An effort in Windy Hills, Ky. to ID slaves buried on presidential plot

WINDY HILLS, Ky. (CNN NEWSOURCE) — A project is underway to identify slaves who may be buried in unmarked graves on the family plot of a former U.S. president.

Windy Hills, Kentucky is the final resting place of the 12th U.S. president Zachary Taylor.

Historians want to find a way to mark and identify the graves of more than 50 slaves who may be buried nearby.

Within Zachary Taylor National Cemetery is a private plot where Taylor’s family members are buried.

Gary Mattingly manages the site and is a descendant of Taylor.

“This has become my job recently, I don’t have a lot of experience managing a cemetery. That’s not my day-to-day job, my day-to-day job is taking care of my kiddos,” Mattingly said.

The new role is posing new challenges while uncovering a dark and painful past.

“There’s just this sort of wrong hanging in the air of people that are unmarked,” he added.

Mattingly says documentation from a family historian details that 52 slaves of the former president were possibly buried on a hill in the designated family plot between 1823-50.

Their graves are unmarked.

“My initial reaction when I heard it the first time, was that it’s got to be one of those urban legends. Honestly. It did not sound like something that was truly real,” said Mattingly.

The history of slave graves…

“They would just be dumped in mass graves or unmarked graves,” said Jemar Tisby, with Simmons College of Kentucky.

…and the treatment of Black people in life and death is real and raw.

“What does it say about us and how we value Black life if we’re not even marking where people who were once living, now lie,” Tisby added.

According to Tisby, only recently following the racial reckoning of 2020 have steps been taken toward reparation.

“Justice delayed is justice denied, but if we can take action now, then perhaps we can interrupt the cycle of injustice.”

Mattingly is working to correct the historic wrong by properly identifying and memorializing “the forgotten.”

One method commonly used is ground penetrating radar where underground areas are mapped using radar pulses.

One company successfully discovered thousands of unmarked burial sites across the country with this is Omega Mapping Services.

“Every one of those represents a gallon of tears that have been poured in the ground around that grave,” said Len Strozier, with Omega Mapping Services.

For Mattingly, the hope through this project is to finally honor those who have been dishonored.

“If we can do whatever that they would want for closure, so that their ancestors are properly respected, I feel like all the options should be on the table,” said Mattingly.

The project is in the beginning stages.

Mattingly is calling on experts in the area for help.

He is currently working with Roots 101 African American Museum, the University of Louisville and engineers from Cave Hill Cemetery.