SUPPORTERS

Samuel Oldham, acting Board Chair of Mt. Carmel Ally said, “ “I am pleased to see there is a group taking on this task. They seem to be moving forward for unselfish reasons and I wish them great success!” 

Memphis filmmaker and writer Robert Gordon said:  “Cleaning cemeteries is a simple matter of respect for the dead, no matter who they are. Factor in the tremendous artistic achievement followed by a life in obscurity that most of the blues artists experienced, and serving their memories becomes an honor. These musicians created the foundation of our popular music culture—American culture, world culture—and American racism kept them from ever getting their due. Respecting their memories, and cleaning their burial sites, is a small way to pay respects to their large contributions that they made to the pop culture that we enjoy today.”

Dom Flemons said:
Dignity is the word I would use. For it is dignity that allows a person to feel at ease in their own skin. When a person walks this Earth, if their dignity stays intact they can hold their head up high knowing that they are respected and that their existence is worthwhile to the world around them.

But what happens to a person’s dignity after they die? All that is left are the memories shared by the people they touched through their thoughts and their actions in life. And in return, if they are so fortunate, they have a community of people around them that will facilitate their burial, leaving a stone to denote their final resting place.

In the blues, there are many great master storytellers who have fallen and were buried unceremoniously. They are laid to rest without their dignity and without a marker to show where admirers of their works may visit and meditate on their legacy.

It may be the inevitable fate of the bluesman. One of the most famous lines sung in the blues was sung by the great Blind Lemon Jefferson when he sings,“Did you ever hear that church bell toil?/ It means another poor boy is in the ground.”

He is reserved and cognizant of the inescapable concept of death. Yet, to give this line its full context, one must spin the record back to the beginning and hear him sing the opening verse which again talk about dignity: “Well it’s one kind favor I’ll ask of you/ Please see that my grave is kept clean.”

The song is now a century old and like any poignant artifact from our collective past history we must heed the wishes of the dead. This is why it is important to nurture and cherish the gravestones of these great bluesmen. They have laid their burden down but it is the job of each generation to pick up that burden.

We must clear a path for future generations to ponder the physical space held by these working musicians now that they are gone. The time taken to clean their graves gives them the dignity of being seen in ways they may not have been in their lifetimes. It also generates the energy needed to extend a hand across time to show the sanctity of the human race across social barriers through the confines of the time we are allotted on Earth. While one can discuss a gravestone and its importance, there is nothing like standing at the literal stone taking in the name, the dates and the message in its epitaph. It takes a lot of work to clear the path and I encourage everyone to lend a helping hand.

Thank you for giving the blues its dignity so that it can sing again across the fields and the concrete streets of our modern world. We continue to need those lessons to rise up and transcend the hardships of life.
–Dom Flemons, The American Songster, 03.02.2026