Durham, a city born by the exploitation of slave labor on tobacco plantations and matured through the age of civil disobedience, sends its dead to the rural Maplewood cemetery. In her memoir, Proud Shoes, Pauli Murray described her discomforting childhood living near the cemetery and the permeating effects race had on her identity (Murray 7). While archaeologists such as Larry Zimmerman claim bones do not have "race" and question the inherent racism of academia (Zimmerman 61), Murray 's reality was plagued by the legacy of Jim Crow laws, inability to enter institutions of higher learning as an African American female, and McCarthyism (Murray 11). In sharp contrast to the touring guide, which frequently praises Durham 's appreciation of diversity
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At the cemetery, ideology and inequality must be inferred through the analysis of different symbols such as typology, distribution, and epitaphs. In the previous paragraph, the exile of the Fitzgerald family plot and absence of African American graves paired with the many symbols of the confederacy (Figure 1.05) such as the cannon (Figure 1.06) pointing to Pauli Murray 's home, suggest an inherent inequality among the treatment of the whites and blacks in society. In addition to proving the inequality of race, the graves of the confederate soldiers also show how esteemed service and sacrifice for tradition were in society. Although "General Julian Carr" was a leading industrialist and women 's rights activist, his grave (Figure 1.07) only adorns symbols affiliated with the military and sacrifice, such as the sculptures of fallen angels (Figure 1.08) and a mount to erect the American flag (Figure 1.09). After Private Carr became a tycoon in the electricity industry, he gave back to the widows of the war and proclaimed himself a general. In contrast to private Carr 's museum of a grave, the tombstone of Benjamin Skinner (Figure 1.10), a captain of the U.S army in the second world war, only bears the insignia of the cross. Both sites effectively convey the holiness associated with defending one 's ideology, but while the newer grave remains humbled …show more content…
Spatial distribution is the strongest symbol in deciphering the complex social hierarchies that exist in both cemeteries. First and foremost, while both cemeteries are adjacent and represent the same geographical population of Durham, they are two different cemeteries, with the Jewish cemetery blocked off by a black fence (figure 1.17). This demarcation does not only serve to separate two ideologies, but also may be perceived as an attempt by the Jews to partition off themselves and cultivate their religious agenda. Much like how 60% of Jews feel marginalized in their communities (Garland 34), this choice of isolation may be the byproduct of Christian privilege. Without having their own funerary space, Jews, rightfully so, may feel their history and ideology erode in the assumption of Christian lineage that many of the Maplewood mausoleums and tombstones bear. While most graves in the two hemispheres of the Maplewood Cemetery affixed their gaze in many different directions, every tombstone in the Durham Hebrew Cemetery faced the central walkway, emphasizing the ideology that everyone, no matter one 's income, religious affiliation, and education level is equal before God. Note how severely this contrasts the Maplewood cemetery, where the family plots of industrialists overshadow the Fitzgerald 's. Although everyone is equal before God, some
At the cemetery, ideology and inequality must be inferred through the analysis of different symbols such as typology, distribution, and epitaphs. In the previous paragraph, the exile of the Fitzgerald family plot and absence of African American graves paired with the many symbols of the confederacy (Figure 1.05) such as the cannon (Figure 1.06) pointing to Pauli Murray 's home, suggest an inherent inequality among the treatment of the whites and blacks in society. In addition to proving the inequality of race, the graves of the confederate soldiers also show how esteemed service and sacrifice for tradition were in society. Although "General Julian Carr" was a leading industrialist and women 's rights activist, his grave (Figure 1.07) only adorns symbols affiliated with the military and sacrifice, such as the sculptures of fallen angels (Figure 1.08) and a mount to erect the American flag (Figure 1.09). After Private Carr became a tycoon in the electricity industry, he gave back to the widows of the war and proclaimed himself a general. In contrast to private Carr 's museum of a grave, the tombstone of Benjamin Skinner (Figure 1.10), a captain of the U.S army in the second world war, only bears the insignia of the cross. Both sites effectively convey the holiness associated with defending one 's ideology, but while the newer grave remains humbled …show more content…
Spatial distribution is the strongest symbol in deciphering the complex social hierarchies that exist in both cemeteries. First and foremost, while both cemeteries are adjacent and represent the same geographical population of Durham, they are two different cemeteries, with the Jewish cemetery blocked off by a black fence (figure 1.17). This demarcation does not only serve to separate two ideologies, but also may be perceived as an attempt by the Jews to partition off themselves and cultivate their religious agenda. Much like how 60% of Jews feel marginalized in their communities (Garland 34), this choice of isolation may be the byproduct of Christian privilege. Without having their own funerary space, Jews, rightfully so, may feel their history and ideology erode in the assumption of Christian lineage that many of the Maplewood mausoleums and tombstones bear. While most graves in the two hemispheres of the Maplewood Cemetery affixed their gaze in many different directions, every tombstone in the Durham Hebrew Cemetery faced the central walkway, emphasizing the ideology that everyone, no matter one 's income, religious affiliation, and education level is equal before God. Note how severely this contrasts the Maplewood cemetery, where the family plots of industrialists overshadow the Fitzgerald 's. Although everyone is equal before God, some