HBCUs served as vital educational establishments for African Americans during the period of segregation when other institutions denied African Americans access to higher education. The inception story of HBCUs remains excluded from public recognition mostly because of systematic racial divisions which blocked educational institutions from proper development. According to Christopher T. Emdin in his book Urban Science Education for the Hip-Hop Generation institutions established to serve vulnerable populations suffer from institutional amnesia because historical accounts about their essentialness fade through economic funding shortages and political resource redirection.
Both racial segregation practices and resource uneven distribution at Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) suppressed its expansion relative to majority-white schools while removing essential information about its institutional history. Major HBCUs remain absent from such larger discussions about national educational histories. Future generations and scholars will be deprived of the complete history of college cultural achievements because these institutions’ whole narrative has been erased.
The Erasure of Institutional History
The elimination of institutional historical information at HBCUs stems from both past racial segregation and current structural inequalities that affect these institutions. Derrick P. Alridge in The Educational Legacy of Historically Black Colleges and Universities demonstrates that maintaining and promoting HBCU historical records receives insufficient funding. Public history initiatives select predominantly white colleges over the valuable heritage of minority institutions when creating their projects. The present disparity both decreases public understanding regarding the vital importance of HBCUs and fails to fully demonstrate what these institutions accomplished throughout African American historical development.
The notable Texas HBCU PVAMU maintains an extended Nigerian-American legacy of fighting African American education battles during civil rights yet public history scholars do not adequately explore these significant events in their research collections. The absence of substantial funding together with institutional backing threatens to eliminate PVAMU and comparable institutions from the historical canon thus preventing students both present and future from developing their connection to their past.
Achieving Racial Desegregation Through Public History at PVAMU
Achieving meaningful racial desegregation through public history at PVAMU requires active efforts from the university together with its stakeholders to restore and position the African American historical narratives related to the university’s background. The history of PVAMU needs to achieve stronger integration within national and state-level discussions of higher education as well as civil rights and African American culture.
Public history should receive both financial backing along with organizational expansion to highlight HBCU stories which remain unknown to most people today. The HBCU Digital Preservation Project operates as a key initiative toward documenting HBCU histories through digital archiving of oral memories to enable scholars better understanding of these universities’ historic contributions to American history. PVAMU together with other HBCUs needs to integrate their history into standard historical research to battle the widespread cultural memory loss from racial divisions while they reconstruct authentic historical narratives.
PVAMU students have the opportunity to engage in historical projects by conducting interviews with alumni together with faculty members and staff members. Students who take part in collecting these stories would discover an authentic understanding of university history while strengthening their authority over their institution’s historical authority. Public history operations serve as a racial desegregation method when communities preserve and feature histories which represent marginalized populations.
Conclusion: A Call to Action
HBCUs faced marginalization because racial segregation and systemic resource hoarding resulted in the disappearing of their institutional histories which otherwise would have enriched the United States social and academic and political landscapes. Public history initiatives allow us to reverse historical mistreatment and promote actual racial integration in America. The protection and continuation of PVAMU stories will lead future generations to fully encounter American higher education history which involves the historical perspectives and achievements of African American culture.
By critically addressing the impact of racial segregation on the history of HBCUs, this post highlights how public history can serve as a tool for both reclaiming erased histories and fostering meaningful racial desegregation. Through initiatives like digital preservation and student engagement in history-making, HBCUs can take an active role in reshaping how history is remembered and shared.
Part One: The Role of Technology in the Production of Public History
Modern technology has transformed how history gets produced as well as shared and experienced by people. Public history obtains powerful tracking capabilities through modern technology to convert history into a more available form with interactive features and increased engagement. Public historians now have innovative digital technology tools according to Bethany K. Blackstone in her article The Role of Digital Technology in Public History to display historical narratives and reach diverse audiences. Through digital archives and virtual exhibits and online platforms history has become more participatory and accessible to numerous audiences worldwide.
Among modern technological advancements public history receives its most thrilling boost through its delivery of realistic interactive content. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) created the conditions to construct dynamic historical environments that let users directly encounter previous social realities. Visitors at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History can now explore both virtual historical exhibits of the American Revolution alongside digital archives that previously presented navigation challenges.
The Most Engaging Use of Technology in Public History
Digital storytelling represents the most powerful application of technology in public history because of its interactive websites and mobile apps as well as VR/AR experiences. Through these technologies users gain the opportunity to become active storytellers in historical accounts instead of being mere receivers of historical data. Digital storytelling dominates The 9/11 Memorial Museum through its use of technology to deliver September 11th events via videos and virtual reenactments with interactive narratives for visitors.
