D.C. Council member Anita Bonds (right), shown here with Lisa Fager, executive director of the Black Georgetown Foundation, introduced a D.C. Council resolution honoring Mount Zion-Female Union Band Society Cemetery in early February. Credit: Shevry Lassiter/The Washington Informer

This post was originally published on The Washington Informer

By Sam P.K. Collins

Over the past few decades, as Georgetown grew in prominence as one of the District’s top tourist locations, the Mount Zion-Female Union Band Society Cemetery served as a reminder of the neighborhood’s rich African American history. 

That’s due, in part, to preservationists who’ve fought tooth and nail to memorialize Mount Zion-Female Union Band Society Cemetery. Such efforts have manifested in the District government’s infusion of $1.6 million for a nearby storm drainage system.

Most recently, it also inspired the D.C. Council’s commemoration of the Mount Zion-Female Union Band Society Cemetery’s 215th anniversary with the passage of a ceremonial resolution. That resolution, approved by the entire council on Feb. 6, recognizes the cemetery’s national significance as a sacred site.

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