NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The Nashville City Cemetery Association is honoring African Americans this weekend—some well-known, others unnamed in formal records—and the public is invited to take part in the celebration.
Opened in 1822, the Nashville City Cemetery is Music City’s oldest public cemetery and the final resting place for people of different races, social statuses and backgrounds.
At least 6,000 Black people, both enslaved and free, are buried there — nearly 3,000 of them, mostly children, without names in the formal record.
While the cemetery has been integrated since its early days, burial practices reflected the racial and social hierarchies of the time, with differences in grave locations and marker styles.
Music will be a key part of the event, something Corinthian Missionary Baptist Church Senior Pastor Enoch Fuzz understands deeply.
"Death is a very difficult place. Everybody got their way of dealing with it, but it’s difficult," Fuzz said.
When he was asked to sing during the Nashville City Cemetery Association’s "More Than a Name" ceremony, he didn’t hesitate.
"More humbled than honored," he said.
Fuzz believes memories are how people live on, even when their names are lost.
"Their name isn’t there, but they lived through our memories," he said.
The association is inviting the public to bring flowers, wreaths, bouquets, or live plants to place in a designated area of the cemetery to honor these lives on Saturday.
"It will be emotional," Fuzz said.
He hopes the entire community comes out to support it.
"When people die, the only way that they live is in our remembrances," he said.
The event takes place from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at the cemetery on Fourth Avenue South. Free parking is available in the cemetery and on Oak Street.
For those unable to attend, donations can be made online to support the Nashville City Cemetery Association.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at aaron.cantrell@newschanel5.com
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-Lelan Statom
