History behind the lost Columbian Harmony Cemetery

For about 100 years starting in the late 1850s, the Columbian Harmony Cemetery in Washington, D.C. was the resting place for 37,000 Black residents. When that cemetery was sold 60 years ago, the headstones were all sold or given away as scrap. Chip Reid spoke to Virginia State Senator Richard Stuart and his wife Lisa, who vowed to help restore the dignity of the cemetery's residents after 55 of those headstones - and potentially thousands more - ended up in the water near their new farm on the Potomac River.
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[@debphs5270]

Saw this on Sunday Morning and it was so despicable how they sold this cemetary and the headstones were dumped along the shoreline like trash. Thanks to the people trying to right this horrible wrong.

[@briangarrow448]

Caring for the weak and helpless, and respect for the dead are two measurements of a civilized society.

[@mindakahn9964]

Well said. Thank you.

[@jjbutterbeans1515]

Can you imagine being the person buying truck loads of headstones and not questioning or caring where they came from?? How sad.

[@Me97202]

It’s SO disrespectful to SELL a cemetery and redevelop the land.

[@alexandriaocasio-smollett5078]

Not really. It’s done all over the world in almost every country. Because there isn’t sufficient land to dedicate to disintegrating remains.

[@TheVeggiekat]

@@alexandriaocasio-smollett5078 cemeteries are moved all the time but usually the headstones are moved along with the bodies. Dumping headstones in a river is not normal or in any way acceptable.

[@alexandriaocasio-smollett5078]

@@TheVeggiekat I get where you’re coming from. But it’s not as big of a deal as you’re making it out to be. In countries all over the world throughout every race, religion, and culture, this type of thing is the norm. When a loved one passes, they bury their body, leave it for a period of time.. then once that generation is gone, they move/dump/burn whatever is remaining in a mass site so they can repurpose the property. Listen, I’m not trying to get into a debate about it. I 100% respect how you feel about it. And I’m not even saying that I am perfectly OK with it... But this is a perfect example of a first-world problem.

[@laurencaulton103]

This has happened all over this country, especially to Black, brown and Native Americans.

[@ag-bk5wf]

4yrs ago...and they still havent removed the headstones from their shorelines and to higher grounds.

[@angeliafitzgerald1708]

Sickening, how would you feel if one of these citizens were your ancestor?

[@justonemori]

happened to some of mine, they're white so nobody cares

[@jeanashchuchinov6593]

How sad is this! And thank goodness someone cared

[@romstar]

What a metaphor for how black people are treated in this country- abused and beaten down in life, discarded and disrespected in death. But I know they now sit with the Creator, in a place of honor they did not enjoy in this life.🙏😘👍

[@karlhingus7118]

Youre describing how Liberals and Democrats treat them.

[@Tank196958]

I dont often comment on videos of any sort but this created an extremely visceral reaction to me. This sickens me to the core. Sadly, we as a society, have often had utter disregard for the sanctity of life and respect for the dead. This, apparently, is not a new problem. One of the most egregious portions was the story about the land owner buying truckloads of gravestones to shore up his water line. Was there not a moment of pause in his decision to place grave markers like so much refuse on the shoreline? God help us all if this is the level of selfishness and lack of decorum we practice.

[@missymoonwillow6545]

Curse of king tut. The rulers over mankind, the richest family on earth, set this tone. Make no mistake.

[@teekee32]

I never knew this! I have an ancestor that was buried there, Perri W Frisby (1873-1926). Thank you to those that are trying to make a difference. It is appreciated.

[@esmeraldagems9487]

How in the world can you SELL a person's headstone? Or give it out for SCRAPS?? That's just evil.

[@plaidzebra5526]

It was so disheartening to hear tombstones were uses to shore-up a riverbank 60 miles away from where they should have been. Crushing

[@d.virgallito3490]

Wow, horrific!

