CHELTENHAM, Md. — Members of the Maryland Legislative Black Caucus are pledging to reclaim and restore a neglected cemetery where more than 230 black boys who died while in state custody between 1873 and 1939 are believed to be buried.
Lawmakers toured the overgrown graveyard on Sept. 23, 2025, an event widely covered by local and state media. The site sits near the former House of Reformation and Instruction for Colored Children, a segregated juvenile reformatory later renamed the Cheltenham Youth Facility. The boys, many just 10 to mid-teens, were confined for “incorrigibility,” vagrancy or other minor offenses. They were forced into labor, kept in unsanitary conditions and often died of disease or mistreatment.
Most of the graves have no headstones and many are sunken under brush. Earlier state tallies acknowledged only 67 deaths, a severe undercount that obscured decades of neglect. The site sits just steps from a state veterans cemetery but has never been memorialized.
Del. Nick Charles [D-Prince George’s], who chairs the caucus, said the group will seek preservation grants, push for historical designation and support a memorial to honor the boys.
Del. Jeffrie E. Long Jr. [D-Calvert and Prince George’s], who represents District 27B where the site is located, said he was honored to welcome his colleagues and stressed the broader importance of the effort. “We remain committed to restoring dignity to these young individuals, addressing the injustices of our past, and implementing crucial policy reforms to prevent history from repeating itself,” Long said after the visit.
The caucus also amplified its visit in a video post on Instagram that showed members walking the grounds and vowing legislative action. Leaders said they will pursue new protections for historic African American cemeteries statewide during the 2026 session.
Historians say the children’s deaths reflect the harsh realities of Maryland’s juvenile justice system in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when Black youth were disproportionately confined and lacked legal safeguards.
For advocates and lawmakers alike, the priority now is ensuring that the cemetery is recognized, restored and remembered, not left to fade into obscurity.
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In the mid 1970’s, we came across those graves stones during the preliminary design work for the current Veterans Cemetery. When we inquired about the large groups of markers bearing relatively similar (within months) dates, we were told it was most likely due to various Smallpox outbreaks at Boys Village. We tried to research it on the internet, but couldn’t find it. The internet, that is. Ha! Ha!
When I visit the Veterans Cemetery (several times each year) I always wonder why ‘THEY’ never cleaned or marked that wooded knoll. Now I realize, that’s how 3/4’s of our Governors have rolled (spend without results), since 1901.
Why aren’t the families taking care of their kids