15 headstones vandalized at historically black cemetery in East Austin

A historically black cemetery in East Austin was vandalized with blue paint sometime over the weekend.

Wearing a mask with an umbrella over her shoulder, Natalie Marshall says she has family buried all throughout the Evergreen Cemetery on Austin’s eastside and she was horrified to learn the headstone of one her family members was tagged.

”This is not just a random act of vandalism, there is a purpose, there is a purpose behind this,” said Natalie Marshall.

Of the spray paint that’s legible, one headstone reads “Kirk,” another appears to the say “AIDS,” and one has a sideways 8 on a headstone -- all of them in blue paint.

Whatever the meaning or purpose of the vandalism, 15 headstone were spray painted sometime over the weekend.

The Parks and Recreation Department says they discovered it Monday morning, and John Nixon with PARD said it appears to be random. Nixon said a police report was filed on Monday.

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Steffan Hardeman drove in from Round Rock to make sure his family headstone was untouched ”What I would say is, this is our cemetery, because I grew up here in East Austin,” said Hardeman.

The Evergreen Cemetery along Airport Blvd. and 12th Street in East Austin was established in 1926 for Austin’s African American community.

Two years later, the city adopted a plan to explicitly segregate African Americans by only offering them city services east of what is now I-35.

Some of the many prominent members of the black community buried at the Evergreen Cemetery include Dr. L. June H Brewer, one of the first African American students admitted to the University of Texas graduate school in 1950 and later an English professor at Huston-Tillotson College. Also, Elmer Akins, a radio announcer recognized as longest continuously running radio show in America in 2002 by the Texas Association of Broadcasters. And it’s also is the resting place for Oscar Leonard Thompson, the first black graduate at the University of Texas.

“My mother is here, I have uncles here,” said Roy Jones who was part of the steady stream of people who came to check on family headstones on Monday. ”You wouldn’t want nobody to do that to your family.”

Bystanders at the cemetery on Monday said they're looking to hold a vigil on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Evergreen.