The Green Party Social Justice Platform Black Agenda item 11 calls for the protection and preservation of African and African American cemeteries: “The erasure of African/African-American history, such as the desecration of African cemeteries, is the bedrock and foundation of white supremacy. Desecration is one of the physical manifestations of genocide and historic trauma.” One of the largest known such cemeteries, potentially interring 500 people, is located in Montgomery County: Bethesda’s Moses African Cemetery. The Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition (BACC) is dedicated to the protection and preservation of this historic burial ground—and since its inception, has closely partnered with the Green Party to achieve those aims.
“I first learned about BACC while I was running for County Council at large In 2016,” says Montgomery County and Maryland Green Party Treasurer Tim Willard. “I went to an event they hosted at Macedonia Baptist Church. I learned more about their work and decided to get involved.”
BACC was formally founded in 2017 by its current President (and one-time Dr. Jill Stein Shadow Cabinet member) Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo to “end the desecration of Moses Cemetery, educate our community about those who were buried there, build a museum and sacred space to honor our African ancestors, and demand accountability for those responsible for this criminal desecration.” In the years since, BACC has driven activism, research, and lawsuits in support of this mission.
Moses African Cemetery first served as an African burial ground in the 1700s, when the four largest tobacco plantations along River Road—Counselman, Shoemaker, Loughborough, and Posey—dumped the brutalized bodies of enslaved people in mass graves there. Following emancipation, a vibrant Maroon community cropped up, with 60 families turning the marshland of Greysville into a thriving, self-supporting town that continued to use Moses Cemetery. In the 1940s, persecution ramped up: led by the KKK in collusion with Montgomery County officials, every Black resident of Greysville was violently dispossessed by the 1960s, survived only by the Macedonia Baptist Church that still stands today, and the area was rezoned for commercial use. In the 1950s, a large portion of the cemetery was bulldozed to create a highrise apartment building and its parking lot that are now owned by Montgomery County’s Housing Opportunities Commission (HOC).
HOC attempted to sell the portion of the cemetery deeded in 1910, referred to as “New Moses,” to a land developer. BACC successfully filed a temporary restraining order to stop the transaction. This case was eventually heard at the Maryland Supreme Court, which ruled that the cemetery could be sold but that descendants could sue developers for desecration and receive equitable relief. A second lot has since been desecrated by Arizona company 1784 Holdings, which is currently building a self-storage unit there. Over years of protests, weekly rallies, and legal action, no Montgomery County or Maryland Democratic elected official has denounced the desecration of Moses African Cemetery or African cemeteries in general. Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich attributed to animals the human remains that were dug up and alternately sent to a landfill or to a Wetland Studies and Solutions (WSSI) warehouse in Gainesville, Virginia—despite a 2017 investigation by archeological consulting firm the Ottery Group (commissioned by the Montgomery County Planning Department) finding that the area was, indeed, a Black cemetery. Today, BACC awaits the outcome of a lawsuit recently sent back to the Circuit County Court from the Maryland Supreme Court to seek relief. The initial hearing took place at the end of August 2025.
“MoCo Greens partner with BACC because our social justice values make BACC’s issue important to us,” says Willard. “The Black community on River Road was oppressed by Jim Crow during its existence, and its cemetery was desecrated after the community was erased by developers. Justice is needed for the ancestors.” MoCo Greens see frequent invitations to BACC events—subscribe to our mailing list or consult BACC’s event page to get involved in rectifying this injustice.
Below, Dr. Coleman-Adebayo presents The Hidden History of Black Communities Along River Road to Macedonia Baptist Church in January 2025.
Above: Paul Pumphrey demonstrates at the site of Moses Cemetery.
Martha Peterson speaks at a BACC rally
Karen Wilson-Ama’Echfu and Lucy Duff sing in front of Macedonia Baptist Church
Rev. Segun Adebeyo, Nancy Wallace, Martha Peterson, and Tim Willard raise awareness outside a Democratic Party fundraiser