Google Arts & Culture functions as a digital platform for accessing museum artifacts through its virtual tours which makes otherwise inaccessible exhibition pieces accessible to the public. Individuals can experience the Louvre and The British Museum virtually through 360-degree views that let them interact with history as seen from a global digital perspective. Museum technology enables collection of overlooked narratives through exhibition of materials that traditional displays would otherwise exclude.
Modern technology acts as more than a visual tool because it enables users to work together through social media and crowdsourcing services. At the Historypin platform people can view personal historical material such as photos and stories submitted by an active online community through their collaborative platform. Public participation integrated within the historical narrative presents an effective method to boost audience participation in historical interpretation along with preservation activities.
Conclusion: Technology as a Gateway to Interactive and Inclusive History
Technology has proven to be transforming force in the field of public history. This innovation creates brand-new ways for people to work together while making historical resources easier to reach and motivating citizens to join the historical dialogue. The modern technological innovations enable us to encounter history through methods and environments that would have been unthinkable only a few years ago. The continuing technological development will increase its capability to transform public history production thus creating promising opportunities for both history enthusiasts and researchers.
Photograph of the 9/11 Memorial Museum’s interactive exhibit
Photographer: Unknown, Date: 2023
Location: New York City, USA
By exploring the transformative power of technology in public history, this post underscores how digital tools can revolutionize how we experience, interpret, and engage with the past. Through innovations like VR, AR, and digital storytelling, public history is becoming more interactive and inclusive, offering us an exciting glimpse into the future of historical engagement.
Public history significantly depends on political intervention because politicians determine the methods that shape how historical stories develop along with their preservation and display. The purpose of public historians is to present historical interpretations to diverse audiences requiring the selection of what stories to emphasize along with their specific frameworks for presentation. The process of decision making in historical interpretation remains affected by modern political agendas as well as public sentiments and financial sources which restrict historical neutrality.
Through her article Public History and Political Engagement the historian Shelley S. Martin demonstrates the natural need for public historians to participate in politics because their historical interpretations always reflect current societal context. As a field history does not operate in a pure state since all interpretations of the past depend on existing political and sociocultural surroundings. The political environment of operation forms an unavoidable influence on the professional work of public historians though they should always seek objective scholarly practices. The public memory of historical events including the Civil War and Civil Rights Movement most often mirrors current political arguments about race and justices and identity issues.
Can Public Historians Engage in Political Activism While Maintaining Objectivity?
Professional objectivity presents a significant challenge to the ability of public historians who want to participate in political activism. Public historians occasionally believe it necessary to advocate for particular political issues especially when these deal with human rights or social justice causes. Activism activities present difficulties for those who also aim to maintain neutral professional positions. According to Martin the historical obligation to represent complete truthful histories tends to clash against historian intentions for political statementmaking.
The public historians who work at museums and historical sites representing marginalized communities might feel pressure to request more inclusive historical interpretations. Historians should support their advocacy work against historical wrongs by underrepresented voices but they need to safeguard their factual commitment and ethical conduct. Public historians receive expectations to deliver factual information without allowing political bias to dominate their presentations. Establishing correct measures between activism and objective work demands thoughtful consideration.
What is an Appropriate Level of Political Engagement in Public History?
The right measure of political involvement in public history consists of historians revealing their values and their selected historical narratives in an open manner while maintaining scholarly standards and professional moral duties. Public historians must both disclose their political situation and continue to display historical evidence from multiple viewpoints without employing facts to achieve political gains.
The opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture demonstrates modern public historians successfully handling their political involvement as they develop their programs. The museum dedicates its research about social justice topics to precise historical evidence while constructing narratives that promote analytical thinking among visitors.
Public history initiatives used by historians fight to save local historical artifacts that face endangerment from political changes including the defense of Indigenous heritage monuments. Intellectual commitment to these valuable histories guides the historians’ ethical professional practices.
Conclusion: Balancing Advocacy with Objectivity
Public history continues to interact with politics since public historians must interact with modern political matters. The measurement of political involvement needs proper evaluation. Public historians can handle the subtle relationship between advocacy and objectivity through the consistent practice of professional objectivity with clear transparency and careful attention to factual accuracy. Public historians must embrace two essential components of ethical practice by giving every voice fair representation yet provide histórical information through neutral honest and well-considered perspectives.
Photograph of the National Museum of African American History and Culture
Photographer: Unknown, Date: 2023
Location: Washington D.C., USA
By reflecting on the role of politics in public history, this post demonstrates the balance that historians must strike between engagement and ethical responsibility. Through real-world examples like the National Museum of African American History and Culture, it is clear that history, while always political, must remain grounded in factual representation and professional integrity.
