Mt. Zion Cemetery in Georgetown Grave Robbing

Mt. Zion Cemetery in Georgetown Grave Robbing

Grave Robbing in the 19th century was prominent in black cemeteries.

In the 19th century, students at American medical schools stole the corpses of recently-buried African Americans to be used for dissection.

Flickr/Josh

19th century

Ashley Jais

Public Domain

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The medical society was desperate for cadevers that they would use methods such as grave robbing or murder, like Burke and Hare, to obtain bodies.