Hamilton Hood Foundation

Our Story of Historical Preservation

I’m Yamona Pierce, founder of the Hamilton Hood Foundation. I’d like to share our story with you with the hope of inspiring others and facilitating other journeys of historical preservation and discovery.

Although I began my genealogical search almost casually, it quickly evolved into an unrelenting search involving everyone in my family and a growing community of friends. For more than a decade we pursued every avenue we found and used a wide array of genealogical resources. Then, in early 2020, we made the biggest discovery of all. We learned that our third great-grandparents were buried in the Pierce Chapel African Cemetery, one of the oldest burial grounds of enslaved Africans and their descendants in Harris County, Georgia. 

We were ecstatic and made plans to journey south with our children to pay our respects. Our happiness vanished when we arrived. The cemetery was totally abandoned. Fenced and padlocked, it was overgrown with brush and strewn with downed tree limbs, trash, and – inexplicably – rusting fenders and other car parts. 

Once we gained access, we found that many of the headstones, markers and box tombs had been crushed – we later learned they had been driven over by a utility company’s heavy equipment as they constructed overhead power and cable lines. 

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A New Chapter

It is said that adversity never comes without opportunity. Once we returned home and saw how strongly the experience had affected our children and ourselves, we realized that we needed to take positive action. Before long, we had begun the reclamation of the Pierce Chapel African Cemetery; we also founded the Hamilton Hood Foundation. 

In paying our respects to our third great-grandparents Jane Hamilton and Owen Hood we are growing stronger as a family and community. We believe that this is a journey that’s available to everyone, so as we proceed today we are creating a model with the hope of empowering others to come together, make their own discoveries, and honor their past. This reclamation of ancestral history can help our communities heal some of the challenges that naturally come when we don’t understand or acknowledge our past. Gaining clarity can heal wounds that had been left to fester.

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We Welcome You!

This website represents the start of our grassroots efforts, aiming to: (1) raise awareness about the rich cultural heritage of minority and underrepresented communities, (2) help connect family histories, and (3) promote understanding of genetics to address health disparities in minority communities.

We invite any and all to join us as we move forward!