Woodlawn Cemetery Perpetual Care Association

     Woodlawn Cemetery remained the preeminent cemetery for the city's African Americans into the 1950s. Lacking a perpetual care trust, the cemetery fell into disrepair.  The Woodlawn Cemetery Association passed into the control of local resident Louis H. Bell and his son Richard Bell in 1961. They planned to restore the cemetery by advertising its historic nature and importance to the African American community, and generate income for the restoration. Lacking the funds to fully explore the cemetery, and determine which spaces remained free, the Bells abandoned their restoration efforts and the cemetery fell further into disrepair. 

     In 1967, angry lot holders and their heirs decided to seize control of Woodlawn Cemetery. The group was led by lot holder Willard Wimp; his son-in-law, attorney Emanuel Lipscomb; lot holder Bruce O. Hawkins; and attorney Harry B. Thornton. They incorporated the Woodlawn Cemetery Perpetual Care Association, and sued the Bells. After a five-year legal battle, during which the cemetery association was declared bankrupt and the cemetery ruled to be abandoned, Louis Bell agreed to turn Woodlawn over to the Woodlawn Cemetery Perpetual Care Association in 1972. 

      With little funds and relying primarily on volunteer help, the Woodlawn Cemetery Perpetual Care Association has worked for decades to restore Woodlawn Cemetery. 

The Woodlawn Cemetery Perpetual Care Association is a 501c (3) organization.

Make checks/money orders payable to: 

The Woodlawn Cemetery Perpetual Care Association 

c/o Mr. Leander Moore, President 

P.O. Box 91422

Washington DC 20090