science

Lebanon Cemetery

Lebanon Cemetery is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Lebanon Cemetery rather than just read about it. In short: Lebanon Cemetery was an African-American cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, established in 1849. It was one of only two private African-American cemeteries in Philadelphia at the time.

Key takeaways

Lebanon Cemetery belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Lebanon Cemetery to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Lebanon Cemetery from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Lebanon Cemetery was an African-American cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, established in 1849. It was one of only two private African-American cemeteries in Philadelphia at the time. Lebanon Cemetery was condemned in 1899. The bodies were reinterred in 1902 to Eden Cemetery in Collingdale, Pennsylvania, and the cemetery was closed in 1903. The former location of the cemetery is now the street corner of 19th Street and Snyder Avenue in South Philadelphia.

History Lebanon Cemetery was chartered on January 24, 1849 by Jacob C. White on the Passyunk Road near present-day Nineteenth Street and Snyder Avenue in South Philadelphia. It was a nonsectarian cemetery designated for African Americans since they were excluded from most of the new rural cemeteries. The cemetery was a part of the United States National Cemetery System during the American Civil War with a leased lot within the cemetery for soldiers that died in nearby hospitals. 339 African-American veterans of the U.S. Civil War were buried in a reserved section of Lebanon Cemetery and were reinterred to the Philadelphia National Cemetery in 1885. In the early 1870s, Henry Jones, an affluent African-American man who worked as a caterer, purchased a lot for burial in Mount Moriah Cemetery in Philadelphia. After his death in 1875, cemetery authorities refused to bury him based on his race. A lawsuit was filed against the Mount Moriah Cemetery Association and in 1876 the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that Jones had the right to be buried in the cemetery. During the court case, Jones' body was stored at a burial vault at Lebanon Cemetery. His family had planned to bury him at Lebanon Cemetery but he may have been buried at the Church of St. James the Less in Philadelphia instead. In 1882, a Philadelphia Press newspaper story sparked a sensational trial after a journalist caught body snatchers from the Jefferson Medical College stealing corpses for use as cadavers by medical students. Four grave robbers, including the cemetery supervisor, were arrested and sentenced to Moyamensing Prison for stealing bodies and providing them to Jefferson Medical College at the rate of $15 a body. After the arrests, it was determined that the body snatching had been going on for nine years and several hundred corpses had been sold to Jefferson Medical College. The reports of bodysnatching caused an uproar in the African-American community in Philadelphia. The renowned surgeon and Jefferson Medical College anatomy professor, William S. Forbes, was arrested for his role in the grave robbery but was acquitted. Forbes helped write the 1867 Pennsylvania Law named the "Anatomy Act" which called for hospitals, prisons and mental health wards to provide the bodies of those that had no family or funds for burial to medical schools for anatomical research. Due in part to the Lebanon Cemetery grave robbery scandal, the Pennsylvania Anatomy Act of 1883 was passed which provided for legal means by which medical colleges could obtain cadavers without having to buy them from grave robbers.

By 1889, the cemetery was overcrowded and in disrepair. Expansion of the city began to erode the size of the cemetery. By 1900, Lebanon Cemetery had shrunk from the original 11 acres down to 6 with over 17,000 corpses. In 1899, the city condemned the cemetery and in 1902 relocated the bodies to Eden Cemetery in Collingdale, Pennsylvania. Lebanon Cemetery was closed in 1903.

Notable interments Aaron Anderson (1811-1886), Landsman USS Wyandank, US Civil War Congressional Medal of Honor recipient for heroic actions on Mattox Creek, VA, 17 MAR 1865. John C. Bowers (1811–1873), entrepreneur, organist and abolitionist Octavius Valentine Catto (1839–1871), civil rights leader and baseball pioneer Rachel Cliff (1805–1885), delegate to the 1855 Colored Convention Emilie Davis (1839–1889), writer Nathaniel W. Depee (1812–1868), activist and abolitionist Absalom Jones (1746–1818), abolitionist and clergyman, buried at the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Reinterred in 1887 to Lebanon Cemetery when the church was demolished. Grace A. Mapps (c. 1835–1897), educator, administrator and poet

References Citations

Sources

Keels, Thomas H. (2003). Philadelphia Graveyards & Cemeteries. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-1229-X.

External links The Library Company of Philadelphia – Chapel of the Lebanon Cemetery Lithograph by G. Dubois

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lebanon Cemetery

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lebanon Cemetery claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lebanon Cemetery before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lebanon Cemetery ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lebanon Cemetery

In research: Lebanon Cemetery appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Lebanon Cemetery in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Lebanon Cemetery is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1849 establishments in Pennsylvania, African-American cemeteries in Pennsylvania, African-American history in Philadelphia, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lebanon Cemetery outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Lebanon Cemetery in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Lebanon Cemetery means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Lebanon Cemetery out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lebanon Cemetery in simple terms?

Lebanon Cemetery was an African-American cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, established in 1849. It was one of only two private African-American cemeteries in Philadelphia at the time.

Why does Lebanon Cemetery matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lebanon Cemetery?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lebanon Cemetery.