Westview Cemetery

To all of our families, Happy Easter!

The abbey will be open tomorrow, Easter Sunday, 10-2; the ground's gates are open during their normal times, 8-5:30.

Too, please remember: balloons are not allowed in the cemetery. They get loose, get tangled in trees, cause issues with airplanes flying above, etc.

All other Easter arrangements will remain on the grounds for one week after the holiday.

Celebrating Black History Month with Westview Residents!

Every year, Black History Month is celebrated across the United States in February to recognize the contributions and sacrifices of African Americans who helped shape the nation.

The precursor to the month-long celebration started in 1926 as the Negro History Week to coincide with the birthdays of President Abraham Lincoln (Feb. 12) and abolitionist, orator, and author Frederick Douglass (February 14).

In 1976 during the celebration of the United States Bicentennial, President Gerald Ford recognized Black History Month urging Americans to "seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history."

This year, as in years past, Westview would like to list some of the notable Black Americans that reside in the cemetery. (This is not an exhaustive list.)

Too, be sure to sign up on the Atlanta Preservation Center's Website for the upcoming tour of Rest Haven, Westview's historically Black section, during this year's Phoenix Flies celebration on March 25.

Westview Notables:
* Darrow Bronner - Bronner Brothers’ International Beauty Show director, and professional sales/marketing director
* Nathaniel Bronner - Bronner Bros. founder and president
* Roderick Burton, II - rapper, known as "Dolla"
* Lecresia Campbell - gospel singer
* Herman Cain - businessman, politician
* Josephine Cook - Fulton County Superior Court judge
* Howard Creecy, Jr. - pastor, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) president
* Howard Creecy, Sr. - minister, founder of Olivet Church
* Bill (Billy Ray) Ellis - S.O.S. Band founding member
* Vernon Forrest - U.S. Olympic and professional boxer
* Annie (A.D.) Hall - actresses Phylicia Rashad and "Debbie Allen" Nixon's grandmother, union organizer
* Alice J. Hawthorne - Centennial Olympic Games bombing victim
* Andrew Hill, Sr. - Peters Land Company employee, landowner
* Lula Hill - successful dress maker
* Robert Hightower – Georgia’s first African American state trooper, Division Director of Driver Services
* Donald Lee Hollowell - civil rights attorney
* Dr. Louise Thornton Hollowell - professor
* Arthur Leroy Idlett - Atlanta Black Crackers player, school principal
* Duane Jones - actor
* Rev. N. J. Jones- creator of the Colored Men’s Protective Association (CMPA)
* Vivian Jones - one of the first two African American students at the University of Alabama, and its first African American graduate
* James "Chris" Kelly - half of the rap duo Kris Kross
* Evelyn Lowery - civil rights activist, SCLC/WOMEN founder
* Joseph Lowery - minister, civil rights activist, SCLC president, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient
* William Lucas - Atlanta Braves general manager, first African American to hold executive position in MLB
* James “Jim” Mitchell - NFL Atlanta Falcons player
* James Paschal - Paschal's Motor Hotel and Restaurant co-founder
* Robert Paschal - Paschal's Motor Hotel and Restaurant co-founder
* Dr. James Palmer - Civil Rights physician
* Cleo "Clayton" Powell, Sr. - first Black doctor of optometry to join the Georgia Optometric Association, vice president of the Atlanta chapter of the NAACP
* Romae Powell - first African American Georgia state court judge
* Harry V. B. Richardson - theologian, writer, first president of the Interdenominational Theological Center
* Nicolas Rogers - NFL player
* John Shepherd - first registered African American State of Georgia professional engineer
* C.T. Vivian - minister, author, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient
* Horace Ward - first African American federal court judge in Georgia
* J. Lowell Ware - Atlanta Voice editor
* Lottie Watkins - businesswoman, first African American female
licensed real estate broker in Atlanta
* Wendell Phillips Whalum, Sr. - composer, head of music at Morehouse College
* Rico Wade - music producer, hip hop pioneer, and member of Organized Noize

(All photos used for educational purposes)

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