Category Archives: Funeral
Books: Over My Dead Body
Link: Over My Dead Body There are over 144,000 cemeteries in the United States, according to author Greg Melville, and he’s visited a lot of them and cataloged some of his visits in Over My Dead Body. ALthough some books … Continue reading
Posted in African American, Cemetery, Funeral, Memorials
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Memorial: Cleveland Potter’s Field
Address: Green Rd, Highland Hills, OH 44122 A poem of my father’s introduced me to Potter’s Fields. I can’t locate the poem now, but I remember my sadness in reading about people who had lived their whole lives and then … Continue reading
Movie Review: Elizabethtown
Elizabethtown is a romantic comedy centered around a death and a funeral. The movie opens on the worst day of Drew’s life. He is a shoe designer and his latest shoe design is a colossal failure that is going to … Continue reading
Documentary Review: The Secret Life of Death
Walter Carter Funeral Home is a 130-year-old business in Sydney Australia that is facing the economic reality of consolidation in the funeral home business. In order to stay alive, Walter Carter joins forces with another family owned funeral home, which … Continue reading
Movie Review: Taking Chance
When a member of the US military dies in battle, their remains are transferred home for burial through a process called a dignified transfer. The body is placed in a metal casket surrounded by ice packs in the theater of … Continue reading
Movie Review: Terms of Endearment
Terms of Endearment begins with a mother’s fear that her daughter has died and ends with the reality of her daughter’s death. Love and grief are intertwined in this story that tells the story of the complicated relationship between Emma … Continue reading
Academic: Black Funeral Directors and Civil Rights
Link: Black Funeral Directors and Civil Rights Despite being legally freed by the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1963, African Americans were still in economic and social bondage after the Civil War. In the years immediately following the Civil War, … Continue reading
Posted in Academic, African American, Death Professions, Funeral, Funeral Director
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Academic: Africa and Death
This post was written as part of a course in African American Deathways at Marian University. The Africa of my childhood was a fierce and exotic land where elephants and lions roamed free and where barely clad warriors fought with … Continue reading
Posted in Academic, African American, Death, Funeral, Memorials
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Academic: Death Witches
Link: Death Witches: Women Reformers in the Death Industry Witch. The very word conjures images of green skinned old hags stirring cauldrons of nastiness as they prepare to hex cows, wreak havoc on townspeople, and steal Dorothy’s ruby red slippers. … Continue reading
Women, Food, and Funerals
Note: This was an assignment for Death and the Maiden My first experience with death was when my elderly great aunt died and my family traveled from Illinois to Missouri for the funeral. My aunt’s home was filled with relatives, … Continue reading