Ypsilanti’s Woodlawn Cemetery, a historically Black burial ground long abandoned and overgrown, is getting a second chance through a dedicated restoration effort.

Overgrowth has turned the spot into an urban prairie where most grave markers have descended underground.

As the national debate over Black history continues, one aspect of the legacy of race in America is undergoing something of a rebirth: Black cemeteries that were established in the era of segregation.

Hikers discovered his mountainside grave and unearthed the skeleton in 2019, leading authorities to retrieve the bones and return them to the Matsumura family. Giichi Matsumura, who signed up for the World War I draft, registered again on Feb. 14, 1942. Under an April 20, 1942 order, the Matsumura family had about a week to leave their life in the canyon behind. Exactly what happened to Giichi Matsumura remains unknown. Shumyo Kojima, a Buddhist priest, assembled a small altar with a framed photo of Giichi Matsumura in front of the box containing his remains.

Lilah Matsumura, 11, prays for for her great-grandfather, Giichi Matsumura, during a memorial service at Woodlawn Cemetery in Santa Monica, Calif., Monday, Dec. 21, 2020. Giichi Matsumura, who signed up for the World War I draft, registered again on Feb. 14, 1942. Under an April 20, 1942 order, the Matsumura family had about a week to leave their life in the canyon behind. Exactly what happened to Giichi Matsumura remains unknown. “It wasn’t a huge mystery,” Ranger Patricia Biggs told Lori Matsumura in February last year.