For over a century, Greenwood Cemetery has stood as a final resting place for many Wacoans and as an important marker for city history.
Established as a segregated cemetery in 1875, Greenwood sits just off of I-35 Business 77. Some of Waco’s most notable African American citizens—including the great baritone Broadway singer Jules Bledsoe, accomplished professor Dr. Vivienne Lucille Malone-Mayes, and Negro League Baseball star Andrew Lewis Cooper—lie in rest there. The cemetery also holds graves for both Union and Confederate soldiers who fought in the Civil War, as well as a mass grave of victims from the 1918 influenza epidemic during World War I. However, a chain-link fence separated the white and black graves until the twenty-first century. Though no one can remember the origin of the fence, it stood for many years as a harsh reminder of racial inequality.
For much of Greenwood’s history, volunteers maintained the cemetery. The People’s Cemetery Association cared for the black side of the cemetery until 2007, and the East Waco Greenwood Cemetery Association cared for the white side until 2014. Despite the efforts of these volunteers, each association experienced difficulty in securing funds and membership to adequately care for the cemetery. Both associations ultimately voted to turn over care of the cemetery to the city of Waco.
Greenwood has served Waco for more than 125 years and time has taken its toll. Although most people today use gravestones, financial struggles led some families in the past to use wood or random objects as markers, and some did not use a marker at all. The use of materials other than stone led to significant deterioration among many grave markers, making it difficult for families to locate loved ones.
The East Waco community has been calling for the preservation of Greenwood Cemetery for many years. Upon taking full control of the cemetery in 2014, the City of Waco promised to maintain and preserve this piece of history as well as improve it and make it more attractive and safe. In addition to cleaning up and caring for the space, the city pledged to replace a stolen historical marker, create a more attractive entrance to the cemetery, and remove the controversial fence segregating graves.
However, a lack of clear ownership for much of the land in the cemetery and a concern that unmarked graves might exist below the fence delayed its removal. After two years of research and work with the Texas Historical Commission, the City of Waco removed the chain-link fence in June 2016. The posts remain until the city is able to obtain the services of an archaeologist to ensure that unmarked graves are not disturbed by their removal.
Though the removal of the fence represents a move toward unity and preservation, the work is not finished. East Wacoans and park officials are still striving to ensure that a fence enclosing and unifying the entire cemetery is built, a more attractive entrance created, and appropriate signage developed so that the story of this important place in East Waco is not forgotten.
]]>Organized in 1866, New Hope Baptist Church is one of the oldest African American churches in Waco. Noted throughout its history for its excellent church music programs, New Hope is still a vibrant center of worship for Waco’s black community.
The end of the Civil War brought new freedoms to African Americans residing in Waco. Though blacks had previously been allowed limited worship opportunities at First Baptist Church of Waco, several African American congregants desired to use their increased postwar liberty to found a church of their own. Assisted by Baylor University President Rufus Burleson and First Baptist Pastor S. G. O’Bryan, eighteen black members of First Baptist formed a Missionary Baptist church on June 10, 1866. They named the church New Hope, a title befitting the spirit of optimism that fueled its establishment.
From humble beginnings, New Hope Baptist grew to become one of the more well-known African American congregations in Waco. The church first met in an old foundry building on the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Sixth Street, a dilapidated space the church rented for $2.00 a month. However, this space soon proved insufficient as New Hope’s numbers increased. In 1867, New Hope built its first church building, a humble box-shaped structure measuring thirty by forty feet, in partnership with a local Methodist church. Both groups shared the facility, holding services on alternating Sundays. That building did not last very long before it was torn down to make way for a school for African American youth from McLennan County. New Hope rented the school on Sunday mornings for services until 1873, when they were able to construct a modest wooden church structure at another location. In 1884, under the leadership of the church’s seventh pastor, a large two-story brick church was constructed for the still-growing church. This building served New Hope until the current church was built in 1923 at the corner of Sixth Street and Marlborough Avenue (now 915 North Sixth Street).
Over the years, New Hope Baptist benefited from the leadership of a dynamic pastorate. The church’s original pastor, Stephen Cobb, willingly served the church for eight years without a stipulated salary. Dr. J. Newton Jenkins, the pastor of New Hope from 1907 until 1950, is recognized as being the force that brought together a scattered and discouraged membership. In his first ninety days on the job, Jenkins was able to lead a fundraising effort that saw enough money raised to pay off all of the church’s debts. Jenkins’ successor, Dr. Marvin C. Griffin, was also a prolific pastor. Griffin pioneered a radio ministry and a citywide transportation system to the church on Sunday. He also strengthened the church’s ties with national, state, and local Baptist congregations.
New Hope Baptist was perhaps most well-known for its music programs. While the church had an informal choir as early as 1886, it wasn’t until 1895 that a structured music ministry was established under Dr. G.S. Conner and his wife Mattie. Thanks to the oversight of the Conners, by 1905 New Hope Baptist had a talented choir of forty trained voices to sing each Sunday. Soon thereafter in conjunction with students from Paul Quinn College, New Hope extended its music program to include a children’s choir and an orchestra. Dr. Conner presented at least one full-length operetta each year and cantatas at Christmas and Easter. Notable members of New Hope’s music ministry through the years include Jules Bledsoe, the grandson of Stephen Cobb and later an international opera star, and Vivienne Malone-Mayes, one of the first African Americans to receive an advanced degree in mathematics and the first African American professor at Baylor University.
From providing freed slaves with a sacred space of their own to empowering congregants through music, New Hope Baptist Church has worked for more than a century to lift black voices up in worship.
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