Volunteers spent Saturday morning cleaning up the neglected grave sites of at least 20 former enslaved people that were discovered in Fort Bend County last year. Independent photographer Annie Mulligan documented the group’s efforts over Juneteenth weekend.

Close window X

Republish this article

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Abdelraoufsinno's published content is free. Please review our republication guidelines here and give us attribution when you republish our content.

Photo essay: Juneteenth volunteers clean historic grave sites of former slaves

by Annie Mulligan / Independent Photographer, Abdelraoufsinno
June 19, 2023

<h1>Photo essay: Juneteenth volunteers clean historic grave sites of former slaves</h1> <p class="byline">by Annie Mulligan / Independent Photographer, Abdelraoufsinno <br />June 19, 2023</p> <div class="wp-block-jetpack-tiled-gallery alignwide is-style-rectangular"> <div class="tiled-gallery__gallery"> <div class="tiled-gallery__row"> <div class="tiled-gallery__col" style="flex-basis:66.74229%"> <figure class="tiled-gallery__item"><img alt="100-year-old tombstone of Rueben Lewis with surrounded vegetation overgrowth" data-height="1707" data-id="7924" data-link="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/tombstone-cleaning-2/" data-url="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20230617_TOMBSTONE-CLEANING-_AM_02-scaled.jpg" data-width="2560" src="https://i2.wp.com/abdelraoufsinno.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20230617_TOMBSTONE-CLEANING-_AM_02-scaled.jpg?ssl=1" data-amp-layout="responsive" /></figure> </div> <div class="tiled-gallery__col" style="flex-basis:33.25771%"> <figure class="tiled-gallery__item"><img alt="Fort Bend County Precinct 4 Commissioner Dexter L. McCoy leads a group of volunteers through cleared land" data-height="1707" data-id="7923" data-link="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/tombstone-cleaning/" data-url="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20230617_TOMBSTONE-CLEANING-_AM_01-scaled.jpg" data-width="2560" src="https://i2.wp.com/abdelraoufsinno.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20230617_TOMBSTONE-CLEANING-_AM_01-scaled.jpg?ssl=1" data-amp-layout="responsive" /></figure> <figure class="tiled-gallery__item"><img alt="Debra McGaughey runs her fingers over the engraving on a tombstone" data-height="1706" data-id="7925" data-link="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/tombstone-cleaning-3/" data-url="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20230617_TOMBSTONE-CLEANING-_AM_03-scaled.jpg" data-width="2560" src="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20230617_TOMBSTONE-CLEANING-_AM_03-scaled.jpg?ssl=1" data-amp-layout="responsive" /></figure> </div> </div> <div class="tiled-gallery__row"> <div class="tiled-gallery__col" style="flex-basis:33.33982%"> <figure class="tiled-gallery__item"><img alt="Beverly Harris, 71, clears branches in a historic cemetery" data-height="1706" data-id="7926" data-link="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/tombstone-cleaning-4/" data-url="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20230617_TOMBSTONE-CLEANING-_AM_04-scaled.jpg" data-width="2560" src="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20230617_TOMBSTONE-CLEANING-_AM_04-scaled.jpg?ssl=1" data-amp-layout="responsive" /></figure> </div> <div class="tiled-gallery__col" style="flex-basis:33.32036%"> <figure class="tiled-gallery__item"><img alt="Volunteers clean brush and overgrowth around historic gravesites of former enslaved people outside of Kendleton, TX for Juneteenth" data-height="1707" data-id="7927" data-link="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/tombstone-cleaning-5/" data-url="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20230617_TOMBSTONE-CLEANING-_AM_05-scaled.jpg" data-width="2560" src="https://i2.wp.com/abdelraoufsinno.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20230617_TOMBSTONE-CLEANING-_AM_05-scaled.jpg?ssl=1" data-amp-layout="responsive" /></figure> </div> <div class="tiled-gallery__col" style="flex-basis:33.33982%"> <figure class="tiled-gallery__item"><img alt="Volunteer Rachel Conner reads a tribute on a tombstone" data-height="1706" data-id="7928" data-link="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/tombstone-cleaning-6/" data-url="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20230617_TOMBSTONE-CLEANING-_AM_06-scaled.jpg" data-width="2560" src="https://i2.wp.com/abdelraoufsinno.