Researchers have identified the graves of more than 1,000 children across 29 states as part of an ongoing effort to uncover the hidden history of juvenile detention facilities and reform schools nationwide. The Forgotten Children Initiative, led by Georgetown University’s Center for Youth Justice, has been working since February to document burial sites and connect with surviving family members across 40 institutions. The largest burial site discovered so far is located in the woods across the street from the Cheltenham Youth Detention Center in Maryland, formerly known as the House of Reformation and Instruction for Colored Children. More than 230 Black boys are buried at the site, many marked only by small headstones or unnamed gray cinder blocks. Established in 1870, the Cheltenham facility was the first juvenile detention center for Black children in the American South, created to keep youth out of adult prisons. Historical records show that children as young as five years old were incarcerated for criminal offenses as well as non-criminal reasons, including poverty, homelessness, or being orphaned. Inmates were subjected to forced labor without adequate food, disciplined with severe physical punishment, and leased to neighboring farms or forced to work in hazardous conditions. Marc Schindler, a research professor at Georgetown University who leads the initiative, noted that the graves are often situated near juvenile facilities that remain operational. As these burial sites come to light, lawmakers across the country are pursuing various forms of restitution and remembrance. In Florida, lawmakers established a $20 million fund for survivors of a notorious reform school, while Arkansas officials honored 21 Black boys who died in a 1959 facility fire. Maryland lawmakers recently created a commission, housed in the state attorney general’s office, to research the children buried in Cheltenham and determine how the state should make amends. State Senator Will Smith emphasized that understanding this history must also inform current practices, pointing to recent legislative changes aimed at reforming how young people are tried in the state’s adult court system. Descendants of those incarcerated at Cheltenham have begun visiting the wooded burial grounds to honor their relatives and ensure their stories are no longer forgotten.
Source: npr.org
