Inscriptions in Triumph: Tombstone Inscriptions from the African American Cemeteries of Mt. Calvary, Mt. Olive, Fisher's Hill and Potter's Field Portsmouth, Virginia Contributor(s): Breckenridge-Haywood, Mae (Author) , Walters, Dinah (Joint Author)

Inscriptions in Triumph: Tombstone Inscriptions from the African American Cemeteries of Mt. Calvary, Mt. Olive, Fisher's Hill and Potter's Field Portsmouth, Virginia
Contributor(s): Breckenridge-Haywood, Mae (Author) , Walters, Dinah (Joint Author)

Two researchers, Mae Breckenridge-Haywood, the librarian of I. C. Norcom High School, and Dinah Walters, a graduate of I. C. Norcom and a family history researcher, have teamed up to put together the first and quite possibly the one and only listing of the people who are buried in the cemeteries of Mount Calvary, Mount Olive, Fisher’s Hill and Potter’s Field. This quiet but tranquil cemetery is located just off the Des Moines Exit at the intersection of Deep Creek and Pulaski Streets in the city of Portsmouth, Virginia. The title proper for their cemetery book is: Inscriptions in Triumph: Tombstone Inscriptions from the African American Cemeteries of Mount Calvary, Mount Olive, Fisher’s Hill and Potter’s Field. Actually, there may be as many as four cemeteries in this area, which city records estimate could hold as many as 13,000 gravesites. Some early signage identified the Mount Calvary Cemetery with the date of 1944. Also during the fifties, there was a black arch shaped sign near the back of the cemeteries, which identified another portion of the cemetery as "Mount Olive Cemetery." That sign has been long removed. There are over twenty pictures in the book which reads like a "Who’s Who" list of the African Americans of the city who are buried in the cemetery.