PVAMU graduate student Evelyn Todd, PVAMU Assistant Professor of History Dr. DeWayne Moore, descendant partner Bishop Pendleton, Descendant Committee Chairperson Pamela Morgan, PVAMU architecture major Zynitra Durham, and PVAMU undergraduate Kalayah Jammer
Through the process, the project hopes to tell more completely the story of the formerly enslaved, buried in the hallowed grounds, and the hardships they endured at the Alta Vista Plantation, where PVAMU stands today.
Historic
&
Abandoned
Unmarked graves in Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery
“This study will explore the African American-lived experience through participatory and archival research, digital humanities, oral history, geospatial data collection and analysis, and the creation of interactive and immersive maps in preparation for the 150th anniversary of PVAMU in 2026,” said Dr. DeWayne Moore, a U.S. and public history professor at PVAMU.
The project was inspired by former PVAMU President Ruth Simmons, who encouraged such studies ‘to affirm to our students that we are awake, that we are concerned for their future, and that we are the Prairie View of our lineage.’”
Dr. Moore said the project is a true community effort, comprising faculty, staff, students, administrators, experts and community members to carry out the research and disseminate the resulting information.
Dr. Moore’s students have conducted interviews with several descendants of those buried in the cemetery. and he hopes that this article will encourage other descendants to reach out and contribute to the project. Due to her strong kinship ties to the University, graduate student Evelyn Todd ’21 is working on the project.
“As a student, you always hear the stories about the cemetery in the back of campus. So, it was sad to find out this was it and watch it go downhill over the years,” said Todd, who is working towards her MBA.
“I wanted to do my part to not just preserve the cemetery but honor it. I’m also really big on learning our history because if we don’t know what we’ve done or where we’ve been, then we won’t know where we’re going.”
‘To Honor Those Who Came Before Us’
The Texas state historical marker for Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery
The Alta Vista Plantation, owned by Colonel Jared E. Kirby, became property of the State of Texas in 1876. Kirby’s widow, Helen Marr Swearingen Kirby, deeded the land for the establishment of PVAMU.
Moore said history portrays Kirby as a “benevolent” slaveholder. But that all changed in the summer of 2021 when a June 24, 1936, interview with the only living person known to have been enslaved at Alta Vista surfaced.
According to Moore, Frank Edd White, a graduate student at the University of Texas, interviewed “several of the formerly enslaved in Waller County” near the Hempstead-Bellville highway. Among the interviewees was Elizabeth Burney, who had been enslaved at Alta Vista.
“She had ‘seen negro men beaten until blood ran down their legs,’” said Moore, recounting White’s record of the interview with Burney.
“’Marster Jack,’ as she referred to Kirby, ‘was sho’ mean to his slaves,’ and Burney went on to testify that ‘their food was bad…and sometimes the beef was spoiled and had worms in it, but they were glad to get it and did not complain,’” continued Moore, reading from the Burney interview. “’Their clothes were very scanty at times…Their living quarters were small and overcrowded…There was a great deal of sickness among the slaves, and when they died, a hole was dug, and they were rolled in it and covered up.’”
Moore said the Burney interview offers some of the only information recorded about the burial practices for the enslaved at Alta Vista.
The military headstone of Luther Felder is one of the only marked grave in the cemetery.
Finding & Saying the Names
“The cemetery contains a few marked graves, but the names of the internments have proven as elusive as the names of the enslaved at Alta Vista,” he said.
Among those buried at Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery is Mattie Wyatt Wells, daughter of George W. Wyatt, one of several African American politicians who hailed from Waller County during the Reconstruction era.
“This cemetery contains not only the remains of enslaved men and women who once lived on the enslaved labor farm of Jared E. Kirby, but also the graves of military veterans, the formerly enslaved, and their descendants,” said Moore. “Moreover, this is an important historical site to the descendants of those interred in the cemetery as well as the larger community of Wyatt Chapel and Prairie View. We have an opportunity to invite a host of stakeholders to campus to take part in the research and memorialization process, which can help people reach a consensus about the past and feel more confident about the future.”
Students and alumni work on the pedestrian survey in fall 2023
Tradition with the Annual Slave Cemetery Trek
To connect students, faculty, and the community with the area’s history, an annual Slave Cemetery Trek was a traditional event at PVAMU that was started in the 1990s by Professor Howard Jones.
However, Moore says the Slave Cemetery Trek has been undertaken by visitors interested in the history of the institution and may become an annual tradition at PVAMU.
