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Abandoned No More: Locating Forgotten African American Cemeteries in Pulaski & Alexander Counties
Sat., February 24 @ 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
The Daniel H. Brush Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) invites you to a dynamic presentation on forgotten African American cemeteries, given by Darrel Dexter. This program is free to the public and everyone is welcome. Join us at the Carbondale Public Library on Saturday, February 24, 2024 at 11am or online.
ABOUT OUR SPEAKER: Abandoned African American cemeteries will be no more, if historian Darrel Dexter has anything to say about it. He has gone through woods, weeds, and thickets, fighting off ticks and heat, to find long forgotten cemeteries in Pulaski and Alexander counties. His research of countless death certificates, newspaper notices, and courthouse records led to his discovery of the Old Lincoln and Solomon Hill Cemeteries, whose headstones date back to the 1800s. Through these investigations, Dexter has found over 1,000 unmarked burial sites, uncovering at least five United States Colored Troops from the Civil War. Dexter teaches history at Egyptian Community School and is the author of Bondage in Egypt: Slavery in Southern Illinois, referred to as “the most comprehensive account to date of racial slavery in Illinois.”
