“Reclaiming Abandoned Family Cemeteries” presentation at MPAAGHS Monthly Meeting

September 14, 2024

Middle Peninsula African-American Genealogical and Historical Society (MPAAGHS) will hold its monthly meeting virtually on Saturday, September 14, 2024, at 11:00 AM Eastern time. The meeting will feature a talk by Dr. Inez Tuck entitled "Reclaiming an Abandoned Family Cemetery: Challenges and Opportunities.”

Many cemeteries are abandoned over generations. This is especially true for African Americans who often did not own the land or lost the property where ancestors were buried. The Grand Avery(a) cemetery in Johnston County, North Carolina is one example. Dr. Inez Tuck, family historian and an advocate for preservation, embraced the restoration of the family burial ground. Championing restoration with family members, landowners, and local government agencies became part of the journey. Dr. Tuck’s presentation describes the 15-year journey and is presented in three parts: Discovering, Reclaiming and Restoring, and Honoring.

Dr. Inez Tuck, Professor Emeritus at Virginia Commonwealth University, had a remarkable career in higher education as a university professor, administrator, and researcher. She retired from academia in 2019 following her most recent positions as the dean of two Schools of Nursing: North Carolina A&T State University and MGH Institute of Health Professions in Boston, Massachusetts.

She is a family historian and has been a genealogy enthusiast for over 40 years. She started the work with her doctoral dissertation completed in 1980, The Analysis of Intergenerational Patterns of Two African American Families, in which she constructed family trees for a Gullah family in the Sea Islands of South Carolina and her own Avery family in North Carolina. After completing this work, she invited family members to the first Grand Avery(a) Family Reunion held every three years since started in 1980. She continues her genealogical research and has documented seven generations of descendants of five lines of Avery enslaved couples.

In 2010, Dr. Tuck spearheaded the reclamation of the abandoned Grand Avery(a) family cemetery near Elmhurst, an Avera homeplace, which included determining its location and boundaries, clearing the cemetery of overgrowth and vegetation, surveying and recording it with the county and the state of North Carolina, and negotiating with multiple landowners. She has recorded a second African American cemetery at Crantock, another Avera homeplace. She currently is researching names of persons buried in the Avery(a) cemetery.

Dr. Tuck holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from NC A&T State University, a Master’s degree in Psychiatric - Mental Health Nursing from the University of Florida, and an MBA from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her PhD degree in Child Development and Family Relations with a minor in Sociology was earned at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. In 2008, Dr. Tuck completed the Master of Divinity degree at Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University.

Please note that this meeting will not be recorded. However, Dr. Tuck will provide a one-page session handout.

If you are not on our email list and would like to receive an invitation for this virtual meeting or to get further information about MPAAGHS, call 804.758.5163.