Monthly archives: May, 2009

The Lakeport Cemetery Preservation Committee has created a website–Memories of Lakeport African American Memorial. The site was established “to share and carry on our families’ legacy in Lakeport, Arkansas…[from the] perspectives of the descendants of the former enslaved, sharecroppers, tenant farmers, and wageworkers who lived and labored on Lakeport Plantation, Ford Plantation, and Red Leaf Plantation.”

There are three African American cemeteries near the Lakeport Plantation home: Old Lakeport Cemtery, Lakeport Cemetery (Middle of the Field Cemetery or Blackwater Rd Cemetery), and Ford Cemetery (Morning Star Missionary Baptist Cemetery). Old Lakeport and Ford cemeteries date to before Emancipation and Lakeport Cemetery dates to ca 1898. The two pre-Emancipation cemeteries are beleived to have been used by other nearby plantations–Red Leaf and Ford.

Lakeport Cemetery started as a family plot of the Lacy family and soon became a new burial ground for sharecroppers and tenant farmers around Lakeport. The Lakeport Cemetery Preservation Committee spent several days in September 2008 clearing and cleaning the plot. Their efforts resulted with the 2009 Boot Strap Award from the Delta Byways Association.