November 2, 2025
The Illinois Historic Websites Advisory Council voted to suggest the itemizing to the Nationwide Park Service, which might formally acknowledge Burr Oak as a website of nationwide significance.
For a lot of Chicago households, Burr Oak Cemetery isn’t only a burial floor, it’s the resting place of Emmett Until and extra. It has now been voted on the Nationwide Park Service to hitch the Nationwide Register of Historic Locations.
The Illinois Historic Websites Advisory Council voted to suggest the itemizing to the Nationwide Park Service, which might formally acknowledge Burr Oak as a website of nationwide significance.
The 150-acre website was established in 1927 by leaders of the Black-owned Supreme Life Insurance coverage Firm. Burr Oak was created after white-only burial restrictions left African Individuals with few dignified burial choices.
In Burr Oak Cemetery’s Nationwide Register Report, Historian Jean Guarino described the cemetery as “a Black-owned and Black-managed place, constructed within the face of adamant white opposition.”
For Edward Boone, founder and chairperson of the nonprofit Mates of Burr Oak Cemetery, who has labored for years to protect the cemetery’s information and restore its grounds, the nomination feels private.
“This isn’t nearly monuments,” he informed the Chicago Solar-Occasions. “It’s about reminiscence — about ensuring individuals know the way deeply Black historical past runs by way of this soil.”
The nomination outlines Burr Oak’s “interval of significance” between 1927 and 1975, marking its function in Chicago’s Black life and tradition. It’s dwelling to 1000’s of veterans, educators and entertainers whose tales formed American historical past.
“We checked out so many graves of people who had been born in 1865 or earlier than, and so we just about assumed that there’s a excessive likelihood that they had been former slaves,” Boone stated. “And so we put African American flags on all of their graves throughout Juneteenth. We expect it’s necessary to acknowledge these people.”
At the same time as a federal shutdown delays official approval, preservationists say the method itself is a victory.
“It’s about respect,” Boone added. “Each gravestone right here represents a household that carved out dignity when the world denied it.”
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