Many in largely Black South Dallas neighborhood content to let Confederate Cemetery rest in peace

Life often produces unpredictable twists. Take, for instance, the irony of a Confederate cemetery smack in the middle of a predominantly Black middle- to low-income Dallas neighborhood.

That’s exactly the situation in one South Dallas/Fair Park community. Residents are just beginning to pay attention to a long-standing burial ground with an arched entry gate displaying the name Confederate Cemetery.

Until recent years the cemetery at 4225 Electra St., between Reed Lane and Pine Street, did not always have a sign, which helped add to its anonymity. Some neighbors say they previously thought it was a pet cemetery.

The cemetery is near prominent sites including the landmark People’s Baptist Church across the street on Pine; the well-known and much larger Oakland Cemetery, which opened in 1892 at Pine and what is now Malcolm X Boulevard; and Opportunity Park, which the late Dallas City Council member Leo Chaney championed as a place to erect monuments honoring Black leaders and heroes.

Local activists recently talked to area residents, asking how they felt about the long-ignored Confederate Cemetery in light of the nation’s racial tensions, including protests calling for the removal of Confederate monuments and the renaming of buildings that honor Confederate figures.

The neighborhood began becoming predominantly Black during the “white flight” period of the 1950s and ’60s. But interviews reveal that some residents prefer to let the old soldiers remain undisturbed.

“Let ‘em stay there,” said Shirley Rhodes, 74, a Black woman who has lived next door to the Cemetery in her Reed Lane home since the 1950s. “They don’t bother me. I’m not for messing with the dead. What they did, they cannot do anymore. Leave them alone.”

Other Reed Lane neighbors agreed. Linda Dickerson said: “I’ve lived here 30 years, and it don’t bother me one way or the other.”

And James Smith said: “The protesters on TV gotta do what they gotta do, but this cemetery here don’t bother me at all.”

According to historical records, the cemetery — once commonly known as “old soldier’s cemetery” — has been in the area since the early 1900s and holds the remains of about 100 Confederate soldiers and some of their family members. Headstones show that some of the Confederates buried there were born as early as the 1820s and died as late as the early 1900s.

The unlikely twist of this cemetery existing in a largely Black neighborhood was brought to light by the Memorial Day death of George Floyd, the Black man whose long, agonizing death while pleading that he couldn’t breathe under the knee of Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin, sparked widespread protests that still continue in some states.

Records show that the Dallas chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy played a key role in creating the Confederate Cemetery. Neither the Dallas chapter nor national headquarters responded to requests for comment. The organization’s website states that members prefer to stay “quietly in the background, never engaging in public controversy.”

The website offers a look at the organization’s history and present activities, and offers a subtle olive branch in the form of a request for understanding of why Confederate memorials are important to the Daughters, whose members are descendants of Confederate veterans.

The website states that the group “appreciates the feelings of citizens across the country … concerning Confederate memorial statues and monuments. … To some these … are viewed as divisive and thus unworthy of being allowed to remain in public places. To others, they simply represent a memorial to our forefathers.”

The website also states that “certain hate groups” have hijacked and misrepresented the Confederate flag and the Daughters organization “totally denounces any individual group that promotes racial divisiveness or white supremacy.”

The Daughters organization was formally launched in 1894. Its original mission of honoring Confederate soldiers and places has expanded over time to include activities focusing on charity, education, history and patriotism.

Isis Brantley, a Dallas business owner and icon in the field of natural hair care, also is experienced in African ancestral rites and the spiritual rituals of various cultures and faiths. She led a small group in a cleansing ceremony called “smudging” at the cemetery on the night of July 19 when, according to ritual, the new moon would bring renewal and cleanse any lingering negativity.

“We’re on a mission to cleanse and speak to the energy and ask for peace,” Brantley said.

Demetrius Rhodes, who graduated from high school last year, provided a Generation Z perspective on the cemetery that’s next to the home of his grandmother, Shirley Rhodes.

“I’ve thought for a while it was kind of funny, strange,” he said. “South Dallas is considered the ghetto, and we’re next to a Confederate Cemetery. I’ve been wondering when somebody would say something.”