Burr Oak Cemetery

CTL-E-1225 · Address · site · 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s

PROVISIONAL evidence grade of this record

Black-owned and Black-managed cemetery founded 1927 in Alsip, Illinois (150 acres); final resting place of Emmett Till, Dinah Washington, and generations of Black Chicagoans; recommended for the National Register of Historic Places in 2025.

Notes

Merged into canonical KG 2026-10-03 from INST-001; source entity IDs: CTL-DR-INST-001:INST-014; source research type(s): cemetery.

Sources

Emmett Till Memory Project, 'Burr Oak Cemetery: Till's final resting spot has never been without drama.' https://tillapp.emmett-till.org/items/show/21
Afro-Conscious Media, 'Black-owned Burr Oak Cemetery, resting place of Emmett Till, heads toward National Register listing' (2025-11-01). https://afroconsciousmedia.com/2025/11/01/black-owned-burr-oak-cemetery-resting-place-of-emmett-till-heads-toward-national-register-listing/
The New Journal and Guide, 'Black History: Resting Place of Emmett Till Heads Toward Register Listing' (2025). https://thenewjournalandguide.com/black-history-resting-place-of-emmett-till-heads-toward-register-listing/
thenewjournalandguide.com (2025); tillapp.emmett-till.org
afroconsciousmedia.com (2025-11-01)
tillapp.emmett-till.org; chicago.gov

Record CTL-E-1225 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · evidence grade: PROVISIONAL · 6 sources · CTL research: INST-001.
Directory: all entity records · the knowledge graph

Cite this record

Cite as: CultureTechLens, “Burr Oak Cemetery (CTL-E-1225),” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph, October 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-1225/

Chicago: CultureTechLens. “Burr Oak Cemetery (CTL-E-1225).” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph. Chicago, IL: CultureTechLens, 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-1225/
APA: CultureTechLens. (2026). Burr Oak Cemetery (CTL-E-1225) [Entity record]. CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-1225/
MLA: CultureTechLens. “Burr Oak Cemetery (CTL-E-1225).” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph, 2026, https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-1225/

Citation guidance for teachers, journalists, and funders: How to Cite Us.

From the Archive

The archive in pictures

The sanctuaries and sacred ground this work documents. Photographs from the CultureTechLens research record — rights-cleared, credited, and cited like everything else here.

Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church, Chicago — home of the city’s oldest African American congregationPhoto: Teemu008, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ, Bronzeville, ChicagoPhoto: Legimet, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Re-dedication ceremony at the Victory Monument, 35th Street and King Drive, ChicagoPhoto: Lt. Col. Bradford Leighton, Illinois National Guard (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons

Trust & evidence

Evidence before authority. CultureTechLens publishes its methods, its limits, and its corrections alongside its findings. Claims carry grades — VERIFIED, SUPPORTED, PROVISIONAL, DISPUTED, UNRESOLVED — and unknowns are never reported as zero.

Every claim graded. Every source named. Every correction public — none to date.