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January 13, 2008
Feature Photo - Mount Olivet Cemetery
DeJan family coping in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Gentilly. Mount Olivet is a historically black cemetery. The three St. Louis cemeteries are not specifically segregated, because the Creoles had so much interaction with Les Gens De Couleur Libres, the Free Peoples of Color, that segregation would have broken up some the burial of some families. Other communities, such as the Irish, Germans, and Italians, had more separation between black and white. As the black community grew and Jim Crow became stronger, the community had a need for its own cemeteries.
This photo shows a number of aspects of New Orleans cemeteries. The DeJan coping is a typical working-class family grave. Tombs were expensive, but Mount Olivet is on (relatively) high ground, so there were more in-ground burials. In the center background, you can see a "society" tomb, where there are vaults in three rows of four. Various social and benevolent societies would purchase a tomb such as this, because pooling the resources enabled members to have traditional, above-ground burial. On the right side in the background is a granite "double" tomb that is typical of New Orleans cemeteries.
The headstones on the DeJan coping are military-style. The one on the left lists two veterans, Lawrence B. Blackwell, who served in WWII, and Arthur DeJan, who served in WWI. The right-hand stone lists Sidney DeJan, who was in the Infantry in WWI, and Bienville Ancar, Jr., who did not serve in the military.
Posted by YatPundit at January 13, 2008 9:06 PM