BATON ROUGE - It's a cemetery many people drive by without knowing the history it holds, or the condition it's in.

The Sweet Olive Cemetery houses over 5,000 graves, but you wouldn't know that looking at it; they're hidden under years of neglect, swallowed by overgrown weeds and time.

Established in 1850, Sweet Olive is a sacred resting place for generations of African Americans, including slaves, soldiers, pastors and families.

"It houses people who have been disregarded in society for a very long time," Markeda Cottonham, founder of "Friends of Sweet Olive Cemetery," said.

Most of those people are lost under the overgrown grass.

"I have a great uncle over in that corner, and I'm supposed to have a great great aunt in that corner, but I haven't been able to find her," Cottonham said.

Cottonham founded "Friends of Sweet Olive Cemetery" in 2020.

It started when she brought her 7-year-old daughter there to teach her, and she stumbled across something unsettling. 

"Well, when exploring, she found an open grave, and a whole skeleton, and I had to explain to her this is not how this is supposed to be, and I need to figure out why it's like that," Cottonham said.

She's been leading clean-up efforts ever since.

“I decided to take a weed eater and a lawnmower and do it myself because it wasn't getting done by anyone else, and there have been so many people who have tried," Cottonham said.

This week, she's not alone. Students from Sacred Heart Catholic School spent the day clearing brush and helping uncover stories beneath the surface.

"I think it's important to preserve those stories because the reason those other graves are preserved and they're nice is because people understand that those people are important, and for some reason we've lost sight that African American lives are important," Cottonham said.

It's a lesson in respect and humanity.

"It's not just black people out here cleaning, so we can learn it's not about color its about human, it's about being good to each other," Cottonham said.

Cottonham is asking that the public help by donating or adopting a grave so they can continue to preserve the cemetery by emailing FOSOCBR@gmail.com.