Unity Cemetery
Rocky Mount, NC
How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!
(Psalms 133:1)
Introduction
Unity Cemetery in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, was formally established March 13, 1901. Located in Edgecombe County, the 18-acre cemetery is one of the oldest African American cemeteries in Eastern North Carolina.
The historic site is divided into eight sections and is the resting place of civic leaders, military veterans, and many other influential and notable African Americans.
Unity Cemetery Project Team
Preservation
On March 8, 2020, the Rocky Mount City Council approved almost $1.5 million for a five-year plan to restore and preserve Unity Cemetery.
This plan includes the potential acquisition or leasing of the cemetery property by the City, repair of access roads, thinning of woodlands in and around gravesites, restoration of gravesites, and installation of historic markers and trails.
The City is committed to restoring Unity Cemetery and preserving its rich history and heritage for future generations.
Council Statement of Support
On March 8, 2021, the Rocky Mount City Council unanimously approved to a staff recommendation to begin a process of healing and restoration. The Council believes that the policies creating Unity Cemetery were wrong and seeks to make a historic wrong right today, and that it is an act of reparations to honor our dead.
The city is united in doing right by those families forced to segregate their dead.
Pictured are the members of the 2021 Rocky Mount City Council.
Back row (l-r): T. J. Walker (Ward 4) Andre Knight (Ward 1), Lige Daughtridge (Ward 5), Reuben Blackwell (Ward 2), W. B. Bullock (Ward 6) Seated (l-r): Chris Miller (Ward 7), Mayor Sandy Roberson, Mayor Pro-Tem Richard Joyner (Ward 3)
MINUTES OF MARCH 8 UNITY CEMETERY DISCUSSION
UNITY CEMETERY (ADDED TO AGENDA IN OPEN MEETING)
Mayor Sandy Roberson stated discussion was held in the Committee of the Whole relative to the City Manager’s recommendations for restoration, funding and upkeep of Unity Cemetery. Motion was made by Councilmember Daughtridge, seconded by Councilmember Knight and unanimously carried by roll call vote (7 ayes/0 nays) that the City Manager’s recommendations for restoration, funding and upkeep of Unity Cemetery as outlined in the Committee of the Whole be approved.
Councilmember Knight stated that this action by the City Council is historic and it is important that language be included in the minutes to reflect that it has taken over 106 years for Unity Cemetery to receive perpetual care and that the recommendation of the City Manager and her team will begin the process of healing and restoration for those buried in Unity Cemetery and is a move towards starting policies to create unity and right wrongs as an act of reparations to ensure the City is correcting the legacy of Jim Crow.
Photo Gallery
