Sections 16 and 17 at the Alta Vista Cemetery in Gainesville have headstones with dates that go back almost 200 years, well before the Civil War ripped the nation apart. On a sunny day, light reflects from more than 1,100 silver discs placed on the ground throughout the graveyard at sections 16 and 17. The little silver markers represent the unmarked graves of hundreds of African-Americans buried at the back of the cemetery.
Welcome back: Memorial planned for unmarked black graves
Gainesville seeks to make things right for nearly 1,200 African-Americans buried at Alta Vista