White Chapel Memorial Cemetery

White Chapel Memorial Cemetery
Details
Established 1948
Location Troy, Michigan
Country United States
Coordinates 42°35′08″N 83°09′49″W / 42.58560°N 83.16360°W / 42.58560; -83.16360
Type Cemetery
Website http://www.whitechapelcemetery.com/home.htm
Find a Grave http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=1612418

White Chapel Memorial Cemetery or simply White Chapel Cemetery is a memorial cemetery in Troy, Oakland County, Michigan

Polar Bear Memorial

The state of Michigan dedicated a memorial on May 30, 1930, honoring the U.S. Army's Polar Bear Expedition. It recognizes the efforts of the expeditionary force against the Bolshevik Red Army in North Russia during 1918 and 1919.[1]

Discrimination

On August 10, 1960, an honorably discharged 66-year-old World War I veteran, George Vincent Nash, was removed from resting alongside his Caucasian wife at the White Chapel Cemetery.[2][3]

The action took place immediately following the graveside service because Nash was a full-blooded Ho-Chunk (also known as Winnebago) or Native American.[4] The explanation was that 40,000 plot owners "had paid for the restriction" for the type of people that could be buried at White Chapel Cemetery.[5] According to the cemetery's officials, corpses had to be at least 75% Caucasian to be buried at White Chapel.[6] The governor, G. Mennen Williams, was concerned about the legality of the cemetery's actions.[7] However, the Michigan state legislatures in both 1961 and 1962, failed to pass bills that would have prohibited cemeteries to discriminate who could be interned in them on the basis their race.[4]

Despite this policy, Albert Kahn, one hundred percent Jewish, was buried in the cemetery in 1942.

Notable burials

Other burials

More names at: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GSsr=201&GScid=1612418&

Notes

  1. Sobczak, John (2009). A Motor City year. Wayne State University Press. p. 69. ISBN 9780814334102. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  2. Bak, Richard (2010). Boneyards: Detroit under ground. Wayne State University Press. p. 18. ISBN 9780814333532. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  3. "INDIAN DENIED BURIAL; Barred From Cemetery in Detroit Because of Race". The New York Times. 12 August 1960.
  4. 1 2 Fine, Sidney (2000). Expanding the frontiers of civil rights: Michigan, 1948 - 1968. Wayne State University Press. p. 155. ISBN 9780814328750. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  5. "RACES: Segregation After Death". Time. 22 August 1960. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  6. Fabre, Genevieve; O'Meally, Robert, eds. (1994). History and Memory in African-American Culture. Oxford University Press. p. 132. ISBN 9780195359244. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  7. "Indian Denied Burial Gets Military Honors". Gadsden Times. 13 August 1960. p. 9. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  8. "Wayne County MI Archives Obituaries ..... Mason, George W. October 8, 1954". www.usgwarchives.net. 2 March 2009. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
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