African-American cemeteries are significant historical, archeological, religious, and cultural sites.  In each of these places of mourning and remembrance are many clues to the history of those buried there and the surrounding community.  The stones, monuments, landscapes, enclosures, and epitaphs are a commentary on both the religious traditions and the cultural heritage of a people.

In 1859, Elias Leavenworth called the cemetery the "last great necessity" of any American city worth its salt.  For post-Civil War African Americans, the cemetery more often represented the first great necessity of the community.  Many historic black cemeteries in the South date to the 1860s and 1870s, when freed slaves began to establish their own communities and churches following the Civil War.  Independent cemeteries, along with churches and schools, were among the first institutions created as blacks exercised their new freedoms during the Reconstruction era.

Black cemeteries are tangible expressions of more than three centuries of combining African, European, and American lifestyles.  As historic places in a community, cemeteries associate a rich African heritage with the legacy of slavery and the joy of freedom.  The peripheral location of many historic black cemeteries illustrates the limited resources of newly freed slaves and may indicate a desire to carry out mourning and burial traditions beyond the scrutiny and surveillance of white society.

African-American burial grounds are rarely landscaped like Euro-American cemeteries, and they often differ greatly in appearance.  Most black cemeteries display little or no formal landscaping.  This is intended.  Trees and shrubs are generally native to the area, though the use of ornamental vegetation and plantings to mark graves is not uncommon.

Graves most often seem to be scattered or randomly placed, with little symmetrical arrangement.  In other burying grounds, more often in urban than rural settings, the prominence of the family burial plot reveals the importance of family ties in the African-American community.  Until the twentieth century, black cemeteries rarely feature elaborate monuments.  Rather, simple monuments constructed of stone or wood predominate, many of which are made or inscribed by hand, indicating traditions of folk art and craftsmanship.  Many graves are unmarked or are marked only with fieldstones set on end.  The lack of grave vaults is typical.  Deep depressions reveal the location of many otherwise unmarked graves.  The use of simple, even temporary, markers suggests that it was not necessarily important for future generations to know the exact location of specific graves.  Before modern health regulations brought more standardization to American burial rituals, this practice also ensured that space would always be available for those who desired to be buried with their kin.  To the uninformed observer, these cemeteries may appear neglected, although this is generally not the case.  More often they are deliberate articulations of a particular philosophy toward death and burial.

Funeral and mourning traditions vary greatly based on class, religion, and personal preference.  Although the influence of Euro-American burial customs is evident, especially among upper- and middle-class families, African-American cemeteries also demonstrate the abiding presence of an African past.  African antecedents are most clearly evident in grave-marking practices, such as the use of "grave offerings."  This is a traditional African-American practice in which various items, including pottery and personal items, are placed on top of the grave.  Although the exact meaning of this custom is not clear, some have suggested that it can be traced to the African tradition of decorating the grave with items used by the deceased.  The items are often "killed," or deliberately broken, to ensure that they will remain in the afterlife with their owner.

Epitaphs sometimes contain important genealogical information though most stones are marked with the basic information of name, birth date, and death date.  Often, an affiliation with a lodge or organization will be engraved on the tombstone.  The markers occasionally reflect the artistry of a local stonemason, though more often the stone carving is not professionally carved.