From antebellum slavery to the twenty-first century, African
American funeral directors have orchestrated funerals or homegoing
ceremonies with dignity and pageantry. As entrepreneurs in a
largely segregated trade, they were among the few black individuals
in any community who were economically independent and not beholden
to the local white power structure. Most important, their financial
freedom gave them the ability to support the struggle for civil
rights and, indeed, to serve the living as well as bury the
dead.
During the Jim Crow era, black funeral directors relied on
racial segregation to secure their foothold in America s capitalist
marketplace. With the dawning of the civil rights age, these
entrepreneurs were drawn into the movement to integrate American
society, but were also uncertain how racial integration would
affect their business success. From the beginning, this tension
between personal gain and community service shaped the history of
African American funeral directing.
For African Americans, death was never simply the end of life,
and funerals were not just places to mourn. In the hush harbors of
the slave quarters, African Americans first used funerals to bury
their dead and to plan a path to freedom. Similarly, throughout the
long and often violent struggle for racial equality in the
twentieth century, funeral directors aided the cause by honoring
the dead while supporting the living. "To Serve the Living" offers
a fascinating history of how African American funeral directors
have been integral to the fight for freedom.
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