African Cemetery No. 2

African Cemetery No. 2, formally the Cemetery of the Union Benevolent Society No. 2, is a historic burial ground in Lexington, Kentucky, that served the city's African American community during an era when segregation extended even to death. Separate cemeteries for Black residents were common across the South, and this site reflects the social fabric — and exclusions — of 19th-century Kentucky life. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the cemetery holds graves spanning the Civil War and Reconstruction periods, though many markers have been lost or weathered beyond legibility — a physical echo of how African American history was long marginalized in the public record. Local historians and community groups continue to research and restore the site, making it an active place of remembrance and reckoning.