“In the past, professors in the Division of Social, Political, and Behavioral Sciences conducted the trek in the fall, including longtime history program director and chair of the Division of Social Sciences, Dr. Ronald Goodwin, whose blog at the Texas Institute for the Preservation of History and Culture is a must-read for anyone interested in connecting the past to the present at PVAMU.”
PVAMU students, professors, staff, community members, and descendants gather to conduct the pedestrian survey in late 2023
According to a web page dedicated to the history of Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery and the ongoing project, the annual Slave Cemetery Trek has garnered strong, emotional reactions from past students who have made the walk.
Some “complained about the distance while others backed away because of fear,” with one student later writing, “There needs to be an understanding that while we are here doing what we are doing, there were others who came before us that worked diligently to produce the opportunities that we have at the present time.”
How to Keep
Track of the Project
and How to Help
Pamela Morgan & Bishop Pendleton
Believed to cover approximately three to five acres, the Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery may hold more than 2,000 graves, said Moore. In the fall of 2023, his team walked the burial ground to conduct a pedestrian survey and identified almost 200 potential grave markers, using remote sensing to determine the size of the burial ground. “Community stakeholders and PVAMU students worked with archaeologists Dr. Nesta Anderson and Melanie Nichols of Legacy Cultural Resources, LLC, to conduct the pedestrian survey of the cemetery,” said Moore.
This past spring, Chet Walker of Archeo-Geophysical Associates, LLC, conducted a ground-penetrating radar, magnetometer, and LIDAR survey of the cemetery. “His team is still waiting on the official report from the various studies,” Moore explained.
Donna D. Carter, FAIA, president of Austin, Texas-based architecture firm Carter Design Associates, is also involved in the project as a preservation architect. Her team has worked on multiple historical preservation projects, and they are excited to be part of this one.
In the meantime, Moore and his team built a project website, the Digital PV Panther Project. His students update the blog regularly so everyone on campus and within the community can stay abreast of the latest project news.
In addition to the website, people can also visit the Instagram, X, and Facebook accounts of the Digital PV Panther Project for up-to-date information.
Responsible Public History Practice
“One of the main goals of the project is to demonstrate the value of transparency and responsible practice to public history,” said Moore. “By regularly blogging about our work and posting updates on social media, we hope to inspire a more community-engaged, participatory approach to historic preservation in Texas.”
A review of historical evidence, Moore said, requires a critical eye and a breadth of knowledge sharpened by an investigative spirit willing to look beyond the painted prejudices of the past.
“Primary source materials reflect the perspectives and biases of their authors, and they reflect the systems of power and racist ideologies of the periods in which they were written,” said Moore. “They commodify Black experiences and rarely acknowledge the humanity of enslaved people. The data-driven methods of historical inquiry have often rendered enslaved people nameless; thus, we intend to use qualitative and archival data collections to recover the names and life stories of enslaved people and their descendants.
“We seek to identify as many enslaved people by name as possible, and we intend to represent individual and collective experiences in a self-conscious, responsible frame,” Moore continued. “We plan to compile as much data as possible and employ textual analysis to read against the grain of dehumanizing archival perspectives, and we stand in solidarity with and support descendant communities in telling their own histories.”
Interested parties should email graduate student Evelyn Todd at [email protected].
On March 31, 2024, archaeologists Dr. Chet Walker and Aundrea Thompson returned to the campus of Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) to complete their geophysical examinations of the historic burial ground of Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery.
This project is funded through the Summerlee Foundation.
Broken Trees in the Cemetery
Dr. Chet Walker came back to the cemetery following a massive storm that left several trees broken near the entrance to the cemetery.
The Bottom of the Tree
The top of this tree was broken off and laying on the ground
Storm Damage
Despite the storm damage, Dr. Walker managed to complete his magnetometer study of the cemetery.
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
Hauling their geophysical prospection equipment in a large pick-up truck around the country, Aundrea and Chet spent almost a week on campus conducting the cemetery surveys.
Not only did they push the ground-penetrating radar over the entire five acre field to determine the size of the burial ground, but they also used a drone to scan a 120 square mile area with LIDAR. Moreover, they pulled a magnetometer across the five-acre field to compile additional data.
Bishop Pendleton is a descendant of one of the individuals buried in the cemetery. He visited his ancestral burial ground during the magnetometer study.
Rev. Pendleton shared some information about his ancestry with us at the cemetery. We plan to conduct interviews with him and several other descendants as the next stage of the project.
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.
Chet pulls a large magnetic gradiometer behind him. It’s a passive instrument that measures changes in the Earth’s magnetic field.
