Anthropologists can learn about different cultures and generations by visiting cemeteries worldwide. Tombstones can be observed, compared, and analyzed so we will have an idea how different cultures buried their dead. I visited the Live Oak Cemetery and the Greenville Cemetery in Greenville. MS. The Live Oak Cemetery is a predominately black cemetery and the Greenville Cemetery is a predominately white cemetery. Both cemeteries have a lot of history behind them by containing tombstones from the 1800s, 1900s and the 2000s.
The body of Holt Collier was buried in 1936 at the Live Oak Cemetery and this is made known at the entrance of the cemetery. Holt Collier is famed as a bear hunter and he was the one that guided President Theodore Roosevelt on a hunt in 1902. When Roosevelt refused to shoot a bear Collier had roped, cartoonists coined the term “Teddy Bear” (Live Oak Cemetery). Leroy Percy (1860-1929) was a prominent public figure buried in the Greenville Cemetery. Leroy Percy State Park was named after him. I will compare the culture differences between black and white cemeteries, grave offerings, epitaphs, and unique tombstone designs.
I will also compare the changes in tombstones over time periods. The first cemetery I visited was the Live Oak Cemetery. This cemetery was very old and tombstones were scattered everywhere in no particular order. The Live Oak Cemetery was a wide-open field with a few trees scattered about. I was able to walk throughout the whole cemetery. Many of the tombstones were out of place and had fallen over due to time. There were tombstones in the woods beside the cemetery and some were surrounding trees in the open field. Some tombstones were even off by themselves and surrounded by gates.
The tombstones from the 1800s and 1900s were either small and short or tall and skinny. Overall, there wasn’t much variety in the style of the tombstones. Mostly all of the tombstones had not been replaced over time, so they were very worn down from the environment. The second cemetery I visited was the Greenville Cemetery. The Greenville Cemetery was huge and it stretched across many acres with roads all about. The tombstones in this cemetery were organized in straight rows. The majority of the tombstones from the 1800s and 1900s had been replaced with newer tombstones.
There were a huge variety of tombstones from small and simple to tall and detailed statues. A few unique tombstones I observed while in the white cemetery include the graves of the following: Lola Dabney (1854-1893), William Yerger (1840-1899), George Menhal (1929-1980) and wife Richene Hill (1934-2006), Alexander Beach (1883-1913) and LeRoy Percy (1860-1929). The tombstone of Lola Dabney was extremely detailed to where it did not resemble a tombstone. It featured a cross about two ft. tall covered in tree bark and vines. The cross was placed on top of a pile of about 12 stones that were the size of a man’s fist.
Her name, date of birth and date of death were on a rolled out scroll placed on the anterior surface of the stones. Her name was arched around the top of the scroll with the dates in the middle. William Yerger’s tombstone was about 12 ft. tall featuring a human statue on top. The human statue was wearing clothing from the 1800s and a rolled up scroll was in his right hand. The tombstones of George Menhal and his wife were separated by a simple five ft. tall engraved wall of granite featuring a cross on top. A Bible verse (Psalm 23) was engraved in the wall between them and a 4 ft. tall cross stood on top.
It was very elegant and tasteful. The tombstone of Alexander Beach was in fact a 6 ft. tall, crystallized tree trunk. Lastly, the tombstone of Leroy Percy featured a 7 ft. man in armor in front of a 12 ft. tall wall. The back of the wall was engraved with his name and a battle quote. This looked like something that should be in a museum. The key differences I found between the black and white cemeteries were differences in tombstones, organization of tombstones, grave offerings and family plots. The majority of tombstones in the black cemetery were small and concrete, but one tombstone stuck out from the others.
This was the tombstone of John W. Strauther (1867-1910). The base was marble and stood about five ft. tall. On top of the marble base stood a statue of a man that was about five ft. tall as well. The man was dressed in a long coat, pants and a bowtie resembling the clothing of a businessman in the 1800s and early 1900s. A rolled up scroll was placed in his right hand, which indicates that he was possibly involved in politics. Another plot that stood out in size was that of Bishop E. W. Lampton (1858-1910). It stood about six feet tall with a marble base and a granite tombstone protected by a canopy on top.
The tombstone was placed in the middle of a building-like structure held up by four columns. These were the only two tombstones in the black cemetery that were unique and in the upper price range. The headstones in the white cemetery were of all different sizes and styles. It was obvious that a lot of time was spent on the headstones in order make them unique for that person. Countless graves had either a cross or an angel attached to the tombstone or on the ground beside it. I observed tombstones with no epitaphs, simple epitaphs such as “Gone but not forgotten” and those engraved with Bible verses.
I also observed very unique tombstones that were in the shape of a rolled out scroll. Talso observed grave offerings in the black and white cemeteries. Grave offerings were scarce in the black cemetery and plentiful in the white cemetery. I only saw a few graves with flowers at the black cemetery. Flowers were a very common grave offering in the white cemetery. Some graves also had symbolic objects as grave offerings in the white cemetery as well. For example, the tombstone of Harvey Allen Clark, Jr. (1968-2012) had a toy motorcycle, a glass skeleton head and a Busch beer as grave offerings.
William Louis Burle (1928-2011) had two black lab statues as his grave offerings. Another common grave offering in the white cemetery was a bench. I found that the recently deceased are more likely to have grave offerings, but much older generations can have grave offerings as well. For example, the graves of the Scott family in the black cemetery all had fresh flowers as grave offerings. The Scott family includes: Lille Scott (1885-1974), Booker Scott Sr. (1887-1962), Ernest Scott Sr. (1906-1970), and Mary Scott Christon (1911-1968). I believe the grave offerings are meant to comfort the deceased.
Talso observed tombstones from the 1800s and 1900s then compared them to modern tombstones. A key difference | found was the presentation of the date of death. I also found multiple tombstones from the 1800s where only the date of death was listed and not the date of birth. For example, the tombstone of Harry B. Wallace had only the date of death (1909) and his age when he died (aged 45 years). I found this was common in tombstones back then. Modern tombstones present the dates without the words “born” or “died”. Tombstones of the 1800s had the words “born” or “died” before the dates and included the age at the time of death.
For example, Titus Hughes tombstone states, “Died May 17 1914 Aged 57 years”. The tombstone of William Coleman had only his name and his date of death presented as “Died Sept. 10, 1911”. Size was another difference in tombstones from the 1800s, 1900s and 2000s. Tombstones from the 1800s were only large enough to hold the deceased name and dates of birth/death. They were upright and made out of concrete. Modern headstones were mostly rectangular in shape and made out of granite, marble or sandstone. They ranged anywhere from 4-10 ft. wide and 3-10 ft. tall.
Lastly, a scroll on a tombstone was common in the 1800s. Black and white cemeteries are different in many ways. The white cemetery was more private than the black cemetery. The black cemetery was in the middle of town and it was not gated. One family had surrounded their plots with a fence in order to ensure privacy. Organization was a key priority in the white cemetery but not in the black cemetery. Tombstones were aligned in perfect rows with ample space between each tombstone in the white cemetery. In the black cemetery, tombstones were scattered all over and some were on top of others.
I accidentally stepped on tombstones that were buried in the grass in the black cemetery. In the white cemetery, there were younger generations that replaced the tombstones of the older generations. It was apparent that this was not the case in the black cemetery. It looked as if the tombstones from the 1800s had not been touched or moved since they were first placed. Whites are also more likely to not put a price tag on a tombstone for their loved one. The tombstones in the white cemetery were much more elegant and detailed compared to those in the black cemetery
