Sloan reflects on segregated cemetery

Roosevelt Sloan has been serving as the volunteer caretaker of the black cemetery at Number Nine for the last 20 years. A reminder of the county's segregation days, the cemetery pre-dates the early 1930's which are as far back as Sloan, 81, can remember. Though neither of them have been used in recent years, the white cemetery is located on Highway 150 and the black one in a field off of Highway 312.

Now a nearly unrecognizable patch of overgrown weeds on the site where Pleasant Ridge Missionary Baptist Church used to sit, the black cemetery has long been unused and until recent years, Sloan and his brother were the only ones keeping it maintained.

Sloan lived out at Number Nine from the time he was four years old, in 1935, until 2009, when he moved into Blytheville.

"The cemetery has been there as long as I can remember," he said, "back in the early days it was a church and a school. The school burned and was moved to a different location in the north of the county and the church was rebuilt on the same spot, then in the late 70's and early 80's when churches across the country were being burned, it was burned. I woke up one Sunday morning and it was gone."

After the church relocated, Sloan noticed that the cemetery was going downhill and decided to take care of it himself.

"It wasn't being kept up," he said. "I had taken retirement. I worked at the alfalfa mill and cotton gin out in Number Nine since 1953, and I left because my hearing was starting to go and that can be dangerous in a cotton gin. So I didn't have anything to do, and my sister and some of my nephews are buried there and I just didn't like it looking like that. I had my own machine and tools, so I started cutting the grass and keeping it up - that was back in the '90s."

In 2004, Sloan had surgery and when he returned from the hospital his lawnmower had been stolen.

"Somebody had hooked up to my trailer and driven off with my machine and all my tools," he said. "I don't have the money to get new ones, so if enough people got together with donations to buy a new lawnmower, I can get back out there and get it back in shape."

Sloan wants to burn off all of the overgrown bush that has taken over the lot, then come back in during the spring and start caring for the grass. He says he figures around 200 people are buried in the cemetery, and that there are still some people in the Blytheville area who have family members there.

Corene Wells, a former Blytheville resident who recently came back for a visit, went to the cemetery to see the graves of some family members and was appalled at its condition. She has composed an open letter to any people who may have family there or just be interested in preserving this portion of the area's history, asking for help on a clean up day in June.

"The cemetery is in very bad shape. The weeds and other bushes have over run the cemetery. Head stones are covered by bushes and brushes that are chest high, some of the head stones have been moved to an adjacent creek. I thanked Mr. Sloan for what he did when he was able to do so. We must restore the cemetery to a manageable stage. As I viewed the site of the Cemetery I realize it is too much for one person to restore and maintain," she said.

Wells is planning the cleanup day for 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 15, and hopes to also meet with others interested in the cemetery's maintenance and come up with a plan to assist Sloan in taking care of it. She is asking that anyone interested in helping, or who may have pictures of the cemetery in its original state, contact her by email at wells911@hotmail.com.

Sloan is happy that help is on the way, but added that he doesn't need to wait until June to get to work, and hopes the community will come through on helping him get the equipment he needs.

sharris@blythevillecourier.com