For nearly 180 years, historic Mount Carmel Cemetery has stood as a sacred testament to generations of Black Memphians whose lives helped shape the city.
Today, many of those stories are obscured by overgrown vegetation, fallen trees, deteriorating headstones and roads that have become difficult to navigate.
For those working to restore the cemetery, the contrast is striking because the cemetery had continued to operate normally in their lifetime, though its condition showed evidence of neglect.
Sam Oldham, founder and director of Mt Carmel Ally, a historic restoration and preservation nonprofit formed in 2023, recalls the days in the 1970s when the cemetery was thriving. Seeing its condition deteriorate in the decades since – amid continuing celebrations of Memphis heroes such as Tom Lee, who is buried there – inspired the undertaking to reclaim the historic grounds.
Now, the nonprofit is preparing for its largest fundraising effort since its inception.
Mt Carmel Ally will host its inaugural Golf Fore Charity Tournament on Sept. 21 at TPC Southwind in southeast Memphis, bringing golfers, volunteers and community partners together to raise money for its work.
The fundraiser’s goal extends beyond cleaning up an old cemetery. Oldham wants to ensure that the people buried there, and their contributions to Memphis, remain part of the city’s story.
“If you don’t know where you came from, you don’t know where you’re going,” said Oldham.
The first known burial at Mount Carmel dates to 1847, making it one of the oldest cemeteries in Memphis, according to the Black Cemetery Network at the University of South Florida’s Living Heritage Institute.
Its grounds provide a window into several eras of the city’s history. Although Mount Carmel eventually became a primarily Black cemetery, it also served as the final resting place for people of different races and religious traditions. And Union and Confederate soldiers were buried there.
Among those laid to rest at Mount Carmel are some of the most significant figures in Black Memphis history.
They include Tom Lee, the Black river worker who rescued 32 people from the Mississippi River in 1925 when a steamboat capsized – despite being unable to swim, Lucie E. Campbell, an influential educator, composer and musician, Leila Mason, wife of Church of God in Christ founder Bishop Charles Harrison Mason, and educator Rosa Fuller, wife of educator, minister and civic leader T.O. Fuller.
A 31-acre park along the Mississippi River in Memphis is named in honor of Tom Lee.
The graves of notable figures make Mount Carmel more than a burial ground. Collectively, they form a physical record of Black life, faith, education, leadership and community building in Memphis.
But decades of neglect have placed the preservation and dissemination of that history at risk.
Overgrown weeds, downed trees, broken and overturned headstones and deteriorating roads have transformed portions of the cemetery into a forsaken and eerie maze. Lost or incomplete burial records have created another challenge, making it more difficult to identify some of those resting there.
Since 2023, the nonprofit’s volunteers have organized community cleanups, secured a Tennessee State Historical Marker and developed relationships with organizations including Memphis City Beautiful, Memphis Parks Services, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, along with the Black Cemetery Network.
Still, the restoration envisioned by Oldham and Mt Carmel Ally is extensive.
Plans include landscaping and brush removal, tree care, architectural improvements and the use of ground penetrating technology, which relies on high-frequency radio waves to help locate burial sites. The organization also hopes to digitally map graves and preserve cemetery records, creating a more complete picture of who is buried at Mount Carmel.
The project remains ongoing, as the organization acknowledges that restoring a cemetery with nearly two centuries of history will take time.
But progress is also measured by something less tangible: recognition.
Bringing awareness to Mount Carmel could attract people interested in historic preservation while helping Memphians understand what could be lost if these sites are allowed to decay and disappear.
Mt Carmel Ally ultimately sees Mount Carmel Cemetery as a living classroom where preservation and education intersect. Rather than treating the cemetery as a tourist attraction, Oldham wants visitors, particularly young people, to experience it as a sacred place of communal memory.
For Oldham, a monument should be something that makes a visitor reflect and want to learn more about the person it memorializes. That means future plans include field trips and virtual interactive stations that could allow students to explore Memphis history, genealogy, archaeology, and the artistry and symbolism found in historic monuments.
Oldham said he hopes those experiences foster “pride and truth in and of their ancestry.”
The nonprofit’s educational mission reflects a growing recognition that historic Black cemeteries can preserve stories that may be missing from traditional classrooms, archives and history books. Every identified grave can become an entry point into a family, neighborhood, institution or movement that helped build Memphis.
And the Golf Fore Charity Tournament in late September represents a new phase of the nonprofit’s work.
After discussions among board members, committee members and volunteers, Oldham said the group determined a golf tournament offered the best opportunity to combine fundraising, community participation and greater public awareness.
Approximately 100 golfers and 30 volunteers are expected to participate in the golf tournament to meet a fundraising goal of $30,000.
Businesses and community organizations can participate through sponsorship opportunities ranging from individual hole sponsorships to title sponsorships. The deadline for sponsorship commitments is Aug. 21.
For Oldham, however, success will not be measured solely by how much money is raised. He hopes the tournament achieves the organization’s goals for participation and fundraising while generating positive attention that can help move the restoration effort forward, long after the final putt drops.
Mt Carmel Ally also wants more Memphians to participate in volunteer events and fundraisers, share Mount Carmel’s history with their neighbors and encourage professional, civic and governmental organizations to become involved, which is especially important for descendants of those buried at Mount Carmel.
Oldham described his role in the preservation effort as that of “a concerned descendant of a legacy that needs to be remembered in a dignified manner.”
And when asked what he hopes people understand after learning about the effort to save Mount Carmel, Oldham’s answer was simple:
“Some people do care enough to do something,” he said.
Every cleared pathway, restored headstone, identified grave or preserved record represents another piece of Memphis history rescued from obscurity. And for a cemetery that has witnessed nearly 180 years of the city’s history, saving the grounds also means saving the stories buried within.
The inaugural Golf Fore Charity Tournament will be held Sept. 21 at TPC Southwind in Memphis. For sponsorship information, contact Mt Carmel Ally at MtCarmelAlly@gmail.com, mtcarmelally.org or (901) 219-6718.
