For the social media page, see https://www.instagram.com/ctznscemetery/

Citizens Cemetery is a historic African American cemetery in Bristol, Virginia. This project is part of a larger effort to restore the cemetery and to tell the story of those who are buried there.

The area around Bristol was originally settled for tobacco farming starting in the 1770s, while Bristol itself rose to prominence as a major railroad junction after the Civil War. Bristol has always had a small but vibrant African American population which peaked at around 1500 people in 1960. Since then, the town has lost population, both African American and otherwise, as local industries have left. Much of the black business district was destroyed as part of a larger national phenomenon known as "urban renewal," in which US municipalities targeted poor and minority neighborhoods for redevelopment. Most of what was the area around Water Street is now a series of parking lots, a local news station, and a jail/courthouse complex. The cemetery, begun in 1890, began a similar trajectory of decline. Burials quickly tapered off beginning in the 1970s, and the last burial was in 2011.

Over the course of part I this assignment, students will use a variety of user-friendly online sources to practice historical research skills in hopes of building a collective biography of Black Bristol. Each student or team of students will be assigned one person buried in the cemetery to research

In Part II, students will draw on a combination of maps held by the Library of Congress as well as modern satellite imagery to explore the built environment of Bristol and the effects of urban development. Since this part will likely prove more difficult for some students, and deals with historical events that happened after the height of the cemetery, this part is optional.

Part I

  1. Find the grave of the deceased person on Find a Grave. Are there images of the grave on the website? What does the grave look like? Is it stone or concrete? Are there any written inscriptions on the grave that might give you an idea about the person's life? Any symbols?
  2. (Note: before 1890 Bristol was known as Goodson) Using census, marriage, and death records, what can you tell us about this person's life? When were they born and where? When did they die, and how? Who was in their family, and who lived in their household? How far back can you trace this person in the decennial census? What was their job? Using the city directory, where did they live? Does the directory list a business they own, and if so, what is its address?

Part 2

In development