Austinites and researchers to restore Mexican-American cemeteries

By Delilah Alvarado

(AUSTIN, Texas) In between private properties in Southeast Austin off Hoeke Lane lays a cemetery where several Mexican-American residents are buried.

The area goes by different names: Montopolis Cemetery and San José II. But the headstones are easy to miss, and the area is overgrown with weeds and shrubs, according to KUT.

There's not much information on the cemetery which researchers and members of the community want to change.

Diana Hernandez is the lead researcher for (Re)claiming Memories, a research group from UT Austin that aims to restore and preserve histories in communities of color. So far, she and the team have been seeking out death certificates and family members of the deceased.

But to fully understand San José II, you have to understand San José I or Cementerio San José, a Mexican and Mexican-American cemetery built in 1919. No one owns the property, but community members help to keep up with it. It was founded by the Union Fraternal Mexicana during segregation.

“Mexicans weren’t necessarily allowed to be buried in white cemeteries,” Hernandez said. “In some cases I've seen where there's a white cemetery, and then right next to it is the Mexican section or the Black section. … In this case, it was just a completely different cemetery.”

The land was donated by an African-American woman named Lizzie Henry.

“She just had it in her heart to give the land to help establish the Mexican cemetery,” Hernandez said. “To me, that was very amazing because it shows the history of solidarity between the Black and brown community, which is something that isn’t really highlighted.”

San José II was built after Cementerio San José became full.

Based on research so far, both cemeteries have more than 350 burials combined, but not every burial has a gravestone. Many of the people buried died during epidemics like pneumonia and influenza, which made some burials placed on top of each other.

“Because there's no documentation for the number of layers for the people that were being buried in these mass graves, we're just never going to know. There's going to be layers of people that we're never going to be able to identify," Hernandez said.

Earlier this year (Re)claiming Memories and members of the community hosted a cleanup for San José and have also been reaching out to city and county leaders asking for resources to help keep up with the cemeteries' maintenance. But San José II is the most overgrown and harder to upkeep. The area has also been littered by passing people.

The group has more plans for the cemeteries as well. They hope to eventually have a database with information on those buried and are putting together an exhibit for the Mexic-Arte Museum in September.

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