Black History Month: Sorority commemorates slave burial site
Members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. are pictured behind the burial marker.
{Kassaundra Shanette Lockhart/Davidson Local}
The Lexington Alumnae chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. hosted a Commemoration of the Slave Burial Site in the Lexington City Cemetery (State St.) on Sunday, February 19. The service featured a greeting, congregational singing of the Negro National Anthem “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” and “Battle Hymn of the Republic”, scripture readings, an invocation, statement regarding the occasion, a history of the sorority, a solo, liturgical dance, laying of a wreath and a benediction.
More than 100 people were in attendance at the annual event.
Per a handout in the program, the City of Lexington applied for the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Offices’s 2022 Historic Preservation Fund Grant to conduct an archeological survey of the African-American section of the Lexington City Cemetery. The city council approved the grant agreement in October 2022. They matched the funding amount of $2,500 bringing the total project to $8,500.
The site is marked a stone pyramid which states the slaves were buried before the Civil War. This is the only record related to the site. Lexington resident Tyrone Terry is currently raising funds to erect a new commemoration marker.
All photos are by Kassaundra Shanette Lockhart/Davidson Local.
