Fort Smith has an interesting history from the African-American community. As long as the city has existed there has been an African-American presence in the community. Part of the effort to document the history of the community has been the effort to take note of the burial sites of the city’s black residents. It is not known where people who lived in the city as slaves were buried. However, those who were once enslaved are found in cemeteries throughout the city, Nowland Springs, Oak Cemetery and U.S. National Cemetery.

Nestled in the heart of Northside Fort Smith is the only all African-American cemetery. Contrary to what many may believe, this cemetery was established in the 1940s as a black burial ground in what was once the mostly rural Midland Heights section of the city. However, many of those who rest in Washington Cemetery come from many parts of the city and not exclusively the immediate neighborhood. Not much is known of the early history of the burial ground. The earliest burial was made on the grounds before the official cemetery was established. That is the grave site of Gideon Richardson, which was made in 1913. One of the longest-living people buried in the cemetery was Ellen Hogue Roberson, born in January 1887 and buried in July 1986, only a few months short of her 100th birthday.

It is worth noting that of the more than 730 burials at Washington, more than 150 were of people who were born in the 1800s. One of the earliest birth dates noted on the interred was that of Mary Irene Bass, born in 1865 and laid to rest in 1945. While none of the people buried there would have been slaves, many were clearly the children of slaves. Many resided in the city during its frontier years during the Judge Parker era, the period when black U.S. marshals were part of the city’s landscape. Later, they would experience the changes in the city after the Parker era, through the darker days of segregation, but many did live to see brighter days for the community.

The following transcription was made by Tonia Holleman, who spearheaded this documentation project for more than four years. She was helped by close associates Lola Brown, Lucy Toran and Nathaniel Jones, who on occasion would assist her in identifying the names of those entered from their headstones. In addition, she compiled the names from documented sources as well, including the Social Security Index, OUR Funeral Home Records, Rowell Funeral Home Records, funeral programs and the

U.S. Federal Census.

Washington Cemetery, located off Waldron Road and North 56th Street, is quiet and peaceful, regularly maintained, neat and dignified. Burials still occur in this quiet burial ground as they have for the past 64 years. The cemetery’s caretaker is Patricia Copeland, who works with a cemetery board to see that this quiet resting place retains regular care and that the site is kept clean and secure.