Join historian and author Dr. D L Henderson to explore the gravestones, epitaphs, and symbols in Oakland’s historic African American burial grounds and South-View’s oldest historic section.
This presentation willl illustrate and interpret a variety of 19th and early 20th century funerary art. Vernacular, fraternal, Victorian, secular, religious, and children’s grave markers are represented in an Afrocentric context.
The tour following the presentation will also focus on gravestones—and the stories behind the stones—on the Black side of Oakland.
About Dr. D L Henderson
Dr. D L Henderson is a historian, genealogist, preservationist, and author. Her research and writing focus on the intersection of history, memory, and culture in historically Black southern landscapes She holds two master’s degrees—the Master of Education from Georgia State University and the Master of Library and Information Science from Clark Atlanta University and later completed the Doctor of Arts degree in humanities from Clark Atlanta University. She is a past president of the Metro Atlanta Chapter of the Afro American Historical and Genealogical Society. She currently serves on the boards of the Friends of the Georgia Archives and the Cherokee Garden Library at the Atlanta History Center. She chairs the Cherokee Garden Library’s Acquisitions Committee and guides the ongoing acquisitions of the Cherokee Garden Library’s newest digital collection, “Gardens and Cultural Landscapes of Black America.” She also serves on the advisory boards of the Historic Oakland Foundation and the Historic Rural Churches of Georgia.
Dr. Henderson researches, lectures, and conducts tours on cemetery history and the art and architecture of Atlanta’s South-View and Oakland cemeteries and is a frequent guest speaker at genealogical conferences and events. In 2023, her research and writing on the black residents of Oakland Cemetery served as inspiration for the Atlanta Opera’s 96-Hour Project, a competition designed specifically for composers and librettists from underrepresented communities. She is also featured in the 96-Hour Project documentary. Among her most recent presentations is Shades of Purple in the Landscape of Wards Chapel Cemetery: A Narrative Analysis of Alice Walker’s Home Ground. After viewing the presentation, Alice Walker reached out to express her appreciation for Dr. Henderson’s work.
Dr. Henderson has received the Atlanta Urban Design Commission’s Jenny D. Thurston Memorial Award to an Outstanding Preservation Professional, and she has been recognized by the Atlanta City Council for her contribution to the preservation and interpretation of African American history and culture. She is the author of Witness of the Spirit: A History of the Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church of Covington, Georgia, South-View: An African American City of the Dead, and her most recent book, published in January 2025, Perpetual Segregation: A Chronicle of the Black Side of Atlanta’s Oakland Cemetery.
