Black Georgetown Foundation

The Black Georgetown Foundation is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization incorporated in 2005 to jointly manage the preservation and commemoration of the Mt. Zion Church Cemetery and Female Union Band Society Cemetery, active from 1808 to 1950s and historically African American. The two cemeteries share nearly equal parts of 3-acres that sit adjacent to both the historic Dumbarton House (1799) and Oak Hill Cemetery (1849) at 27th and Mill Road NW in Georgetown. Segregation in life often meant segregation in death. The Black Georgetown Foundation was formed to resurrect the wealth of stories, protect historical artifacts, and preserve and restore this American treasure. Additionally, the Foundation is a platform for the creation of a research and programming center that will educate future generations not only surrounding the burial ground but placing it and the interred in their proper historical context over arguably the most important 150-year period of our nation (slavery, the Civil War, the Civil Rights Movement and two World Wars).    We are engaged in a broadly-supported effort to restore the cemetery and create a Memorial Park that has an unprecedented opportunity to rediscover nearly two centuries of lost African American history and to develop a historic memorial park as a sacred space for quiet reflection and respectful commemoration.