Learn about Staten Island’s buried African American past and the movement to bring it back to light.
In 1954, Staten Island real estate developers seized Cherry Lane Cemetery, the final resting place of African-Americans from New York to the Carolinas. One of the most well-known descendants buried at Cherry Lane was Benjamin Prine, a formerly enslaved Staten Islander and an 1812 war veteran, who died 125 years ago. Paved over for a Shell station in the 1960s and now a shopping plaza on Forest Avenue, the cemetery's story didn't end there-it inspired the documentary American Graveyard, as well as genealogical research, and the uniting of families.
On October 4th, join historian Debbie-Ann Paige and filmmaker Heather Quinlan at Historic Richmond Town for an event that explores Cherry Lane's story and delves into the historical research behind American Graveyard. In honor of Family History Month, you’ll learn about how the film project has been bringing descendant families together and how to begin uncovering your own family's history through records, censuses, church documents, and even archival materials from Historic Richmond Town.
This program is FREE with a $5 suggested donation. Reserve your seat today!
About the panel:
Bios:
Heather Quinlan is the Director of American Graveyard. She is a writer and filmmaker whose films include O Brooklyn! My Brooklyn! and If These Knishes Could Talk, a feature-length documentary about the New York accent. Her book Plagues, Pandemics, and Viruses: From the Plague of Athens to COVID-19, was published in 2020 and won the American Library Association’s 2021 Outstanding Reference Source award. Heather is a native New Yorker and has lived in all five boroughs, though now calls New Jersey home with her husband, writer Adam McGovern.
Debbie-Ann Paige is the Consulting Historian for American Graveyard. She is a public historian and professional genealogist specializing in local African American history. She serves as co-president of the Richard B. Dickenson Staten Island Chapter of AAHGS and is the creator of the Staten Island African American Heritage Tour App, a digital trail highlighting significant people and places in Staten Island's Black history. She has contributed to numerous local history projects, including In Pursuit of Freedom with the Brooklyn Historical Society and the designation of the Louis Napoleon House as a site of freedom with the National Park Service Underground Railroad Network.
Gabriella Leone is the Curator at Historic Richmond Town. With over ten years experience in public history on Staten Island, she has worked to increase access to local and family history. In her roles as Archives Manager at the Staten Island Museum, she founded the Access, Collaboration, and Equity in Genealogy Initiative(ACEGen) bringing together local repositories to digitize and transcribe family history records. She has been an advisor on American Graveyard for several years.
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