In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, cemeteries in the Midwest United States were seldom integrated. It is quite significant, therefore, that African Americans are buried in the Union Campground Cemetery, with both African American and Caucasian graves located throughout the cemetery.

Because many African Americans of the Ozarks region had limited finances and could not afford expensive gravestones, they often selected headstones that were made of relatively inexpensive materials such as locally available limestone or even concrete, as with the molded concrete headstone of George Gimlin.

Some African American graves in the Union Campground Cemetery, however, show a higher level of prosperity. The grave of Zadie Winton, for example, not only has an engraved headstone and footstone, but they are both made of marble, a stone that would have to have been imported into Missouri.

The gravestones of members of the Looney family, including Mary A. Looney and Carie Looney, are even more impressive, as these oval-top tablet gravestones are not only made of marble, but they also have deeply engraved lettering.  Each of these headstones also has an incised image of a pair of clasped hands at the top—a common late 19^th century funerary symbol of farewell. Such relatively large monuments with both engraving and imagery suggest that these individuals and their families had acquired considerable wealth and had attained status in the local community.

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For more information, you may contact the researcher(s) noted in the title of this exhibit entry, or Dr. Billie Follensbee, the professor of the course, at BillieFollensbee@MissouriState.edu