Why Evergreen Cemetery Matters by Dr. George J. Sanchez

There are over 300,000 souls buried at Evergreen Cemetery including individuals of all ages, creeds, races and genders from hundreds of callings and thousands of places. Alongside this wide set of experiences, within the walls of Evergreen Cemetery are those who made recognizable contributions to the development of Los Angeles, like Lankershim, Ralphs, Van Nuys, and Workman. There are significant African Americans here, such as actor Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, publisher and politician Charlotta Amanda Bass, activist and nurse Bridget Biddy Mason, and Sam Haskins, the first documented African American firefighter killed in the line of duty in 1895. While tolerated since its inception, Chinese individuals at Evergreen are treated with repeated discrimination and neglect, from being buried in the “Potter’s Field” section of the cemetery despite paying a fee, to the selling of inhabited cemetery land for additional burials and the erasing of graves. Recently, the discovery of headstones of these same burial sites nearly 50 years later, used as decorations on a walkway towards the Los Angeles County Crematorium on the property of Evergreen Cemetery, shows the coming together of a community. Despite the various assaults the Chinese American community endures at Evergreen and in Los Angeles’ broader history, their ancestors continue to honor their memories through concerted efforts, from the creation of an ancestral shrine in 1888, to more recent efforts by the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California to recognize the cemetery’s sacred space.

For many, the importance of Evergreen Cemetery in Boyle Heights is obvious. As the city’s oldest nondenominational burial ground, it represents much of the social history of Los Angeles. And while Evergreen has been used in different television and films to represent a variety of moods and places, physically experiencing the cemetery is as revealing as any venerated archive or library. The place’s very presence in Los Angeles reflects change over time in the city. War heroes abound in Evergreen Cemetery, from the Monument to the 442nd—the Nissei battalion and most decorated unit in military history—to the tall marker for former Los Angeles City Attorney, District Attorney and Mayor Cameron Thom—he served as a Major in the Confederate Army. There are more recent veterans buried here too. In 1877 when Evergreen was established, cemeteries were important places for public rituals like parades or grave decorating on specific dates to remember veterans. Contemporary uses of the cemetery vary; which parts fall into neglect and which sections remain verdant and tended are determined by those who are alive to remember.

While much of the city’s Catholic community is buried at Calvary Cemetery and Jewish individuals are at Home of Peace Cemetery a few blocks away, Evergreen Cemetery displays different religious practices through who is here and how they are buried. The accepted practices of different groups—whether in celebrating annual dates of mourning such as Day of the Dead (El dia del los Muertos) or the Chinese tradition of honoring one’s ancestor’s on the lunar day called Ching Ming—are visible throughout the year in offerings of food, altars to saints and the dead, and in visits by the living. Markers within Evergreen bear out religious affinities, and the markings which etch a headstone may indicate a fraternal or religious organization. Absence of a headstone is also revealing. For example, when Irwin Armstrong committed suicide in 1905 and was buried here, his father asked all funeral attendees to take a vow of secrecy and have the grave remain unmarked.

This site is an invitation for you to begin the exploration of Evergreen Cemetery and, in so doing, learn about Los Angeles history in a dynamic and interdisciplinary fashion. This site is also an introduction to the place; we encourage you to go further and make a deeper study of Evergreen Cemetery.