Sunday Showcase

Facing East
Directed by Tommy Baker

Sunday, February 11, 12:30 pm  

FREE

Tickets distributed from the Speed Cinema ticket kiosk starting at 12 pm

With over 100,000 documented disturbed burials, the owners and operators of Louisville’s Eastern Cemetery systematically re-used graves for nearly 150 years, taking advantage of families during one of the most difficult times in their lives. Following a 1989 whistleblower and subsequent lawsuits, Eastern sat largely abandoned. For the past decade, the all-volunteer group Friends of Eastern Cemetery has worked to provide the care and upkeep that the burial grounds so desperately needs.

This documentary addresses the history of Eastern and the exploitation of community members. A post-screening panel will discuss work that has been done to address ongoing maintenance of the cemetery. This is complemented by research in UofL Department of Anthropology’s Center for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage (CACHe) to connect those buried at Eastern with their loved ones, so that the deceased might receive the dignity they did not experience from cemetery staff.

With over 100,000 documented disturbed burials, the owners and operators of Louisville’s Eastern Cemetery systematically re-used graves, taking advantage of low-income families during one of the most difficult times in their lives. A majority of those buried there were the loved ones of Black families, poor families, and during a period when cemeteries were segregated. 25 years after the cemetery was left abandoned, the Friends of Eastern Cemetery was formed to provide care and upkeep that the burial grounds so desperately needed.

2019, U.S., DCP, 93 minutes. Recommended for 15+.

Co-sponsored by the UofL Center for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, the Friends of Eastern Cemetery, and the UofL Commonwealth Center for the Humanities and Society. This program and associated research have been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities.