Philadelphia photographer Caroline Gutman spends much of her time looking for forgotten, unmarked African American burial grounds throughout the United States, writes Caroline Gutman for The New York Times.

She started the project in 2021, when she first heard about some of these sites in Charleston, S.C. while visiting the city to photograph the legacy of indigo in the country and its role in slavery.

A historian told her the location of a potter’s field in the middle of the town where more than 26,000 people were buried, most of them Black. But despite such a large number, there is no memorial acknowledging the remains that existed underground.

“On my drive home to Philadelphia, I wondered what other unmarked African American burial grounds existed in the United States,” wrote Gutman. “I didn’t know it then, but I had started a photography project that continues today.”

She found that many African American burial grounds across the nation have been paved over to make way for parking lots, performance halls, and highways. Some of them are recognized with a marker, while others have been completely erased or simply forgotten.

Gutman even found one burial site in her old neighborhood in Philadelphia — Bethel Burying Ground.

Read more about Caroline Gutman and her work searching out forgotten burial sites at The New York Times.

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