Established in 1872, Randolph Cemetery was Columbia's first cemetery for the African-American population. This place began as three acres purchased from Elmwood Cemetery in 1872 and was expanded with an additional acre in 1899; today it spans about six acres. It was named for Benjamin F. Randolph (1820–1868), who was reburied here in 1871.
Randolph, a militia leader protecting African Americans, was assassinated, and a memorial was erected in his honor and for other African-American leaders killed. Randolph Cemetery was Columbia’s first cemetery for the African-American population; before it existed, people had been buried in the potter’s field called Lower Cemetery between the river and this site. Among the stones you can see are manufactured markers and vernacular homemade varieties, and this ground holds eight Reconstruction Era state legislators.
In 1995 the cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places, formal recognition of its significance even as questions remain about how the site grew. Picture eight Reconstruction Era state legislators lying among the manufactured and homemade markers across this six-acre ground.