"I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids--and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me."

- Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man"

Slave Cemetery at Mount Vernon

Entry to the Mount Vernon Slave Cemetery Brick archway leading into the Mount Vernon Slave Cemetery. -	Mount Vernon Slave Cemetery View This is the entryway to the slave cemetery and the monument for the enslaved at Mount Vernon. (Credit Gum Springs Museum, Ron Chase Curator). -	Entry Sign to the Burial Ground Photo of the entry sign at the Mount Vernon Slave Cemetery 2022. (Photo credit Mark Hollis for WFL). -	Wreath for West A wreath dedicated to West Ford at the slave cemetery at Mount Vernon. From LABH collection. -
Granite Marker at Mount Vernon Photo of the wording on the stone monument dedicated to those enslaved and buried at Mount Vernon slave cemetery. The Stone reads: "In memory of the... -	Judy and LInda at Mount Vernon Slave Cemetery Cousins Dr. Judy Saunders Burton and Linda Allen Hollis at the Mount Vernon Slave Cemetery, 2000. -	Slave Cemetery Burial Records, page 1 This page lists the names and other information about the Mount Vernon burial grounds of the enslaved servants. The Ford family's oral history states that West Ford was placed in the old... -	Slave Cemetery Burial Records, page 2 This page of burial records comes from 1929 minutes p. 46 about the graveyard which was used by General Washington for his enslaved at Mount Vernon. It delves into how the markers were worn and... -
Slave Cemetery Burial Records, page 3 Entry from Mount Vernon records on slave burials that George Ford visited the plantation in 1929 when two workers were placing the memorial tablet. The workers stated that Ford told them... -	Slave Cemetery Burial Records, page 4 This is a continuing entry from page 3. It states that George Ford told the two workers at the slave cemetery where the tablet was laid that the burying ground used to have a rail fence around... -	Plaque at Mount Vernon Cemetery, West Ford This is a photo of a plaque at the Mount Vernon slave cemetery which reads: West Ford (1784-1863), a fomeraly enslaved dman who was hired by the Washington family in the 19th century, is... -	Ford Descendants at Mount Vernon Slave Cemetery Family visiting the Mount Vernon Slave Cemetery in 2022. From left to right: Mark Hollis, Linda Allen Hollis, Joy Allen Stone, Angela Allen Henry, and Homer Henry. -
Private Libations This photo shows former Mount Vernon employee, Brenda Parker, providing private libations for the Ford family ancestors buried in the Mount Vernon Slave Cemetery: Jenny (grandmother of West... -	Private Wreath Laying The Ford descendants laying a wreath at the base of the monument at the Mount Vernon Slave Cemetery. (Photo credit Mark Hollis for WFL). -	Family and Friends at Mount Vernon Cemetery Photo shows family and friends at the Mount Vernon Cemetery in October 2021. -	Sisters Paying Homage Sisters and West Ford descendants Linda Allen Hollis and Angela Allen Henry placing flower seeds... -
Slave Cemetery Survey Project Mount Vernon archaeology department has a multi-year Slave Cemetery Survey Project. This is a photo of some of their volunteers 2021. (Photo credit Mark Hollis for WFL). -	Slave Cemetery Strings line the graves of the once enslaved at Mount Vernon. -	Starkness of the Mount Vernon Burial Site The Mount Vernon Slave Cemetery has not changed in the over 30 years of Linda Allen Hollis visiting it. WHEN will they honor those who are buried there and renovate it? (Photo... -	Ford Descendant at Mount Vernon Slave Cemetery Joy Allen Stone visiting the Mount Vernon Slave Cemetery in 2021. (Photo Credit Mark Hollis for WFL). -