March 2024

Malachi McMahon GPR
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Finding Unmarked Graves at PVAMU

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Finding Unmarked Graves at PVAMU

 

 

On March 12 and 13, 2024, Legacy Cultural Resources, Inc. invited ground penetrating radar specialists Dr. Chet Walker and Aundrea Thompson to visit the campus of Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) and conduct several geophysical examinations of the historic burial ground of Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery.

 

 

This project is funded through the Summerlee Foundation.

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Aundrea Thompson & Dr. Chet Walker met with project director and PVAMU Assistant Professor of History DeWayne Moore to learn more about the grant from the Summerlee Foundation.

Aundrea Thompson, Dr. Chet Walker, and Dr. DeWayne Moore

Aundrea Thompson & Dr. Chet Walker met with project director and PVAMU Assistant Professor of History DeWayne Moore to learn more about the grant from the Summerlee Foundation.
Aundrea Thompson & Dr. Chet Walker

The archeologists

Aundrea Thompson & Dr. Chet Walker
Dr. Moore's son, Noah, surveys the cemetery with students workers on the Digital PV Panther Project--Noah Jackson, Zynitra Durham, and Jaylynn Brantley

Student Engagement

Dr. Moore’s son, Noah, surveys the cemetery with students workers on the Digital PV Panther Project–Noah Jackson, Zynitra Durham, and Jaylynn Brantley
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The archaeologists

In the spring of 2006, Dr. Walker founded Archaeo-Geophysical Associates, LLC, an archaeological consulting firm specializing in geophysical prospection. Since that time, he has collected geophysical data on over 150 archaeological sites, now totaling much more than 1,539 Acres of Gradiometer, 115 Acres of Ground-Penetrating Radar, and 484 Acres of Electromagnetic Induction Meter.

Aundrea Thompson studied at the University of Wyoming, and she has worked as a forensic archaeologist on numerous projects in the past ten years. For more on one project, in which she located the remains of a World War II soldier and brought his remains back to the US for burial, please click HERE

Aundrea Thompson's Graduate Work
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Hauling their geophysical prospection equipment in a large pick-up truck from Palestine, Texas, where they had been working at another archaeological site, Aundrea and Chet planned to spend two days on campus before driving to Magnolia, Texas to collaborate with the Houston Archaeological Society on a dig site.

At PVAMU, Chet and Aundrea planned to run the ground-penetrating radar over the entire five acre field to determine the size of the burial ground. In addition, they intended to scan the field with an electromagnetic induction meter as well as LIDAR [or Light Detection and Ranging], which is attached to a large drone and scans an estimated 120 acre area.

Chet Walker Locates Remains in Alabama
In this image, you can see how running the GPR looks on the grass. Making an imprint similar to that of a lawn mower, Chet and Aundrea covered the entire field, hoping to determine the size of the burial ground.

Ground Penetrating Radar

In this image, you can see how running the GPR looks on the grass. Making an imprint similar to that of a lawn mower, Chet and Aundrea covered the entire field, hoping to determine the size of the burial ground.
By scanning the entire field, the teams intends to use the data from GPR to corroborate data obtained during the pedestrian survey in October 2023. We hope to determine the locations of graves and the size of the burial ground.

Scanning the Entire Field

By scanning the entire field, the teams intends to use the data from GPR to corroborate data obtained during the pedestrian survey in October 2023. We hope to determine the locations of graves and the size of the burial ground.
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The cemetery

The burial ground is associated with and named after an African American church founded in the 1890s by Reverend George W. Wyatt, a one-time school teacher and politician who represented Waller and Fort Bend Counties in the state legislature in the 1880s. Based on slave schedules, Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery might contain hundreds of graves of enslaved people, formerly enslaved people, and their descendants. It sits on the former slave labor plantation of Jared E. Kirby, who, in 1860, owned more enslaved people (159) than any other planter in Austin County. No one made a formal record of these burials, however, and the historic burial ground, which is located behind University Village Phase III, was over time abandoned, especially after 1961, with the establishment of nearby Prairie View Memorial Gardens. Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery contains only a handful of marked graves, but it holds forever close the remains of three United States military veterans. 

