shanafme t1_izle4l9 wrote on December 9, 2022 at 11:19 PM

Wait - So Shippensburg didn’t have at public cemetery open to African Americans until the late 1900’s? Like sometime around 1985 they changed their minds about that?

IamSauerKraut OP t1_izlkmut wrote on December 10, 2022 at 12:08 AM

That is what that sign says. Hard to believe.

Wonderful-Comment314 t1_izm7s93 wrote on December 10, 2022 at 3:16 AM

Could be referring to the time period between 1900-1910

shanafme t1_izma1xg wrote on December 10, 2022 at 3:36 AM

How? Wouldn’t that be “early 20th century”?

[deleted] t1_izngc5d wrote on December 10, 2022 at 12:22 PM

[deleted]

CommodityBuyer t1_izn6kbc wrote on December 10, 2022 at 10:07 AM

It says this was a cemetery only for blacks from early 19th century (that is the 1800’s) until late 20th century (the 1900’s) which is when the civil rights movement happened. Then blacks could be buried in any cemetery, not just this one.

shanafme t1_izni9nd wrote on December 10, 2022 at 12:45 PM

The Civil Rights Movement happened in the 1950s and 60s. I wouldn’t consider that “late 20th century”. Regardless, it would still be odd that a northern community would be legally segregating public cemeteries even up to that point.

Lyad t1_izod36f wrote on December 10, 2022 at 4:57 PM

There’s often a bureaucratic delay after social movements… I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that 10 years passed before a law or process actually changed—but to your point, it’s hard to imagine such blatant segregation happening so recently.