Lincoln Cemetery

I have volunteered to help cleanup the cemetery. Along with descendants of an ex slave whose brother was the first Harrisburg African American policeman. My great grandparents are buried there and many great aunts, uncles and mom's cousins on her dad's and mom's side. I just found out these things two years ago from ancestry.com. also my great grandmother and the wife of the first black cop were sisters and I knew that already. Most African Americans buried before the mid 40s were buried in Lincoln Cemetery. Black Military veterans could not be buried in government cemeteries so most were buried in ' colored ' cemeteries. The cemetery has been neglected for decades and it is a shame.

Both, this cemetery is open to the public. You should visit before sundown.

The cemetery has been neglected for decades and has overgrown weeds, vines that covers graves. All one has to do is stop our and visit. I didn't know of it's existence and yet attended a burial in 1997 of a distant great aunt/ cousin who turned out to be not distant at all. Most people think about celebrities who may be interred there but Lincoln is the oldest surviving black cemetery in Harrisburg. Before William Howard Day Cemetery was initiated in the 1940s Lincoln was were our black forebearers were buried. William Howard Day , Milicent Hooper her father Walter Hooper her son Lance Ulen. Prominent educators and policemen John P Scott and many of his descendents who belong to Wesley Union AME ZION are interred there. At least 27 and more of my mother's grandparents, grand uncles and aunts, uncles, aunts and first cousins are interred there. I joined the Saving Our Ancestors Legacy group to participate in the réhabilitation efforts to restore the cemetery in June 2019