Love Cemetery : Unburying The Secret History Of Slaves

When China Galland visited her childhood hometown in East Texas, she learned of an unmarked cemetery for slaves-Love Cemetery. Her struggle to help restore the cemetery uncovered racial wounds that have never completely healed. Galland tells how she organized an interracial committee made up of local religious leaders and lay people to work on restoring community access to the cemetery, and reveals stories of “landtakings” (the theft of land from African Americans), and forms of slavery that continued well into the 20th century.

Ultimately, Love Cemetery delivers a message of tremendous hope as members of both black and white communities come together to right an historical wrong, and in so doing, discover each other’s common dignity.