Tomb With a View Podcast

Scenes from this morning’s Yom HaShoah ceremony at Greenwood cemetery. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Memorial to the Six Million, designed by Holocaust survivor Benjamin Hirsch on the 20th anniversary of the liberation of the Jewish people from N**i oppression. The ceremony is so powerful because not only are there survivors there but their children and grandchildren and great grandchildren are all part of the perpetuation of these stories that continue to remind us in the present day of the importance of fighting oppression and retaining Hope even in difficult times, the Memorial to the Six Million is one of my favorite places in Atlanta. I think it’s an incredibly important piece of memorial architecture, the first of its kind in the United States and often overlooked. But it is such an important gathering place for families that had no other place to mourn and is very beautiful following the restoration that happened last year.

When visiting Houston I had to make a trip out to nearby Sugarland to visit the burial place of the Sugarland 95. In 2018 during construction of the James Reese Career and Technical Center the remains of 94 men and one woman that were victims of the convict leasing system which enslaved them after incarceration for work in sugar can plantations. Thousands of mostly African Americans were trapped in this continuing system of slavery during the Jim Crow era. These 95 individuals, who died of exhaustion, malnutrition, abuse, and disease were largely forgotten despite locals who warned about the possibility of burials. Many still bore the chains they wore in life. In 2019 they were reburied marked only by simply numbers. The school is in active use, and while there is signage for the cemetery, on a Sunday morning it was as desolate as you can imagine. A permanent memorial is planned.