Georgetown, one of present-day Washington's most expensive neighborhoods, used to be a hub of Black life in the US capital.
Little remains of this history since gentrification began in the 1930s, but remnants of its African American roots can be found in cemeteries that have suffered from decades of disrepair.
The Black Georgetown Foundation is working to preserve the memories of the estimated eight-to-ten thousand people buried in two cemeteries: of Mount Zion Church, one of the oldest Black churches in the city, and the Female Union Band Society, founded in 1802 and 1842, respectively.
"We have a spiritual obligation to uplift and preserve the memories of those who are buried here,” said the foundation president, Neville Waters, whose great-grandfather Charles Turner -- freed from slavery when he was six years old -- is among those interred there.
The site is owned by a trust and the Mount Zion United Methodist Church, which is still active to this day.
