Honor Thy Roots Cemetery Preservation Inc.

10/17/2026

🚨 OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT | HONOR THY ROOTS

Effective immediately, Honor Thy Roots Cemetery Preservation Inc. is officially withdrawing from the O’Neal A.M.E. Church and Cemetery preservation effort in Hampton, Georgia.

We entered this effort demanding transparency, accountability, and protection for sacred burial grounds.

Unfortunately, the direction of this matter no longer aligns with our organization’s mission, values, or expectations of transparency.

We will not be associated with decisions, meetings, or agreements made without our knowledge or involvement.

Our withdrawal does not erase the work we have done, the concerns we have raised, or our commitment to protecting the ancestors.

We are stepping away from this situation, NOT our purpose.

The preservation work continues. 🌿

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10/17/2026

Honor Thy Roots Cemetery Preservation, Inc. is honored to participate in the 2026 Black Land Working Group Gathering on Saturday, October 17!

Join us for a powerful day of conversations surrounding Black land preservation, historic African American burial grounds, data center development, ancestral history, and descendant advocacy.

🎤 Featured Speakers & Participants:

* Shawndrea Gay — Founder, Honor Thy Roots Cemetery Preservation, Inc.
* Ms. Donna Hann — Family Research Historian
* Stephanie Franklin — Black Cemetery Network
* The New Vanguard — Milledgeville, GA
* Students Uplifting Ancestral Spaces
* Lehman College students
* Sa’Real McRae — Poetry Reading

📅 October 17, 2026 | 10 AM–4 PM

📍 Rick McDevitt Youth Center
1040 Crew St. SW, Atlanta, GA 30315

🎤 Honor Thy Roots speaks at 2 PM!

Our ancestors’ resting places are not vacant land, and their history will not be erased. We are coming together to protect what generations before us left behind. ✊🏾

🔗 Register: tinyurl.com/BLWG2026

09/24/2026

At Hawthorne Elementary School in Hampton, Georgia — on the Clayton County side — graves sit between the school and a subdivision, with burial areas extending toward residents’ backyards.

Community members have raised concerns about this burial ground for years and continue seeking answers, recognition, and protection.

This is not an isolated incident. Historic burial grounds across Georgia continue to need attention, documentation, and preservation.

These graves deserve acknowledgment, protection, and respect. Honor Thy Roots is showing up and helping bring these stories into the light. 🪦✊🏾

09/22/2026

This evening come out & support our local Georgia Anthropologist & Archaeologist at Georgia State University as they fight to help preserve sacred spaces throughout Georgia…

You can also join this discussion on Zoom:

https://gsu-edu.zoom.us/j/83166777497?pwd=6M3WyeWR1aw5IFYiHOaMH53JTINLI6.1

Password: SEC106

09/21/2026

Yesterday marked a historic moment at the O’Neal A.M.E. Church & Cemetery — for the first time, an archaeologist stepped foot on this sacred ground.

Even when you don’t see us posting, please know we are still working nonstop behind the scenes to preserve, protect, and document these spaces.

The work has never stopped. 🖤

09/20/2026

Thanks for stopping by today & always covering our mission WSB-TV 🖤🫱🏼‍🫲🏽

Volunteers worked to clean up a long-forgotten cemetery where as many as 2,000 people may be buried.

09/11/2026

On Sunday September 20th, 2026 Honor Thy Roots is heading back into the Weems Slave Cemetery to continue the work our ancestors have been waiting generations for somebody to do.

This isn’t just a cleanup. This is reclamation. This is remembrance. This is us refusing to let our people be erased.

Come join us. Come as you are. Bring your hands, bring your heart, and bring your love for the ancestors.

Every helping hand makes a difference. Let’s keep doing this work together.

https://form.jotform.com/261715839819067

09/11/2026

We know we’ve been a little quiet on social media, but Honor Thy Roots is still moving. A lot has been happening behind the scenes, and sometimes we have to get quiet and put our energy where it’s needed most.

And truthfully, this load gets heavy sometimes. Fighting to protect our ancestors, their resting places, and our history takes a lot out of us — but we keep pushing because this work is bigger than us.

To everybody who has prayed, donated, volunteered, shared our story, checked on us, or simply stood with us — thank you. We feel the love. 🖤

08/26/2026

Generations of healers, protectors, and strong women from Henry County, Georgia.

These are my grandmothers — 3 Generations of women who prayed, healed, protected, endured, survived, and carried our bloodline forward. Their healing hands, wisdom, strength, and spirit traveled through generations.

Before there was Honor Thy Roots, there were women like these. Healers. Mothers. Protectors. Ancestors. Women whose lives became history and whose strength became our inheritance.

I don’t stand alone. I stand on generations of women and healers.

Henry County soil holds more than history — it holds our people, our stories, our blood, and our legacy.

The roots run deep.
The women run strong.
The healers are still present. And the blood remembers. 🕯️🌿

Generations of healers, protectors, and strong women from Henry County, Georgia.

These are my grandmothers — 3 Generations of women who prayed, healed, protected, endured, survived, and carried our bloodline forward. Their healing hands, wisdom, strength, and spirit traveled through generations.

Before there was Honor Thy Roots, there were women like these. Healers. Mothers. Protectors. Ancestors. Women whose lives became history and whose strength became our inheritance.

I don’t stand alone. I stand on generations of women and healers.

Henry County soil holds more than history — it holds our people, our stories, our blood, and our legacy.

The roots run deep.
The women run strong.
The healers are still present. And the blood remembers. ��