Shippensburg's Locust Grove African-American Cemetery

At 10:30 a.m. on Memorial Day, May 28, 2007, representatives of the Locust Grove Cemetery Committee, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, the Shippensburg Historical Society, and Shippensburg University unveiled an official blue and gold Pennsylvania Historical Marker at Locust Grove Cemetery on North Queen Street in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania.  More than two hundred people gathered to dedicate the first new historical marker erected in Shippensburg in thirty-seven years (the last one, erected in 1970, recognized the "One Room School House" on the Shippensburg University campus). The new sign honored Shippensburg's historic African-American cemetery, a site that has been in continuous use since its inception as a slave burial ground in the late eighteenth century, and a place that offers a unique vantage point for discovering Cumberland County's rich African-American history.  

Five Shippensburg University students-James Bollinger, Sasha Makuka, Charles Evans, Eric Folio, and Cara Holtry-completed the nomination application for the marker as part of a class project in the course Introduction to Public History. The students submitted the application on December 15, 2005, on behalf of the Locust Grove Cemetery Committee and the Shippensburg Historical Society. In March 2006, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission approved the marker, and the following year the dedication ceremony took place in coordination with the cemetery's annual Memorial Day observance.

The sign's text begins by noting Locust Grove Cemetery's connection to the long history of slavery in Pennsylvania. The cemetery began its existence as a slave burial ground, and as such, it offers a place to reflect on the lives of Pennsylvania's enslaved men and women. For example, at the front of the cemetery stands the tombstone of "Our Father Richard Baker." Baker was born into slavery in Shippensburg on March 27, 1797, son of Nell, a slave owned by Shippensburg's richest resident, David Mahan.  According to his obituary, Baker was "of Spanish or Creole descent" and he was described as a "respected colored citizen" who was "upright in his dealings, a consistent Christian, and respected by all." Baker gained his freedom sometime before his twenty-eighth birthday in 1825, and chose to stay in Shippensburg where he worked as a barber. Upon gaining his freedom, he enjoyed the right to vote for thirteen years until the state constitution of 1838 stripped him of the franchise. More than thirty years later, the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution restored his right to vote. Baker also led the African-American church that once stood at the front of the cemetery along North Queen Street. When he died, he was buried along the east wall of his beloved congregation’s home. The church underwent renovations in the 1880s, and then was rededicated in 1886 as the Richard Baker A.M.E. Church in his honor. Baker’s life serves as a testament to not only the cruel history of slavery, but also the resilience and achievements of the men and women born in bondage who then chose to build new lives of freedom in Cumberland County.

The marker also notes the construction of Shippensburg's first African-American church, a symbol of the local community's connection to the growing African-American religious movements of the early nineteenth century. As early as 1817, one year after the official founding of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church, Shippensburg was named as one of the "preaching places" included in the A.M.E. Church's Harrisburg-to-Frederick circuit. Shippensburg residents were thus early participants in a new religious organization dedicated to providing African-Americans with a place where they could worship free from discrimination. The A.M.E. Church also became a vocal advocate for racial equality, civil rights, and the abolition of slavery. The vitality of Shippensburg's A.M.E. congregation is visible in an account given by Jarena Lee, the A.M.E. Church's first female minister, who visited Shippensburg in 1825: "There was great success at this place; fifteen joined the Church; some of the most hardened sinners became serious and reformed. I was astonished at the wonderful operations of the Spirit, and the immense congregations." Sometime before 1834, the Shippensburg A.M.E. congregation erected a log church building along North Queen Street. Later, that building would be replaced by a 25' x 3 5' single-story brick structure. Though the Richard Baker A.M.E. church ceased operation sometime between 1904 and 1910, it had served as the "mother church" for two other African-American churches in Shippensburg: the Mount Pisgah A.M.E. Zion Church that operated from 1878 to 2005, and St. Peter's A.M.E. Zion Church that has operated continuously since 1892. 

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