Star Cemetery, Shreveport Louisiana

Star Cemetery, established in 1883, met the need of the African-American community for an honorable and respectable burial site. It was the city's first African-American cemetery and remained its only one until the late 1920s.
The creation of Star Cemetery and others like it was part of a larger drama being played out all over the South as former slaves in the post-Civil War years sought to establish their own institutions and in a larger sense, their own community identity. Many a Southern black church was founded in the late 1860s and '70s, regardless of how new the present building may be. Other major institutions created in the post-war years were benevolent associations (typically mutual aid groups where member dues paid for burials) and cemeteries.
As rigid segregation and disfranchisement crystallized in the late nineteenth century, "separate but unequal" treatment extended to all aspects of life, including its end. In some cities, African-Americans were barred from the city cemetery. In Shreveport, according to local historian Eric Brock, blacks prior to Star's establishment were relegated to the pauper's section of Oakland Cemetery.
Within the foregoing context, the establishment of Star Cemetery in 1883, only six years after Reconstruction ended in Louisiana, was a milestone in the African-American history of Shreveport. The Star Cemetery Association was incorporated on March 22, 1883, and on the same day, the association purchased a ten-acre tract of land for $350. The fourteen African-Americans who appeared before the notary to form the Star Cemetery Association, many of whom signed by mark, were Sam Chambers (President), W. Harper, Allan F. Moss, Square Hicks, William Johnson, J. H. Henry, W. J. McDonald, G. A. Poland, Zack Wiggins, Peter Johnson, A. G. Miller, William Moreham, S. A. Johnson and C. T. Thomas.
There are about a dozen marked burials at Star from the very early years, the 1880s. A survey shows a few death dates that precede Star's establishment, presumably indicating that loved ones buried elsewhere were re-interred. One also presumes that many of the early graves either did not have a marker or the marker is long gone. Fully 60% of the marked burials are from before 1930, with 17% being from before 1910. Star remained the city's only African-American cemetery until the late 1920s when Carver Cemetery opened just south of what was then the city limits.
Various locally prominent African-Americans are buried at Star, most notably ministers, the traditional leaders of the black community. Among them are Rev. Luke Allen, Sr. (1839-1919), an early pastor of Antioch Baptist Church (the "mother church" of Shreveport's black Baptists), and his sons, Prof. William Allen (1869-1898) and Rev. Luke Allen, Jr. (1871-1938), pastor of the Avenue Baptist Church. Other notables buried at Star include The Rev. Dr. A. M. Newman (1845-1898), founder of the Third District Baptist Normal and Collegiate Institute, an early school for training black teachers; J. S. Williams (1870-1938), founder of the city's oldest black funeral home; and Charles Roberson, Shreveport's first black attorney.
Star Cemetery today remains what it was originally and throughout its active years of use - a major focus of ethnic identity in Shreveport's African-American community. Star Cemetery Association has long since ceased to exist. The City of Shreveport in 1960 assumed the role of Star's caretaker. Within the last several years Star has been in the local news due to the efforts of the African American Multicultural Tourism Commission to encourage the city to improve maintenance, to provide paved access and erect a gateway, and to provide security. A support group, The Descendants of the Dead, has been formed, and various volunteer groups have come together for work days at Star.
Site Description
Established in 1883, Star Cemetery is a ten-acre African-American burial ground located on flat land in western Shreveport. The roughly square-shaped parcel is bounded by Interstate 20 on the north, a U.S. Post Office facility on the south, low self-storage units on the west, and the historic St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery on the east. Star Cemetery has not been in active use for some time, with ninety-two percent of its burials dating from before 1950. Hence it retains a strong historic character, despite some vandalism and general decay of monuments.
Star Cemetery was Shreveport's first African-American cemetery and the only one until the late 1920s. Today surrounded by a chain-link fence, it is accessed via an easy-to-miss, unmarked gravel lane that runs off the 2100 block of Texas Avenue. There is no gateway or other type of formal entrance, and no one can remember a time when there was. The cemetery is completely unplanned, with markers randomly placed and no drives or site features other than shade trees. There are roughly 1300 marked burials, although locals believe that thousands more people are buried there. (Some graves were unmarked from the first and many markers are long gone.)
All but a handful of burials at Star are below ground. For the most part, the grave markers are small and very modest, often with a decidedly homemade character. There are a few more "high style" markers (at least within the context of Star), including a handful of obelisks and columnar shafts.
While the standard modern headstone is wider than it is tall, the typical marker at Star is decidedly vertical, often twice as tall as it is wide. There are some more mainstream granite markers; however, most markers are of concrete or crudely carved stone. The simple, folk character of most of the markers is quite poignant. Even lettering done by someone who was presumably a professional looks free-form rather than carefully chiseled. A particularly distinctive type of gravestone is that formed by three concrete blocks, one laid on top another, and resting on a low base. Others are even more clearly homemade in character - i.e., a concrete headstone where perhaps a family member has carefully written the name and other information in block letters. Typical motifs on the folk markers include the hand with finger pointing heavenward, the lamb, and the dove.
Reflecting the considerable importance of fraternal organizations and benevolent societies in the African-American community are the number of headstones with emblems of the Masons, the Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, etc. Among the more unusual are "Rising Star Platinum Lodge," "Willing Workers Chamber," "Royal Mansion Chamber," "Victoria Chamber," and "Queen Esther Temple."
Most markers have a minimum of inscription, typically just a name, death date, and age. Among the most memorable are those with an epitaph; those that make us pause and wonder about the person buried there, what their life had been like, and their grieving loved ones. The marker of Sam Hall, who died June 28, 1906 at the age of 31 years, bears the inscription: "My husband leaned his head on Jesus Brest [sic]. He breathed his life out sweetly there. Hattie Hall." With a dove above and a lamb below, the shaft marking Clarrisa Oliphant's 1907 grave reads: "Blessed are the dead which died in the Lord. They may rest from thire [sic] labors. Thire [sic] work do follow them." Then we find the last words of Seleste Louis Chandler (1891-1920): "Iam so happy." As local historian Eric Brock observed: "Some of these small, poignant little monuments with their misspellings and odd shapes elicit a greater sense of sadness than many a commercially-made monument, for all its elegance and costliness, ever could."

Looking east southeast toward adjacent St. Joseph Cemetery (2001)

Looking west toward self-storage buildings just beyond western boundry (2001)

Looking east toward. St. Joseph Cemetery (2001)

Looking northwest towards interstate from northern edge of Cemetery (2001)

Looking northwest towards interstate, from southern end of cemetery (2001)

Looking NE from southern part of cemetery (2001)

Sample monument (2001)

Sample monument (2001)

Sample monument (2001)

Sample monument (2001)

Sample monument (2001)

Sample monument (2001)