Magnetic Gradiometer
Chet and Aundrea have a large magnetic gradiometer, a passive instrument that measures changes in the Earth’s magnetic field.
Chet and Aundrea completed the data collection with the magnetometer. Now that all the data is collected, they will analyze the data from the GPR, LIDAR, and magnetometer and 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.
Digital PV Panther Project John B. Coleman Library Room 111 Prairie View, Texas 77446
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.
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.
Dr. Moore’s son, Noah, surveys the cemetery with students workers on the Digital PV Panther Project–Noah Jackson, Zynitra Durham, and Jaylynn Brantley
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Digital PV Panther Project John B. Coleman Library Room 111 Prairie View, Texas 77446
On October 21, we met with the Legacy Cultural Resources, Inc. team at the Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery. We began the second phase of the cemetery study, where we conducted the Archaeological Pedestrian Survey.
The archaeologists led a team of student volunteers in an intensive pedestrian survey of the project area. We anticipated to cover 3-5 acres in size. Archaeologists worked with small groups of students, teaching them basic pedestrian survey techniques. After the pastor of the Wyatt Chapel Baptist Church prayed and blessed the team, the survey began.
As we marked and mapped out the gravesite, the archaeologists also worked with the students to record the Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery as an archaeological site. This will provide it with a state-registered trinomial. Students worked with archaeologists to record the burial ground in the field on a TexSite form. We plan to submit and contact the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL) in Austin to obtain the trinomial.
The small groups walked the project area in transects spaced 30 meters (m) apart, looking for evidence of grave markers, grave tending artifacts, depressions, or other potential indicators of the presence of burials. After we marked these features with pin flags, the archaeologists taught participants how to map the burial site with a handheld Trimble GPS unit. Since we hoped to disturb the burial ground as little as possible, we did not collect any artifacts as part of the pedestrian survey. Instead, we photographed grave marker and grave tending artifacts in the field.
There were a few surprising finds during the survey. We were shocked to realize how large the gravesite was compared to the estimations. Students marked off graves along most of the fence lines. We also found grave tending materials around a tree closer to the front of the walking path than expected.
We also learned a new technique for determining burial spots. Using the pin flags, we were told to push them into the ground in areas we believed marked a grave. If the pin flag was restricted from going too far into the ground, that was used as a point of interest to where someone may have been buried. Using this method, we found areas in the cemetery where there appeared to be parallel rows of burials. This method also helped us find possible burial sites near a group of 3 trees. At these trees, students also found a large cluster of grave tending materials and grave borders, which tends to signify a family was buried there.
Based on reports in the early 2000s, this gravesite was unknowingly being used as a dumping ground. Once this was found out, the powers that be had the trash moved. However, the trash was bulldozed further back and to the right onto that land and fenced in. As we worked on the Pedestrian Survey, we could get a whiff of the trash behind the fence as we got closer to the fence or if the wind blew. The pastor of Wyatt Chapel Baptist Church and others from the community believe that cemetery extends to where the trash now sits.
Towards the end of the survey, Nesta Anderson and Melanie Nichols–of Legacy Cultural Resources, Inc–went over the fence and performed an examination of the trash pile. We plan to report our findings to the Texas Historical Commission, which will offer guidance on the removal of the trash. In doing this, it will help us to get written authorization from the THC to remove the garbage and survey that land as well.
The Digital PV Panther Project looks forward to receiving feedback from both Legacy Cultural Resources and the Texas Historical Commission in 2024!
Our mission at the Digital PV Panther Project is to eliminate historical silences through digital storytelling and prevent the erasure of African American history through historic preservation at PVAMU.
This map of Prairie View Memorial Park Cemetery was provided by Texas Cemetery Restoration, LLC.
We appreciate Dr. Jessica Ward, Assistant Professor of the Practice in the School of Architecture at PVAMU for sharing her research with the Digital PV Panther Project.
As I came into the Library, I walked into room 111 and greeted my co-worker, Lindsay Boknight, and Dr. Moore. We talked about how we might need more space for the Digital PV Panther Project in the future, and we might need to expand our digital and historic preservation efforts. Dr. Moore explained that the E.B Evans Animal Industries Building, which has been vacant since 2009, might be a good candidate for a historic preservation grant, and we decided to investigate the structure a bit closer. We walked over to the building, and we managed to find a door open in front. Though we wanted to examine the inside of the building, we decided not to step inside the abandoned structure due to the potential hazards, but it was a fascinating sight nonetheless.
