The Galilee Cemetery dates back to Sarasota’s early days, but the passage of time has not been kind. After many years of neglect, the Galilee Cemetery Task Force organized a clean-up campaign, created a more appealing entrance and recruited New College of Florida Professor Dr. Uzi Baram to document the lives of the interred. In February of 2010, Dr. Baram assembled anthropology students from New College of Florida and State College of Florida to assist members of the Task Force in a project that will systematically record the location of as many graves as possible. This is the first step in a research effort that is expected to add several new chapters to our knowledge of Sarasota’s black community.
Today, New College students recorded the remaining grave markers and completed the survey today, after two years for documentation! Next, we will work on data entry, which we hope will help the Galilee Cemetery Task Force earn the cemetery historic designation nominations and other commemorations.
photo courtesy of Shane Donglasan/Catalyst
This week’s issue of the Catalyst, New College’s student newspaper, features an article on NCPAL’s Galilee Cemetery survey:
Feb. 29, 1983 is the death date engraved on one of the many grave markers in the Galilee Cemetery. However, 1983 was not a leap year. A pair of grave markers belonging to one woman had the same death dates but different years. Others are simply unmarked.
The tedious task of recording each of these grave markers has been taken on by the New College Public Archaeology Lab (NCPAL).“Though it might seem unusual, there actually isn’t a record for the cemetery in terms of the kind of basic information about the person and the information on their grave markers,” Professor of Anthropology Uzi Baram said. “So what students are doing is engaging in that record-keeping.”
You can read the full article on the Catalyst‘s website here.
The Galilee Cemetery dates back to Sarasota’s early days, but the passage of time has not been kind. After many years of neglect, the Galilee Cemetery Task Force organized a clean-up campaign, created a more appealing entrance and recruited New College of Florida Professor Dr. Uzi Baram to document the lives of the interred. In February of 2010, Dr. Baram assembled anthropology students from New College of Florida and State College of Florida to assist members of the Task Force in a project that will systematically record the location of as many graves as possible. This is the first step in a research effort that is expected to add several new chapters to our knowledge of Sarasota’s black community.
