MINEOLA, Texas — The Mineola community began the process Wednesday morning to desegregate a local cemetery.
"Just to see history being made like we've been trying to fight for this for years so I'm just happy to be a part of this history," Mineola resident LeTrecia James said.
For as long as many community members can remember, a fence has divided the Cedars Memorial Gardens formerly the Mineola City Cemetery from the "White" and "black" side.
"To see that first link go down," Demethruis Boyd, pastor at St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church, said. "My heart is just so excited about this."
Boyd and his church have been the caretakers of the back portion of the cemetery for the last decade when he moved to Mineola in 2007.
At the time, he worked with another local pastor to have an easement put into place so the back cemetery was more accessible.
"First time I came here in 2007 it definitely was strategically two cemeteries," Boyd recalled.
The fence was brought to attention again about two weeks ago after a funeral service. Phone calls to the Mineola city manager sparked a fire in the community and the City, Pastor Boyd, and board president of the Cedars Memorial Gardens all decided it was time to bring it down.
"Well to see it done in such a fast fashion, it is amazing," Boyd said. "Then to watch how, when everybody gets on board with the same part, we can accomplish things faster than history will say that we can."
It will take two to three days to remove the fence, but that’s not all Boyd says the community is looking to do.
"We have a proposal now to bring the entirety of cemetery under one entity, one board, one group," he said. "We'd never have to worry about a fence dividing us ever again. And possibly rename it to a community cemetery which speaks to its open to all, everybody in the community is able to be buried here."
As research was done into the land, Dana Grosskopf, a Mineola resident, says not a lot was discovered, but they did find out some things.
"We know that there were no blacks buried on this side of the fence,” she said.
There will be a community meeting at 6 p.m. Friday at the St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church to discuss race relations and community concerns in the City of Mineola. People are invited to attend or watch a Facebook live stream of the event on the church’s FB page.