our lives, both me and my brother. We had no idea that we had family here. When we found out, I can’t describe how I felt. It just
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made me sad,” he said. The Sept. 6 memorial dedication ceremony opened with a presentation by the Adoration Ringers of First Baptist Church in Alexandria. Members of the Washington Revels Jubilee Voices, dressed in period attire, re-
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