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ATAC championing for Eden Cemetery

Some time between July 14 and 19, vandals victimized Eden Cemetery, the oldest public African-American burial ground in the United States.

More than 200 headstones in the historic graveyard were overturned or defaced. It was a senseless, stupid crime, one that has occurred before at Eden and other Delaware County cemeteries throughout the years.

In 1998, Darby Historical Commission President Lindy Wardell and her husband, Frank, discovered Darby Methodist Meeting Cemetery on the eastern end of Mount Zion Cemetery, near Eden Cemetery. It had been so abused and overgrown that no one knew it was there for about 50 years. It is the resting place of more than 950 people of all colors and creeds buried there between 1775 and 1900.

The most recent Eden vandalism occurred on the heels of vandalism in another part of Collingdale where an African-American family awoke to find their car and van victimized. Their van's costly tires were slashed and both vehicles were defaced with graffiti that was vulgar and racist.

Collingdale police expressed outrage at the crime and acknowledged its bigoted nature. After about a month-long investigation, two white brothers, ages 16 and 21, surrendered to police and were charged with ethnic intimidation and related offenses for the damage done to their black neighbors' property.

About the same time, three white, teen-aged boys surrendered in connection with the vandalism at Eden Cemetery and were charged with criminal mischief, desecration of venerated objects and related offenses. Police said there was no indication the vandalism was racially-motivated, that it was the work of punk kids.

Last week Philadelphia attorney and civil rights activist Michael Coard held a press conference calling the recent Eden Cemetery vandalism and detailing a "horrific history of racist desecration and criminality" at the historic graveyard.

He accused local police and politicians of not adequately protecting the cemetery, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Conditions became so bad at the cemetery that office operations were moved to Philadelphia 17 years ago, said Mina Cockroft, family service director for Eden. The office was moved back on-site in 2006.

Coard, who is president of Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, also known as ATAC, has put his money where his mouth is and has helped found Friends of Historic Eden Cemetery.

Cockroft, who is also a founding member of the group, said the purpose of the organization is to help identify funding sources to restore and secure the cemetery as well as to share its history.

Last Saturday was a milestone for the newly-formed group who, with ATAC, sponsored "A Day to Honor Our Ancestors at Eden Cemetery."

Through the miracle of theater, about 100 participants got to meet historic figures buried in the 106-year-old cemetery. Among them were contralto Marian Anderson, who sang on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 after being denied access to Constitution Hall; and Octavius Valentine Catto, who was shot to death in 1871 outside a polling place in Philadelphia while rallying for the right to vote.

Nine-year-old Ty Rodriguez of Folcroft was fascinated with the lessons he learned that day. His favorite historic figure buried at Eden is William Still, father of the Underground Railroad, who at one point in the 19th Century helped as many as 60 slaves a month escape to freedom. "I wanted to hear about people who died and how they lived and their culture," said Ty.

His 12-year-old friend, Nicolette Brazington of Yeadon, found Eden beautiful and Saturday's event, reassuring.

"I think it was a good program to tell people everything will be all right and no more harm will be coming out here," said Nicolette.

Whether the most recent vandalism at Eden was racially motivated or not, the result was an organization that now will champion the cause of the historic resting place.

At least two of those champions are children, a promising sign for the future of Eden Cemetery and preserving its history for many generations to come.