Atlanta's Oakland Cemetery doesn't shy away from teaching its history of slavery, segregation

February 29th, 2024

A gravestone marker lies at The Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, Georgia. The Oakland tour, We Shall Overcome: African American Stories from Civil War to Civil Rights, weaves visitors down the gravel paths through once-segregated, now often integrated burial sites. (Lisa Rayam/WABE)

It’s the last day of Black History Month, and for those who feel the holiday has become more capitalized and want more of a history-infused holiday, Atlanta’s historic Oakland Cemetery puts on a guided tour every year that leaves a lasting impact.

The tour does not shy away from teaching about how slavery, the antebellum South and Jim Crow segregation impacted the cemetery’s plots. That’s amid politicized wars on how those subjects should be taught in Georgia’s K-12 public schools.

Longtime Oakland Cemetery volunteer Jihan Hurse is one of the guides of the tour, We Shall Overcome: African American Stories from Civil War to Civil Rights, which weaves visitors down the gravel paths through once-segregated, now often integrated burial sites.

It explores the lives and accomplishments of Black Atlantans and Georgians buried there, and others connected to the area.

Hurse walked WABE’s “Morning Edition” through the cemetery. She started by explaining the origins of “We Shall Overcome,” and how it became the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s that took hold in Atlanta.