Wearing a straw hat and toting a camera, Annette Ford began her Friday trek through Good Shepherd and Magnolia cemeteries along Avenue N to continue her mission to catalog the dead who are buried there.
“That is beautiful; that is absolutely beautiful,” an enthusiastic Ford said each time she came across a grave marker.
She took pictures of many of the markers she examined up close. On occasion, she grabbed wet wipes from her pocket to wipe markers clean.
Since November, Ford has been part of a committee formed by Greenwood citizens to restore and maintain the two historic cemeteries. They serve as the resting place for hundreds of Black people, many of whom left their marks in the community.
Ford’s particular task within the committee is not only to catalog the dead but also to tell their stories.
“Some of these people’s lives extend beyond Greenwood, Mississippi,” Ford said, explaining Greenwood might just have been their final resting place.
Ford grew up in Greenwood but now lives in Atlanta, where she works for the DeKalb County School District’s office of federal programs. Before that, she taught school for 13 years.
Annette Ford uses a wet wipe to clean the grave marker of Nora Drane Silas in Good Shepherd Cemetery.
She makes regular trips back to her hometown to visit family and to continue cataloging the two cemeteries. The visit Friday was Ford’s sixth to document the dead buried there.
She had been hampered previously by rainy weather, but this time she was able to reach areas that earlier were drenched.
This included markers at Good Shepherd that were enclosed in gated fencing.
A marker for Nora Drane Silas caught Ford’s attention. Carved on the marker were a drawing of a temple and the years of Silas’ life, 1878 to 1937, along with the inscription “Dear Mother, though we miss you much, We know you rest with God,” as well as a portrait of the deceased.
After taking pictures of the markers, Ford’s first step in learning more about the deceased is to head to newspapers.com — an online archive for thousands of newspapers — where she might find an obituary.
Once Ford has collected enough information about a person’s life, she’ll post his or her story to the Facebook page HUMANS of Greenwood. The acronym stands for Honoring Urban Mainstays, Ancestral Neighborhoods and Streets.
She said she’s particularly drawn to the lives of people who lived during the eras of slavery and Reconstruction. “These are the things that pull me in,” she said.
Walking some more through Good Shepherd, Ford came across a nameless marker with only an inscription that reads, “Our love goes with you and our soul awaits to join you.”
“This is beautiful,” Ford said, pondering its meaning.
As she continued her exploration, Ford noted the markers that have fallen down. “There are so many that should be standing that are not,” she said.
Ford crossed Avenue N to Magnolia, the smaller of the two cemeteries, to look at a few markers. She then returned to Good Shepherd to view the gravesite of an infant.
Asked for the significance of remembering the dead and taking care of their resting places, Ford said that “it pays homage to ancestors. That’s the best thing.”
Ford then walked some more to explore the cemeteries.
“Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful,” she said.
• Contact Gerard Edic at 581-7239 or gedic@gwcommonwealth.com.
