Project Respect, Inc.

Ms Jenny Bailey and Ms. Alyce Coffey of the City of Houston have requested our assistance at the Harrisburg-Jackson Cemetery. It is in deplorable condition. There are more than twenty large trees down on the property. When several of the trees toppled the roots pulled up monuments and disrupted the burials. After Ike the infrequent cleanup of the cemetery provided by a neighbor has become more than that person has been able to perform. We are seeking info about this individual so that we can communicate our plan and join his or her efforts.

We have scheduled the first cleanup effort for Saturday, July 11, 2009, 7:00am to 12:00pm.. The Harrisburg-Jackson Cemetery is on Lawndale Street at roughly 7760 Bowie Street in East Houston, not far from Lawndale/Broadway and the La Porte Freeway (TX 225), and inside IH610. The Google map calls it the Jackson Cemetery. Key Map page 535F. Please give us your assistance and support on Saturday at the cemetery.

Background Information

I have visited the Harrisburg - Jackson Cemetery many times and have an archive of photos from past years. The photos are a small part of my huge collection of Texas Abandoned and Neglected African-American Cemeteries began in the early 90s. This cemetery is too important to allow it to exist without a preservation plan and responsible ownership.

Please take a look at the condition of the cemetery and read the THC Historical Marker at the property. It includes a list of the important African-American Texans buried there. The marker was placed at the cemetery in the late 1990s by the Texas Historical Commission. We do not know the history of the research or the person who performed the work to obtain the historical marker.

It is my understanding that the Jackson Funeral Home and family once owned the property, but they have not responded to my many inquires about the property over the last two years.

I want to make clear that the work needed to save the Jackson Cemetery is extensive and expensive. Project Respect and its partners will commit to Saturday's work. We intend to take the legal action necessary for accepting responsibility for this abandoned cemetery in the future. If successful, we will include this property on our Preservation Planning Calendar.

The Situation

There appears to be no burial list, no map of the property and no responsible ownership. The fence has been violated in many places. Vagrants and homeless people have been sleeping in back of the property. The needs of the property are the same as all the other properties: lighting, security, maintenance, planting and landscaping, etc.

Saturday will be our initial day for the cleanup work. I am asking all our supporters to join in this effort. Bring any chainsaws, trucks, tractors and equipment for moving the logs as we cut-up the trees and limbs. On Saturday we will focus on cutting the trees and will not focus on removal unless I am notified in the next few days of a different plan of action by other possible volunteers.

The seriously hot weather makes special planning necessary for any cleanup work outdoors at this time of the year. I have made plans to begin my day around 6:30AM at the Jackson Cemetery property before the sun gets too hot. Project Respect will provide refreshments (Water and Kool-Aid), donuts, and all the cleanup equipment for cutting around the fallen trees as we cut up the trees. I cannot bring my tractor and all the other equipment on the same day of a cleanup event due to the need to move all the equipment by a truck and trailer.

Woodrow W. Jones, II
Project Respect, Inc.