Summers County possesses a rich and long history, and historians hope to preserve as much of the history as they can. Some landmarks are cemeteries, where every headstone or marker opens a chapter of a story, linking families back to the first mountaineer settlers along the New River Valley.
Last year on Martin Luther King Day, which was designated as a day of service, a group of volunteers met to clean-up Hinton’s Lincoln School.
Chapter One
It was during the Lincoln School clean-up that a couple of passionate and civic-minded women began talking about projects they could consider for the near future. Hinton Area Foundation’s Myra Hogan told AmeriCorps volunteer, Candice Lee Helms, she had a project she wanted to tackle — Esquire Cemetery. The two then met with Juanita McCray. Helms said the more she learned about the cemetery the more interested she became. So, what began a full year ago is now well on its way to making an unmistakable difference for the cemetery.
The project was delayed when COVID-19 abruptly disrupted the lives of Americans everywhere, and the project landed on Helm’s lap. Helms embraced the Esquire Clean Up project, in large part, because it aligned with the mission of her role in AmeriCorps.
Chapter Two
Efforts began to reclaim the grounds of Esquire Cemetery. It was an ambitious job. Years of overgrowth had to be cut, cleared, hauled off or burned, and burial sites located, identified and raked. As Helms took on the position as project coordinator, she set a date for the volunteers’ work to begin. She felt it best that the work start late in the year when threats of poison ivy and snakes were not so great.
The first turn out for the Memorial clean-up of the cemetery attracted some great volunteers, including those with ties to this hidden hallowed ground just 3 miles from town, Helms said. It was then that historians and those with ties to the cemetery reached out to her.
Chapter Three
Word started getting out about the project. Harold Thomas Johnson caught wind of what she was doing and reached out to help.
“I recently buried my mother here,” Johnson said.
Holding back tears as he kneeled to share her burial place. Johnson recalled childhood memories of the time he spent with his mother, relatives, kids, and older friends and neighbors taking care of and maintaining the cemetery.
“I promised her I would continue to maintain and care for it,” Johnson said.
Helms was happy to have someone with such a deep connection to the cemetery, and Johnson helped bring others into the project, among them local historian Robin Crawford.
“Robin is full of history and I’m really glad he and I can work more closely. In the past, Crawford has done things like inventory the stones and is familiar with a lot of pertinent information. Historically speaking, Esquire Cemetery has long been known as a black cemetery,” said Helms. “I have the deeds. It seems to me the city of Hinton owns it, but I am not 100% certain. The last deed is from 1892 and it indicated it was deeded to the ‘trustees of the town of Hinton.’”
“Meeting at the Lincoln School Memorial clean up on Martin Luther King Day last spring opened my eyes to things I had not been exposed to before. Myra Hogan shared with me that she had noticed Hinton’s black community appeared to have been oppressed. She wanted to help change that,” Helms said.
Chapter Four
“I didn’t grow up in the ’60s and didn’t come from an environment open to racism. Now, as I learn more about segregation, as evidenced in the Esquire Cemetery, I admit it is depressing. I learned much from Juanita McCray about integration. As she spoke it all made sense. Integration was not welcoming and it certainly wasn’t glamorous. It was not as great going through it as the outcome is made out to be. From McCray, I learned it was very hard going from a school with teachers who were like family, to being treated like outcasts with nobody concerned about your well-being, much less your education,” Helms said.
Helms went on to share what she had gained insight into, “the school community was broken. To hear how it affected her opened my mind to feel what it was like during those times. That was the defining moment for me. I knew I was going to organize the cleanup and I began recruiting volunteers for an event in December. Jim and Cheryl Flanagan wanted to help any way they could. I find myself thankful The Esquire Cemetery led me on a journey down roads I have never been before. Although the roads have been overwhelming, nothing compares to what almost every person buried in the cemetery endured during their lives.”
Chapter Five
“It is time to bring back memories and try to make right by saving it from again falling into shambles,” Helms continued. “My AmeriCorps membership allows me to build a stronger bond to the cemetery and a path to ensure its more beautiful future. The project is strengthening a deep sense of community and is something the entire community can support. The people buried here paved the way for so many individuals of all races, there are Spanish American War veterans, Vietnam veterans, World War I and II veterans, and slaves with no recorded birth dates. My hope is to have it included in the National Historic Registry, inventory headstones, resurvey the property and protect it. Beautification of the grounds with little bridges, a fence or a pergola or gazebo. All these projects could be funded through grants.”
Helms added, “I want to write those grants. The cemetery could be included in African American Heritage tours.”
The Esquire Cemetery features headstones from families like the Bakers, Crawfords, Galloways and Mrs. Gibbs. Resting alongside them are grown children, Donna, Kathy, Doug, Paula and Tamara, the grandparents, aunts, uncle, and mother of Katana Mullens.
Former Lady Bobcat Katana Mullens graduated from Bluefield College with a BA degree in exercise sports science but pursued a career working with children as program coordinator for the Wade Center, youth development director for the City of Bluefield Parks and Recreation Department, and presently resides in Columbus, Ohio, and, as an educator, is assistant director for KinderCare Education — full-time educator by day and artist by night.
“My artwork has allowed me to share a special part of my life with the world, a piece of my life that releases bondage and welcomes healing. As I create, I am inspired through faith and God’s promises. Art has allowed me to share a special part of my life with the world, a piece of my life that releases bondage and welcomes healing. Many areas of my life have been fraught with heartbreak, like losing my grandparents, my mom, dad, aunts and uncles, most of whom buried in Esquire Cemetery,” Mullens said.
Katana recollects growing up in Hinton “with tremendous love and support from the community and people I love. Unfortunately, also enduring much heartbreak around the uneasy feeling of being a black kid in a predominantly white community. After leaving home and experiencing life through a more diverse lens, I grew to love my skin. I grew to love who I am as an individual. I began to tap into the parts of me that had not been ignited. I’ve found a love for art.”
“My uncle, who raised me most of my teenage life, was an artist and his friends were artists. He was also an activist,” Mullens continued. “While we were two different shades of skin, he educated me on what I may have to endure as an African American. He revealed to me the cruel ways of the world and ways to overcome them. He loved me and assured me daily that I was special, intelligent, fierce, courageous, and kind. He challenged me to never change and to never forget where and what I come from. He told me to always be bold and courageous, but to always choose kindness.”
At times, she said, her lessons from her uncle sounded all too familiar, and she shared one of her favorite MLK Jr. quotes: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
Now more than ever before, Mullens continued, “I think of MLK, about the doors he opened and paths he laid working for social, economic, and racial justice; lighting the flame of promoting good among all of us, and the inner voice to do what is right.”
She shared another relevant MLK quote she holds near and dear, “The time is always right to do what is right.”
Although she has felt the hurt of facing challenging times of racial inequality, not feeling worthy, and unending glass ceilings, “I have been blessed to enjoy opportunities I never would have had without decades of civil rights activists, non-violent civil rights icons, ancestors, friends, and family. I thank God for every person who loved me for me, stood in my corner without judgment, and helped me to new heights.”
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.