DECEMBER, 1882

The crowd grows in number and emotions. The majority Black crowd mourns their family and friends stolen from Lebanon Cemetery. Just hours earlier, several recently interred remains were observed in the company of grave robbers, or "buzzards", by a journalist with a Philadelphia newspaper. The bodies intercepted in December were but several of many sold to learning hospitals in Philadelphia universities throughout the mid-1800's. The crowd demands justice and respect, the shouts and prayers grow louder.

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Image Credit

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Background: G. M. Hopkins, C.E., "1st, 26th, and 30th Wards Plate D", City Atlas of Philadelphia, 1876. Accessed via Free Library of Philadelphia. https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/46214 

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George Dubois, Chapel of the Lebanon Cemetery, lithograph, Library Company of Philadelphia, ca. 1850. 

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