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Portsmouth African-American cemetery gets state funding for upkeep

The amount of history at Mt. Calvary Complex is rich and a place of rest for generations of Portsmouth families.

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WVEC) -- The city of Portsmouth got some much-needed money to restore historical cemeteries where African-Americans were buried before the start of the 20th century.

The amount of history at Mt. Calvary Complex is rich and a place of rest for generations of Portsmouth families.

The Harris brothers, Joseph and Matthew, have been among volunteers who for years have maintained the cemetery.

"When we clean our family plots, we would clean around the plots that maybe some other people we don't even know," said Matthew.

That's how it's always been: one family helping out another... until Governor Ralph Northam signed two bills into law to fund the restoration and renovation of the cemeteries.

Mt. Calvary is now the third in the state.

"We need to do everything we can to preserve the history," said Governor Northam.

"It's a culmination of many years. Many years in that the ancestors were taken care of by relatives and veterans," said Mae Breckenridge-Haywood, the President of the African-American Historical Society of Portsmouth.

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