Female Union Band Association v. Unknown Heirs, et al

Oliver Gasch Papers. Special Collections & Archives, Edward Bennett Williams Law Library, Georgetown University Law Center. Box 6.

Judge Gasch got this case on the petition of the cemetery trustees to sell the property and motion of the intervenors to vacate a 1964 order permitting the disinternment of those buried at the cemetery in preparation for developing the land the cemetery occupied. The cemetery holds black residents of the District of Columbia buried between 1809 and 1953. A portion of the cemetery was held by the Female Union Band Association, which was formed in 1842 as a benevolent association of women church members to bury free blacks. Adjoining land was held by the Mount Zion Methodist Church and used for similar purposes. The cemetery served as a food and water stop along the Underground Railroad. The cemetery site, therefore, has great importance for the history of Georgetown and African-Americans in the District of Columbia. The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 8, 1975.

The following materials sample the types of documents found in the case files and provide a picture of the development of the case as it was heard by Judge Gasch. Additional background can be found through newspaper accounts and the history of the cemetery, for example, see Washington Post articles on October 25, 1979, September 23, 1988, March 14, 1994, October 14, 1997, April 7, 1998, May 9, 1998, and October 22, 2000. Some of these newspaper clippings are found in the case files.

This case was identified by Judge Gasch in his 1992 oral history as one of the most personally satisfying of his career. In addition, this case is one of twelve identified as important and processed to the item-level, as requested by the Gasch family.

Judge Gasch's published memorandum order, July 31,1975 OG-006-006	notice of appeal, August 25, 1975 OG-006-007	correspondence from the general public, 1975 OG-006-008
memorandum from Chief Judge Jones OG-006-010	order, March 30, 1976 OG-006-015	table of contents, brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals, January 10, 1977 OG-006-016
excerpt, Trustee's report, July 20, 1977 OG-006-018	U.S. Court of Appeals judgement, September 30, 1977 OG-006-019	order, November 28, 1977 OG-006-022
District of Columbia Zoning Commission order, December 14, 1978 OG-006-023	notes in Judge Gasch's handwriting OG-006-035	draft order, December 1980 OG-006-025
invitation, November 30, 1989 OG-006-028	program, tree planting ceremony, November 30, 1989 OG-006-029	outgoing correspondence, December 4, 1989 OG-006-031

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