The Plants That Ward Off Evil Spirits in Randolph Cemetery

Randolph Cemetery, located next to Elmwood Cemetery, was the first African American internment in Columbia, South Carolina after land was bought for it in 1872. Prior to this, black Columbians were buried with poor whites in the "potters field" nearby. The cemetery is named after Benjamin Franklin Randolph who was an African American senator that was assassinated in 1868 during Reconstruction Columbia.

A fascinating feature of the cemetery are the multitude of cactus and yucca planted both on graves and surrounding them. This is a West African tradition of planting abrasive and thorny plants to ward off evil spirits. The white flowers theses plants produce also coincide with the West African tradition of white meaning death and that the world of the dead was supposed to be white and watery.

The Committee for the Restoration & Beautification of Randolph Cemetery (CRBRC) is meticulously attempting to contact every family member of someone buried here so that they are aware of these and other cultural and spiritual practices in the cemetery that have their roots in West Africa.

Sources:
Historic Randolph Cemetery Cultural Customs
Randolph Cemetery:Mapping and Documentation of a Historic African-American Site