Lindsay Boknight and Zynitra Durham at the entrance to the E.B. Evans Animal Industries Building (Photo: T. DeWayne Moore, 2022)Zynitra Durham riding a horse (Photo: Makayla Moore 2022)
I clocked out early at 3:30 pm, and I rushed to my car. I had important plans with my best friend for my birthday. We planned to meet at a place about an hour away that offered horseback riding–an activity that coincidentally fit with my earlier tour of the Animal Industries Building. As I drove an hour to my destination, I was so excited to meet up that I had forgotten to lock the door to my apartment, but my friend called me an explained that she had locked it before she left, which was a relief. She also explained that she’d gotten lost due to the GPS trying to route her through a toll road. I calmly told her about the route I took to avoid the toll, and–after 10 minutes–she pulled up to the secluded area of the horseback riding place. Since she was running late, I had checked us both in at the counter and geared up with a fanny pack and helmet for safety. We took time to get acquainted with our 4-year-old female horse, Dancer, and we gathered with other riders so that our guides could explain the rules of riding.
Zynitra Durham riding a horse, while her friend takes a picture (Photo: Makayla Moore, 2022)
STAY at least 2 feet behind other horses and riders
KICK the side of the horse gently to move forward
PULL BACK to stop the horse
PULL LEFT to move the horse left
PULL RIGHT to move the horse right
PULL BACK to stop the horse from eating during the ride
SAY “POTTY BREAK” when your horse needs to urinate
Extra Information: Horses can defecate and walk at the same time, but they cannot urinate while carrying a rider (i.e. sitting on the animal’s kidney.) If you stand up and release tension off the kidney, however, horses can urinate.
HAVE FUN
As we finished the tour, we had the pleasure of feeding horses carrots before we left, but the fun did not stop there. Since neither of us had eaten all day, we stopped by SONIC to get drinks and food before we moved on to our last activity of the day. We decided to visit Range USA in Cypress, because we both wanted to shoot our first gun. The gun range attendant was named Cragie, and he informed us that we had to be at least 21 to shoot their handguns. We were bummed out, but he also explained that we only had to be 18 to shoot their assault rifles. So we picked up an M&P15-22 Sport and 50 rounds of ammunition. Cragie provided us with ear muffs and goggles, and he also showed us how to hold and use the rifle properly.
Zynitra Durham with her M&P15-22 Sport at the firing range (Video: Makayla Moore, 2022)
When we walked into the gun range, it was EXTREMELY noisy. We chose a cubical with a range poster, and we loaded the clip with 15 to 20 bullets. I carefully put the gun on my shoulder, spread my legs shoulder width, turned off the safety, and put my hand on the trigger. I shot 20 times into the orange man. It was a scary and exciting experience! I looked over my shoulder at Cragie was holding a double thumbs up. With the remaining ten bullets, we split them and shot five each to end off the day. We emptied the gun, removed the clip and put the gun on safety, and packed the gun. We went to Cragie to turn in the gun, and he congratulated us on shooting the gun and invited us back on Tuesday for ladies’ night for $17.
We drove home, and I tried opening the door to my apartment, but I could not get inside. My best friend had locked the bottom lock from the inside, and I was completely locked out. Thank God I had accidentally left the window to my room unlocked. I managed to remove the screen, carefully push the window open, and climb inside my room. I ran to the front door and opened it for my best friend, who was relieved to say the least. To end the night, we took our dogs out, cooked pasta with pork chops, and watched The Man From Toronto on Netflix.
The Abner A. Davis Memorial has existed in one form or another on “The Hill” in front of the George Ruble Woolfolk Building at Prairie View A&M University since his death in December 1927. As a student at PVAMU, I have taken many walks across campus to get from my room in University Village Phase 3 to my morning classes. Since I lived at the back of campus, I had to pass Mr. Davis and the fountain quite often. Though I passed his memorial on numerous occasions, I never really took the time to learn about the history of the memorial or the man. This blog post intends to shine a light on a “gentleman, clean sport, athlete and ideal student,” as one former teammate referred to him, as well as the history of historic preservation and memorialization at PVAMU.
The Abner A. Davis Memorial on “The Hill” at PVAMU (Photo: T. DeWayne Moore, 2022)
Abner A. Davis was a member of the varsity football team at Prairie View A&M University in 1927. The Panthers were especially good that year. In an October 15, 1927 issue of the student newspaper, one writer exclaimed: “Never before in all footballdom at the college did the Prairie View Panthers show better form and finer spirits than have been shown this season. Vigorous, springy, and full of grit and fighting determination, the Panthers will be greatly disappointing to everybody if they do not smash and stop every gridiron machine that confronts them.” To view the entire article, please click HERE
In a game against Texas College the following month, Davis went to make a tackle on the opposing team and was severely injured during the play. He was hit in his neck by the offensive player’s knee, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down. Since his injury came in the middle of an away game, the Panthers finished playing the game and carried Davis back to campus. It’s unclear whether or not the team was victorious.
The doctor that treated Davis from November 24 through December 5 stated that he suffered from “paralysis” stemming from the “fracture or displacement of the 3[rd] & 4th cervical vertebrae.” While the doctor confirmed his diagnosis with an X-ray, Davis underwent no surgery prior to his demise on December 5. According to his death certificate, Hempstead undertaker E.L. Watson removed his remains for burial in Eagle Lake, TX on December 8.
The death certificate of Abner A. Davis (Texas Department of State Health Services; Austin Texas, USA)
The location of his grave, however, remains the subject of debate. In a March 12, 2012 article in the Beaumont Times titled, “Where’s Abner?” David Lisenby reported that the librarian at the Alma M. Carpenter Public Library in Sour Lake, Texas, who was on a mission to find the descendants of Davis, believed that he was buried somewhere in the town of Sour Lake. Yet, Lisenby never reveals the source of this information, and it directly contradicts the information on his death certificate.
Even though no one has ever located the headstone of Abner Davis, his classmates at PVAMU made sure to memorialize his legacy in numerous ways over the years. In a 1933 issue of the Prairie View Panther, one author wrote a poem about the gridiron hero. To view the original poem, please click HERE
IN MEMORY OF ABNER DAVIS (P. U. Hero)
Sleep, 0 brave one, in glory’s field, Time to your name shall honor yield; The summer shall their blooms impart. To fade above each mold’ring heart And fading, mix their lustrous charms With dust that bore heroic arms.
In a January 1934 issue of the Prairie View Standard, one of his teammates L.C. Mosley penned a memoriam to Abner Davis, and he reveals that the first physical memorial to Davis came in the form of light. “The light in the center of the campus proper,” he explained, “is more than just a light to illuminate the path to the library. It represents the life of a gentleman, clean sport, athlete and ideal student, Abner Davis, who was fatally injured in a Thanksgiving Day football game against Texas College in Tyler, 1927. The classes of ’29 and ’30 made it possible for this light to shine in its way as the living light of this football warrior had shone. The entire Alumni mourn with Henry Staton, A. J. Banks, M. C. Bates, S. Prince, L. C. Mosley, O. Mason, Jap Turner, G. Turner, J. J. Mark and Pop Singleton who started and finished the game that Abner started and could not finish.”
The demolition of Kirby Hall as well as “all wooden structures in the immediate campus area” in April 1934 (news about the razing of the slave mansion can be found in a newsletter HERE) provided an opportunity to install a new monument on “The Hill.” The teammates and classmates of Davis decided the replace the monument to slavery with a new symbol in the late 1930s.
A drinking fountain and memorial in honor of Abner A. Davis soon adorned the top of “The Hill,” and student organizations used the fountain as the site of many activities for the next four decades. In 1957, the Student Welfare Committee affirmed the need to beautify campus and spearheaded a “College Clean-Up Campaign involving both faculty and students in an effort to make Pantherland ideal.” Making the first step in this direction, the committee polished the Abner Davis Fountain and “put signs on the lawn asking students to use the sidewalks, thus avoiding making trails through the campus.” [For the entire article, please click HERE]
In 1961, PVAMU student Lois Moore noted that the center of “campus is designated with a water fountain known as the Abner Davis water fountain. Many clubs and organizations meet periodically around this fountain…but many students on the campus do not know why these clubs meet here.” Moore also noted, “Although the fountain no longer exists as a water fountain, it is still the cultural center of the campus.” [For the entire article, please click HERE]
In this photograph of the Woolfolk Building circa 1950s, we can see the drinking fountain that stood on “The Hill” in honor of Abner A. Davis in the 1950s. (Photo: George Ruble Woolfolk Collection, Special Collection & Archives Department (SCAD), John B. Coleman Library, PVAMU)
In March 1963, the LES BEAUX ARTS Cultural Club renovated the Abner Davis Memorial. The fountain that once was stained and weather worn has now been conditioned for a new year. “This improvement has certainly played a great role in making the ‘center’ of the campus, all the more attractive, for our yearly high school visitors.” For more information, click HERE
On January 16, 1984, PVAMU observed the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. and organized a special program in the quadrangle area of the campus at the Abner Davis Fountain. For more information, click HERE
In July 1984, the Class of 1930 renovated the Abner A. Davis Monument and added the Texas Sunset Granite. For more information, click HERE
The Abner A. Davis Memorial on “The Hill” at PVAMU (Photo: Malachi McMahon, 2022)
The mystery about the location of Davis’ remains gives rise to many questions about the impact of racial segregation on his life and legacy. Being that his death occurred in the Jim Crow South, he would not have had access to quality medical care, and his death might very well have been prevented.