THE WYATT CHAPEL CEMETERY PROJECT
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Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR)

LIDAR, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging, is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances) to the Earth.
Chet and Aundrea have several drones that can carry up to 22 pounds of equipment.

Drone with LIDAR

Chet and Aundrea have several drones that can carry up to 22 pounds of equipment.

Pre-Set Navigation

With pre-set navigational controls, the drone flies back and forth in straight lines, capturing data about the contours of the earth over a 120 square mile area.
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Chet and Aundrea completed the data collection using ground penetrating radar for the entire five acre field, and they obtained LIDAR data using the drone, but they plan to return later in March 2024 to complete data collection with the magnetometer. Once all the data is collected, they will analyze their findings independently and objectively, and they will submit their findings to Dr. Nesta Anderson, of Legacy Cultural Resources, Inc., who will meet with Dr. Moore and Pamela Morgan, of the Wyatt Chapel Descendants Committee, to compare the results to the findings from the pedestrian survey. 

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Digital PV Panther Project
John B. Coleman Library
Room 111
Prairie View, Texas 77446

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 936-261-3512

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE CEMETERY PROJECT
We cleaned the headstone of veteran Milo Wilson with D2 biological solution in October 2023, and it looks amazing in 2024.

The Headstone of Milo Wilson

We cleaned the headstone of veteran Milo Wilson with D2 biological solution in October 2023, and it looks amazing in 2024.

Stay tuned for the next installment!

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Wyatt Chapel after GPR
MIlo Wilson Headstone after D2
Noah & Aundrea Walking Wyatt
Noah at Wyatt
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Students now, Alumni forever!

Students now, Alumni forever!

“Years have passed, yet the diploma hangs perfectly centered behind my chair and the graduation ring sits proudly atop my finger…constant reminders of the formative years I spent as an undergraduate.”

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“For the record, I did not attend Prairie View A&M University, but I did attend an HBCU that provided me with a hefty dose of the Black experience and, more importantly, a better understanding of the giving-back concept. Ordinarily, one would consider these lessons to be indicative of an HBCU education, but my epiphany occurred during a freshman-week session called ‘students now, alumni forever.’

Alumni, as defined by Webster, are graduates, former students, or old pupils. My college said, “Anyone can matriculate through college, earn a degree, and become a graduate but our alumni do that and so much more. They are individuals who completely embrace the uniqueness and importance of an HBCU education by beginning their support now and continuing it forever. Which kind do you want to be?”

By Nelson Bowman, alumnus of Morehouse College

Andre Evans - 2007

Andre Evans republished this article in a 2007 issue of the student newspaper, the Prairie View Panther, and he explained, “I am still an undergraduate and I cannot fully explain to you the invigorating experience received from giving back to your alma mater, so I gave you a testimony from someone who could. True, I am attempting to foster within the students an altruistic spirit, but I would never limit that to monetary donations. When you reach the point of self-actualization, you will realize that you have so much to offer other than money. Your support, love, and even presence can be a contribution.”

Evans closed by encouraging students to join the Pre-Alumni Association, but I will encourage students who are truly interested in giving back to the university to start by submitting an article, short story, or poem for consideration to be published on our website.

We have lost so much in the absence of the student newspaper, and the Digital PV Panther Project wants to amplify the voices and creative spirit of students at the oldest public HBCU in Texas. Our mission is to eliminate the silences and prevent the erasure of history at PVAMU, and we have made great strides when it comes to historic preservation in the archives. The students who work on the project have devoted their time and attention to processing and digitizing some of the most important documents that remain housed at this institution, and I am so proud of their monumental achievements since we hired the first group of eleven undergraduates in the summer of 2022. We have received external support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Texas State Library & Archives Commission, and the Summerlee Foundation, and we have received internal financial support from Dr. Krishnamoorthi through the RISE program and Dr. Musa Olaka, the esteemed director of John B. Coleman Library. My heart is truly full.

But the truth is that we simply cannot fulfill our mission without the support and contributions of the students. The students are the bone, the sinew, the very life’s blood of this great campus. So come see us in Room 111 of the library–past Dunkin Donuts on the right–or send us an email at [email protected]. 

Help us Preserve the Now!