No fence: Barrier separating Black, white cemeteries comes down after decades

MINEOLA, Texas — A 1,280 foot-long fence that once divided Black and white cemeteries in Mineola, Texas, has come down.

Last week, crews started removing the fence that ran along the City Cemetery, which contains the graves of African-Americans, and Cedars Memorial Garden, which is the final resting place of white people of the area.

By Friday the barrier was down, Pastor Demethrius Boyd from St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church, told NBC News.

David Collett, president of Cedars Memorial Garden, called the fence removal “a very emotional moment,” The Associated Press reported.

Boyd told NBC News he had been trying to get the fence removed since 2007.

Now that the fence that physically divided the land is gone, the operators of the cemeteries will work to bring it under one group, the AP reported.

Cox Media Group