SOAL: SavingOurAncestorsLegacy, is a grassroots community-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit in Harrisburg, PA. SOAL was established in 2021 to save Lincoln Cemetery, Harrisburg’s oldest remaining historically African American burial ground. This Descendant-Led, Community-Volunteer-Powered effort aims to radically reclaim African American history through hands-on conservation work, both online and onsite, to restore and preserve this historic site as a lasting cultural and environmental legacy.
SOAL began unexpectedly in June 2021, when Rachael Keri Williams & Bhakti Williams Brown, traveled from their hometown of Buffalo, NY to south central Pennsylvania in search of a deeper sense of belonging–to find their true history as Black People in America.
“We found erasure and invisibility.” –Rachael Keri Williams
Lincoln Cemetery, in Harrisburg, was in a state of gross neglect. They found a femur and other human remains, toppled and sunken grave stones, overgrown weeds and vines covering disturbed graves, and animal holes dug throughout the cemetery grounds.
A Police Report was filed. The coroner validated human remains. A ticket was issued for uncut grass on the premises. Seemingly, nothing more could happen.
When 2 Buffalonians found the bones of their formerly-enslaved ancestors laying on the ground in the only remaining Black Cemetery in the Pennsylvania State Capital –They founded SOAL: SavingOurAncestorsLegacy.
reclaiming African American History through the Restoration of Harrisburg’s Lincoln Cemetery
In the face of this shocking neglect & abandonment, Rachael & Bhakti went into action–reaching out to family, contacting media, connecting with the cemetery’s neighbors, and emailing experts. Descendants, community members and concerned citizens began to show up.
Together we set to work, cleaning up, and finally reclaiming Lincoln Cemetery and the precious African American history it holds.
Rather than walking away in despair or waiting for others to take responsibility, Rachael & Bhakti began organizing volunteer work days. In November 2021, SOAL was founded to better coordinate resources and help call attention to a disturbing local problem that would end up having national significance.
SOAL’s Work & Community Impact
Through monthly restoration weekends, volunteers are actively building shared capacity for historical restoration and preservation techniques. SOAL has recovered previously unrecorded ancestors buried at Lincoln Cemetery, including more than 105 Black Civil War Veterans not identified in the state historical marker. This work is connecting local community members, descendants, and historians to genealogical records, including over ~4,000 people recorded on Lincoln Cemetery’s Find-a-Grave database, and ~15,000 people in the publicly-shared tree on Ancestry.com
SOAL’s digitization of the Lincoln Cemetery Burial Records, and telling the stories connected to them, has created an opportunity to engage virtual volunteers from the Central Pennsylvania Region, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Connecticut, New York, and California.
While SOAL volunteers have made a discernible positive impact in a short time, the physical space and rich history of Lincoln Cemetery is still at risk of extinction. There is so much work needed to restore the burial grounds, to reclaim the stories of ancestors buried there, and to rebuild the trust descendant, neighbor, and resident communities have in the local leaders and organizations that have failed to honor our history.
As we continue to develop partnerships, recruit volunteers, and gain access to funding, SOAL remains committed to the highest standards of cemetery restoration best practices, utilizing public and oral history methodologies, and participatory action to achieve cultural and environmental conservation goals.
Vision SavingOurAncestorsLegacy
Establish Lincoln Cemetery as a safe and sustainable open green space for the community to freely access.
Innovate and collaborate to find new pathways for the restoration of African American History.
Bring diverse people and organizations together to collaborate in radical history reclamation.
Provide free and open access to new Black Family History–Research, Records, Resources & Tools.
Capture and share the stories of Lincoln Cemetery ancestors, their descendants, and the community members volunteering to collectively explore, preserve and restore our shared histories.
Discover & share the past and modern-day lived experiences of freedom fighters, change-makers, accidental heroes, our kin, our ancestors, our neighbors–who struggle, who persevere.
Inspire people to seek common ground across differences, disrupt systemic racism, and empower individuals to repair the divides that undermine trust and social cohesion from the local to the National level.
Learn more about SOAL: SavingOurAncestorsLegacy
SOAL: SavingOurAncestorsLegacy Incorporated
EIN#87-4185990
Lincoln Cemetery
201 South 30th Street Harrisburg, PA
A 501c3 Nonprofit restoring Harrisburg’s oldest Black Cemetery and African American History.