Burr Oak Cemetery
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Burr Oak Cemetery is a cemetery located in unincorporated Cook County, Illinois, adjacent to Alsip, a suburb slightly southwest of Chicago. Many musicians from the Chicago blues era are buried here.
On July 9, 2009 Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart alleged that four workers at Burr Oak cemetery dug up more than 200 graves, dumped the bodies into unmarked mass graves, and resold the plots. The three men and one woman were charged with one count each of dismembering a human body.[1][2]
Because of the investigation, the entire cemetery was declared a crime scene by the Cook County Sheriff's Office and closed to the public.[3] The court-assigned receiver temporarily managing the cemetery had hoped to reopen it in September, but on October 13, 2009 visiting families found the cemetery still closed, with no statement on when it would reopen. The sheriff's office has set up a searchable database with photographs of most headstones. The cemetery records were in great disarray, but the sheriff's office has computerized the usable ones and turned them over to the receiver for integration into the database.[4][5]
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[edit] Notable burials
- Noble Drew Ali (1886-1929), prophet and founder of the Moorish Science Temple of America[6]
- James Kokomo Arnold (1901-1968), blues musician
- Walter Barnes, bandleader who perished with 10 members of his band in the Rhythm Night Club Fire
- Lexie Bigham (1968-1995), actor
- Ezzard Charles (1921-1975), world heavyweight boxing champion[6]
- George "Sonny" Cohn (1925-2006), jazz trumpeter with Count Basie for 30 years
- Jimmie Crutchfield (1910-1993), All-Star Negro League baseball player
- Willie Dixon (1915-1992), blues musician and songwriter
- John Donaldson (1892-1970), star pre-Negro League baseball pitcher and barnstormer businessman
- Jodie Edwards (1895-1967), of comedy duo Butterbeans and Susie
- Carl Augustus Hansberry (1895-1946), businessman and political activist, father of playwright Lorraine Hansberry
- Joseph Preston "Pete" Hill (1880-1951), Negro league baseball player elected to the Hall of Fame in 2006
- Inman Jackson (1907-1973), player with the Harlem Globetrotters
- Roberta Martin (1907-1969), gospel music singer, pianist, composer and founder of The Roberta Martin Singers
- Otis Spann (1930-1970), blues pianist
- James A. "Candy Jim" Taylor (1884-1948), Negro League baseball player and manager
- Emmett Till (1941-1955), murder victim whose death helped galvanize the U.S. Civil Rights Movement[6]
- Bishop William M. Roberts (1876-1954), oversaw churches in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Iowa, Arkansas, Minnisota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin.
- Dinah Washington (1924-1963),[6] "Queen of the Blues"
- J. Mayo Williams (1894-1980) Early blues and jazz record producer and one of the first black players in the NFL
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "4 charged with digging up graves, reselling plots". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/09/illinois.cemetery.scheme/index.html?iref=mpstoryview. Retrieved 2009-07-10. "Four people face felony charges after authorities discovered that hundreds of graves were dug up and allegedly resold at a historic African-American cemetery near Chicago, Illinois, authorities said Thursday."
- ^ "New estimate on cemetery bodies: 200 to 300". Chicagobreakingnews. July 9, 2008. http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/07/sheriff-bodies-dug-up-dumped-at-cemetery.html. Retrieved 2009-07-10.
- ^ Cemetery shut down, declared a crime scene
- ^ A Message from Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart
- ^ Burr Oak families still locked out; lawyers survey desecrated cemetery
- ^ a b c d 4 charged in scheme to dig up bodies in historic black cemetery
[edit] External links
Coordinates: 41°39′44″N 87°43′45″W / 41.66216°N 87.72916°W
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