Side A: United Colored American Cemetery is among the earliest in situ African American cemeteries in Hamilton County. The 11.6 acres in Madisonville were purchased by the United Colored American Association (UCAA) after the legislated closure of their earlier Avondale cemetery. Many Avondale burials and headstones were moved prior to the new cemetery’s dedication on May 30, 1883. Designed by Adolph Strauch, United Colored American Cemetery features the looping roads and picturesque elements typical of his designs at Spring Grove and Eden Park. After the dissolution of the UCAA, Cincinnati mayor Charles P. Taft asked Union Baptist Church to take ownership and maintenance of the cemetery. Union Baptist assumed ownership in 1968 and burials continued until 2019. United Colored American Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2022.
Side B: The United Colored American Cemetery is the resting place of Underground Railroad leaders as well as writers, politicians, businesspeople, neighborhood activists, artists, Civil Rights leaders, and many military veterans including at least 95 Civil War veterans with approximately 44 who served in Cincinnati’s Black Brigade. An estimated four thousand people are interred in the cemetery yet only a quarter of the headstones remain. Among notable interments are: William H. Beckley (1817-1880), Underground Railroad leader and Levi Coffin collaborator; Julius Hawkins (1829-1882), Captain of the Attucks Blues military company in 1855; Jennie Jackson DeHart (1855-1910), a founding member of Fisk Jubilee Singers; Phoebe Boots Allen (1856-1926), temperance crusader and pioneering social worker; Frank A. B. Hall (1870-1934), first Black member of Cincinnati City Council; and, Horace Sudduth (1898-1957), realtor and owner of Manse Hotel.
Sponsors: William G. Pomeroy Foundation; Union Baptist Church & City of Cincinnati, Madisonville Community Council, Ohio History Connection
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