[@isabelayala6763]

I don’t why I thought a cemetery would sacred. I’m a totally blown away by the disrespect

[@crispycactusstudios6234]

That is some poltergeist sh*t right there. My hometown was renovating their downtown district and found thousand of bodies under the downtown area. They then moved the bodies and mixed up the headstones.

[@cookiekirkland8689]

Showing ur respect for the dead should never be disturbed!!! To take the headstones and treat them like that is the worse thing a living human being could do to the dead. Just like blood diamonds these are blood headstones on the owner who displaced them.

[@wilsonreed1708]

Powerful and sad. Hope is up the road with new awareness.

[@maritzadillingham4008]

This is a disgrace. But, thank you for the people that care. 🙏🏽 That says a lot . Again, thank you for caring .

[@karoberts2198]

I'll be cremated. I still care that they threw away this rich source of history .

[@nightengale7163]

Simply disrespectful.

[@rr7firefly]

Mountain View Cemetery in Piedmont California.

[@cesarleon5232]

Thank you

[@KimbradleyMasterGardener]

Thank You! Awesome segment 🙏👏👏👏

[@Grahzzyvtvlog]

lost history 😭 people need to respect the ones who came before

[@lightyagami3492]

If they can find the bodies using ground radar they can get them DNA tested and compared to descendants to have them identified.

[@maandombaassassincreed518]

Thanks you 🤗

[@TheImperfectVlogger]

This makes me so sad. May these souls Rest In Peace. Such a sad thing.

[@thearter12]

This is SO sad.

[@johnniemiller6982]

About time

[@linmatthews3539]

My paternal grandmother was buried there. It grieves and angers me that we do not know where her remains lie and have no place to visit to pay our respects.

[@rodolfoayalajr.8589]

Embarrassing and shameful. Emotional 😭.

[@missmsmrs.7309]

TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE! Greed is always the name of the game.

[@mercedesdrake9113]

very disturbing. still dont understand how this happened like how is anyone allowed to demolish a cemetery? god bless those workers who are trying to recover the headstones.

[@maryjokarladulnuan7409]

Whaaaaa

[@waynemiracle8928]

Very despicable and inhuman! Unconscionable!

[@missymoonwillow6545]

God forgive us for our sins. May we revisit our inner moral compass, and do better in the future. 🌷🙏🏿🙏🙏🏽🌈🌎

[@slantfish65sd]

This is the kind of thing that happens and it shouldn't but it happens and people say it's all about progress. I say it's all about greed

[@flame-sky7148]

Disregard for humanity. I’m shocked but not surprised.

[@rr7firefly]

This is hardly a rare case of disrespecting the dead and buried. The Mountain View Cemetery in Piedmont, California has a policy of rededicating grave sites that are very old. They figure that no one alive now will be visiting them. So why not repurpose those spots for someone with money? Yes, good old capitalism, as cold as it comes.

[@mindakahn9964]

Frigid.

[@anthonydavenport7131]

Mountain view did it differently.

[@Jibbie49]

At 70, Jane looks good.

[@deedeewinfrey3181]

Is nothing sacred anymore?

[@USA50_]

There are a lot of abandoned cemeteries around America. We must not make it about racial politics. Our country needs a large cemetery system to help with genealogical work 🌳👨‍👩‍👦‍👦👨‍👩‍👧❤️🇺🇸🦅🗽⭐🙏

[@nj2mddude205]

Common practice for urban cemeteries. The Cemetery Traveler - by Ed Snyder: The Watery Remains of Monument Cemetery Monument Cemetery - Wikipedia

[@shuffleaccount1985]

THE PREVIOUS OWNER SHOULD BE ASHAMED FOR USING THE NAMES OF THE DEAD IN THIS SELFISH AND DISHONORABLE WAY AND ALL THOSE CHURCH GOING, INHUMAN , CREATURES WHO HELPED TO DO THIS DISGRACEFUL THING, SHOULD BE HAUNTED TILL THE DAY THEY DIE AND, AFTER UNTIL THEY MAKE THIS RIGHT , BY THOSE THEY DESECRATED !!