One day while walking across campus, I watched as landscapers blew freshly cut grass off the concrete walkway. It created a clean path for students. It was at this moment that I noticed the bust on top of the Abner A. Davis Memorial was covered with spiderwebs, leaves, and dirt, and I started to question why no one around campus had taken the time to clean the statue. The grass is always freshly mowed and looks pristine. Indeed, the lawn on campus is cut and trimmed almost daily, and I rarely see any accumulation of trash on the ground.
So I asked myself, “Why is the Davis memorial not well kept?”
The unsightly appearance of the Abner Davis Memorial was on my mind when I walked into work the next day for the Digital PV Panther Project, and I shared my concerns with Dr. Moore. I let him know about the condition of the memorial and how it was not well-kept, and we agreed that we should take matters into our own hands and clean it up.
Polishing The Abner A. Davis Memorial on “The Hill” at PVAMU (Photo: Kalayah Jammer, 2022)
At the time, we did not know that we were following in the footsteps of many other students and faculty at PVAMU, who had been dissatisfied with existing preservation practices and made it a point to beautify the campus. Thus, we gathered some cleaning materials and headed for the memorial. We began by dusting off the spider webs, which had certainly built up for several years. Once we removed the spider webs, we sprayed the bust clean with water, and we cleaned it with D2 biological solution, an organic cleaning solution that removes fungi and provides a protective coating for the memorial. We also wiped the memorial clean from top to bottom with a soft bristle brush. When we finished cleaning I felt very accomplished and proud to have played a role in keeping the campus beautiful.
This job has given me a new perspective on what it means to study at PVAMU. Many students, faculty, staff, and administrators have paved the way for us, and I believe that other students need to recognize that fact. If we are not careful, we will discount the sacrifices of the past. We must appreciate our history as an HBCU, and I will make strenuous efforts to share insights with my peers so that our heroes, such as Abner Davis, will never be forgotten.
Sincerely,
Malachi McMahon
Plaque Dedicated to Abner A. Davis by his fellow classmates in the class of 1930 (Photo: Malachi McMahon, 2022)
![A community volunteer searches for unmarked graves [Photo © Evelyn Todd, 2023]](https://pvpantherproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG_3682-scaled.jpg "A community volunteer searches for unmarked graves")
![Nesta Anderson documenting unmarked graves with PVAMU students [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]](https://pvpantherproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/thumbnail_IMG_2674.jpg "Nesta Anderson documenting unmarked graves with PVAMU students")
![Rows of possible unmarked graves marked with flags [Photo © Evelyn Todd, 2023]](https://pvpantherproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG_3680-scaled.jpg "Unmarked Graves")
![Lindsay Boknight looking for unmarked graves during the pedestrian survey on October 21, 2023 [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]](https://pvpantherproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/thumbnail_IMG_2645.jpg "Lindsay Boknight")
![Nesta Anderson and Melanie Nichols explaining to students and alumni the process of recording unmarked burials in a cemetery [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]](https://pvpantherproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/thumbnail_IMG_2655-1024x768-422x316.jpg "Marking Graves")
![The headstone of Elsie Bailey after initial cleaning with D2 biological solution [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]](https://pvpantherproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/thumbnail_IMG_2660-768x1024-640x853.jpg "thumbnail_IMG_2660")
![The broken headstone of Albert "Pap" Colling [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]](https://pvpantherproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/thumbnail_IMG_2659-768x1024-640x853.jpg "thumbnail_IMG_2659")
![The military headstone of Luther B. Felder over a year after cleaning with D2 biological solution [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]](https://pvpantherproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/thumbnail_IMG_2658-768x1024-640x853.jpg "Luther Felder headstone")
![The headstone of Milo Wilson Jr. after the initial cleaning with D2 biological solution [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]](https://pvpantherproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/thumbnail_IMG_2657-768x1024-640x853.jpg "thumbnail_IMG_2657")
![Melanie Nichols, Gregory Newton, Nesta Anderson, and Sabrina Francis record the last of the unmarked burials in the cemetery [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]](https://pvpantherproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/thumbnail_IMG_2679.jpg "thumbnail_IMG_2679")
![Gregory Newton leans over to examine one of the many field stones uncovered in the cemetery [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]](https://pvpantherproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/thumbnail_IMG_2654.jpg "thumbnail_IMG_2654")
