Burial of Jennifer Rosanne States

Jennifer Rosanne States was a black Canadian child who died at age three in September 1968 and made national headlines when she was refused burial in an all-white cemetery.

States had been very ill from soon after birth. Her parents, with six other young children, were unable to care for her and sent her to a white foster family in Windsor, Nova Scotia. When she died this family tried to have her buried in the St. Croix Cemetery. However, the managing board cited a 1907 bylaw banning blacks and natives from the cemetery. States was instead buried in a traditionally black cemetery nearby. The incident came to the attention of the national media and caused a general outcry. The cemetery board quickly backed down and deleted the offending bylaw.

References

*"N.S. Cemetery Cites 1907 Bylaw, Refuses Burial for Negro Child, 3." "The Globe and Mail." October 11, 1968. pg. A1.
*"Cemetery Deletes Bylaw Banning Negro Burial." "The Globe and Mail." October 12, 1968. pg. A1.
* [http://books.google.ca/books?id=dfLvSgiKsFwC&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=%22St.+Croix+Cemetery%22+%22Windsor%22&source=web&ots=ZZ3-apBf_m&sig=MKLyeDOoysGYakraF5_tA2H-e4U&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=8&ct=result We're Rooted Here and They Can't Pull Us Up. By Peggy Bristow, Dionne Brand, Linda Carty, Afua Cooper, Sylvia Hamilton. Footnote, page 38]
*The Chronicle-Herald (Halifax, N.S.), October 12, 1968, page 1.