[@frankscott927]

Embarrassing

[@simko8665]

In Europe during and after WW2 many Jewish people tombstones were turned into pavement stones.

[@USA50_]

Misleading

[@jaxlovescarmel]

Let's think..🤔🤔.. THERES NO WAY THEY MOVED THE BODIES😡 BET!

[@ilikeoneclicks8985]

The ambitious experience parenthetically argue because instrument perioperaively scrape besides a heavenly heavy hellish zipper. electric, sudden stranger

[@USA50_]

Spam

[@lisamac2764]

$5 million - why not give that to the community of living or their families who probably need it right now? I cannot believe the bodies were reburied, if they were, why not take the entire burial site? Why didn’t Hart know the headstone was missing? 200 yo family members are most likely not visited. Where are the headstones going? The reparations to LIVING black communities is what’s needed not the guilt clean up of a Republican’s newly purchased farm, imo.

[@PaisleyMoon2022]

The farm belongs to the Republican senator.

[@lisamac2764]

@@PaisleyMoon2022 nice.

[@notsoawesomeone]

@@lisamac2764 Idiot.

[@lisamac2764]

@@notsoawesomeone nice.

[@PaisleyMoon2022]

I agree with you that the money should go into the black community instead.

[@alexandriaocasio-smollett5078]

“When they saw something in the water that brought tears to their eyes“.. There is a .00000007% chance that she actually cried when she saw that headstone. What these people did is a good thing. But the whole over the top virtue signaling in a pathetic attempt to expand one’s visibility and power takes so much away from the story.

[@doug3959]

I am a cemetery volunteer. In my many pursuits, I have encountered dozens cemeteries that met similar fates. And yes, graves of whites, native Americans and all other races have been affected similarly. Your story was indeed sad, but it was not necessary to make it all about race, let alone about George Floyd.

[@KimbradleyMasterGardener]

The George Floyd part was about distrust in the Government regarding the vaccine wasn't it???

[@Johnny-mo4xz]

Yes but that wouldn't support the BLM Movement would it!! I'm getting sick and tired of it. If you are a white man u r the minority now I guess

[@gusjackson4704]

Mr Phelps, I see that you are as casual as the murderer of Mr Floyd. You're conveniently omitting the racial aspects, when America has always been "race first" from birth to death. Perhaps, more than black cemeteries were removed, but accidently, I'm sure. History directed me to the many inequalities of black vs white; Jim Crow America speaks volumes when you have a black cemetery and a white cemetery ever. I'd hate to be in a foxhole with you.

[@Johnny-mo4xz]

@@gusjackson4704 Mr. Phelps pay no mind to Mr. Jackson!!! As he probally takes advantage of food stamps and welfare.

[@gusjackson4704]

@@Johnny-mo4xz thanks, for your offering, but food stamps n welfare are as american as apple pie. I'm sure many of your friends have had a taste of them both. Check the history, it's in black and white.

[@karlhingus7118]

Support abortion though Im sure

[@mlecarre2057]

Cemeteries are a buisness. We are but a speck of dust....

[@anthonydavenport7131]

Your lame opinion.

[@susanlongb4]

Unfortunately this happens to graves of all ethnicities and patients of mental hospitals in the name of progress. EVERYTHING doesn't need to be politics or racism. It's greed and disregard.

[@FLOODOFSINS]

These people had way too much free time on their hands

[@TJ-mc8uh]

Who are "these people" you are referring to?

[@karlhingus7118]

Bleeding heart white Liberals.

[@FLOODOFSINS]

Didn't we hear enough about blacks the last 11 months?

[@PaisleyMoon2022]

Why watch then?

[@spilledsalt4862]

I found the racist!

[@rr7firefly]

So much hatred in your words. What kind of human are you anyway?

[@junawallace7315]

@@spilledsalt4862 lol there are several. you can set your watch by them

[@Tank196958]

I will pray for you. God bless