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20230617_TOMBSTONE-CLEANING-_AM_06-scaled.jpg?ssl=1" data-amp-layout="responsive" /></figure> </div> </div> <div class="tiled-gallery__row"> <div class="tiled-gallery__col" style="flex-basis:33.25771%"> <figure class="tiled-gallery__item"><img alt="Gina Torry and James Hudson clear overgrowth around the tombstones of a family buried outside of Kendleton, TX" data-height="1707" data-id="7929" data-link="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/tombstone-cleaning-7/" data-url="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20230617_TOMBSTONE-CLEANING-_AM_07-scaled.jpg" data-width="2560" src="https://i1.wp.com/abdelraoufsinno.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20230617_TOMBSTONE-CLEANING-_AM_07-scaled.jpg?ssl=1" data-amp-layout="responsive" /></figure> <figure class="tiled-gallery__item"><img alt="A 100-year-old tombstone of Annis Guess" data-height="1706" data-id="7930" data-link="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/tombstone-cleaning-8/" data-url="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20230617_TOMBSTONE-CLEANING-_AM_08-scaled.jpg" data-width="2560" src="https://i1.wp.com/abdelraoufsinno.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20230617_TOMBSTONE-CLEANING-_AM_08-scaled.jpg?ssl=1" data-amp-layout="responsive" /></figure> </div> <div class="tiled-gallery__col" style="flex-basis:66.74229%"> <figure class="tiled-gallery__item"><img alt="" data-height="1707" data-id="7931" data-link="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/tombstone-cleaning-9/" data-url="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20230617_TOMBSTONE-CLEANING-_AM_09-scaled.jpg" data-width="2560" src="https://i1.wp.com/abdelraoufsinno.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20230617_TOMBSTONE-CLEANING-_AM_09-scaled.jpg?ssl=1" data-amp-layout="responsive" /></figure> </div> </div> <div class="tiled-gallery__row"> <div class="tiled-gallery__col" style="flex-basis:50.01461%"> <figure class="tiled-gallery__item"><img alt="Fort Bend County Precinct 4 Commissioner Dexter L. McCoy during Juneteenth event" data-height="1706" data-id="7932" data-link="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/tombstone-cleaning-10/" data-url="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20230617_TOMBSTONE-CLEANING-_AM_10-scaled.jpg" data-width="2560" src="https://i2.wp.com/abdelraoufsinno.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20230617_TOMBSTONE-CLEANING-_AM_10-scaled.jpg?ssl=1" data-amp-layout="responsive" /></figure> </div> <div class="tiled-gallery__col" style="flex-basis:49.98539%"> <figure class="tiled-gallery__item"><img alt="Painted sign directs people toward a grave site" data-height="1707" data-id="7933" data-link="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/tombstone-cleaning-11/" data-url="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20230617_TOMBSTONE-CLEANING-_AM_11-scaled.jpg" data-width="2560" src="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20230617_TOMBSTONE-CLEANING-_AM_11-scaled.jpg?ssl=1" data-amp-layout="responsive" /></figure> </div> </div> </div> </div> <p>Volunteers spent Saturday morning cleaning up the neglected grave sites of at least 20 former enslaved people that were discovered in Fort Bend County last year. Independent photographer Annie Mulligan documented the group’s efforts over Juneteenth weekend.</p> <p>This <a target="_blank" href="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/photo-essay-juneteenth-volunteers-clean-historic-grave-sites-of-former-slaves/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://abdelraoufsinno.com">Abdelraoufsinno</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/apple-touch-icon-180x180.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://abdelraoufsinno.com/?republication-pixel=true&post=7941&amp;ga4=" style="width:1px;height:1px;"></p> Copy to Clipboard

1