Pleasant Shade Cemetery

Pleasant Shade Cemetery. Honoring those who have gone before us. , Pleasant Shade is the oldest, largest public African American cemetery on the lower Virginia Peninsula. Comprising about 20 acres, it is an amalgamation of three historic burial grounds., The earliest portion, Mount Zion, was begun in 1888 on the main road between Hampton and Newport News, along Hampton and Newport News, along Greenlawn Cemetery's eastern property line. In 1909, an adjacent field bearing the name Pleasant Shade was established by James East as the "first cemetery in Tidewater to be operated and controlled by colored people." The last section was created in 1918 when the Holly Grove Cemetery Corporation was founded to accommodate restrictions concerning racially mixed burials. In 1957, Holly Grove was acquired by the Pleasant Shade Cemetery Company., Now collectively known as Pleasant Shade, some 15,000 souls from all stations of life are interred in this sacred soil., ~ A Community’s Legacy ~. The memorial park is the resting place for many of the Peninsula's pioneer black citizens and veterans ranging from the Civil War through Vietnam. Although impossible to be inclusive, a few of the many notables are highlighted., (captions) , The entrance to Holy Grove was once distinguished by a handsome wrought iron arch. All that remains are two brick support posts visible in the center of the photo., James Apostles Fields (1844-1903). Former slave and contraband of war who assisted the Union Army at Fort Monroe; attorney and state legislator who served as Warwick County’s first black commonwealth attorney and in the House of Delegates during Reconstruction., Elder Lightfoot Soloman Michaux (1884-1968). Founder of the Gospel Spreading Church; well known as the "Happy Am I" national radio evangelist., Norris Berkeley Clark (1856-1940). Early Hampton Rhodes black lawyer, first black member of the Newport News School board, principal of Booker T. Washington Elementary School from 1902-1937., John Hoskins Ridley Sr. (1872-1943). Co-Founder of Crown Savings Bank, the first black-owned bank in Newport News; community leader and advocate for Huntington High School, the community’s first black secondary school., Joseph Thomas Newsome (1869-1942). prominent attorney, journalist (The Newport News Star and Norfolk Journal and Guide) and crusader for social justice in the era of Jim Crow., Jessie Menifield Rattley (1929-2001). Founder of the Peninsula Business College; first black and first woman mayor of Newport News; as a tireless political figure, she advocated for African American equality and the betterment of her city, state and nation., Lavinia Marian Fleming Poe (1890-1974). Virginia’s first female black attorney; she practiced law in Newport News for nearly 50 years and was a guiding light of the Old Dominion Bar Association., Norvieata Downing-Gross (?-1983). Dedicated social worker and fighter in the war against poverty.