The Zion Christian Cemetery, once owned by George Christian, is were history tells us these three heroes were later laid to rest. According to memphisheritage.com, “After the Civil War, black Americans organized a burial association called the United Sons and Daughters of Zion. They purchased 16 acres outside city limits for use as a cemetery. This cemetery was active primarily between 1876 and 1925 and is the oldest black cemetery in Memphis. It holds the remains of almost 25,000 blacks from the 19th through the 20th centuries, spanning the Civil War, Emancipation, Reconstruction, yellow fever epidemics, World War I, and the Jim Crow era. The cemetery is the burial site of the three black merchants, Thomas Moss, William Stewart, and Calvin McDowell, the 1892 lynching victims whose deaths ignited the anti-lynching crusade of Ida B. Wells. The Zion Community Project, Inc. is now working on a volunteer basis to clean up and restore this important landmark.” “After the death of her husband, George Christian, Mrs. Eva Christian, a member of Mt. Pisgah CME Church, inherited all of the existing shares of the Zion Christian Cemetery,” stated retired CME Church Senior Bishop, William H. Graves Sr., during the unveiling of the historical marker placed at Moss’s gravesite in the Zion Christian Cemetery, 1426 South Parkway East in Memphis, TN, on Saturday, March 23, 2019, some 127 years after his death. “Unable to care for the property herself, in 1886, Mrs. Eva Christian donated the cemetery to the Christian Methodist Church for safekeeping.” “The church has watched over the years as the board has grown from just a few committed volunteers to an active and involved group of community leaders from various walks of life who are committed to seeing the cemetery transformed from a resting place for newly freed slaves in Memphis and Shelby County [to] a living legacy meaningful and historical in the present culture of our community,” continued Graves. “As we stand at the foot of Thomas Moss’ grave and participate in the unveiling of this marker and memory of these three slain heroes of the past, we as a church are proud to have played a part in the life of the Zion Community Project and the restoration of the Zion Christian Cemetery…” Dr. Tyrone T. Davis, CME Board of Directors Chair, provided remarks as part of the unveiling ceremony held Saturday, March 23, 2019. The program began at noon with an opening presented by Occasion Leader and National Civil Rights Museum Collections Manager, Raka Nandi. Reverend O. C. Collins of Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church followed with the Invocation and University of Memphis History Professor, Dr. Earnestine Jenkins, was joined by WREG-TV Channel 3 Chair Emeritus, Ron Walter and US National Park Service Superintendent, Timothy S. Good, for the Occasion and Wreath Laying services of the program. Dr. Tyrone T. Davis, CME Board of Directors Chair gave remarks after the unveiling ceremony and before pictures were taken. In addition to the remarks given by Graves, the now retired CME Church Bishop and son of Reverend William Smith, one of the two CME Bishops who accepted the original donation of the cemetery and its land and began the momentous task of establishing a nonprofit organization to spearhead the restoration of the cemetery, provided the Benediction at closing of the ceremony. 2
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