'Grave whispering': How a Somerville man keeps the story of Black US soldiers alive

SOMERVILLE – Arthur Adair’s official title may be the community relations coordinator of the New Cemetery, but he calls himself a “griot.”

That term comes from West Africa, and it means a historian of sorts, someone who can trace bloodlines back hundreds of years.

“I call it grave whispering,” Adair said. “The graves talk to me. And it may sound like crap, but they do they talk to me, and they say look over here, find something.”

Adair, a Somerville native, has been an active part of the community for almost half a century. He’s also the recipient of Somerset County's second annual Juneteenth Leadership Award for his work at the New Cemetery, specifically for caring for the graves of soldiers in the United States Colored Troops (USCT).

When Adair started working at the South Bridge Street cemetery in 2004, he first learned about six USCT soldiers buried there. That number grew to eight, then to 16, and now at 18. Adair is the descendant of two of them, John and Andrew Kline.

Adair’s work at New Cemetery began when he attended a borough Architectural Review Board meeting, where he heard about a task force that would be in charge of restoring the cemetery. At that time, the cemetery had seen better days.

“The veterans came here, right before Memorial Day, and said, ‘What the hell is this?’” Adair recalled. “Funeral directors were complaining, ‘I can't bring people down to your cemetery, the grasses to three feet high.’”

Adair then spoke to others at the meeting how generations of his ancestors were buried in the cemetery, including his brother who had recently passed. He didn’t expect what came next.

“The next day I get an email, Art, you want to be at the task force? I said no,” Adair said.

But someone else had different plans.

“My wife said yes,” Adair said. “She said, ‘We want to be on that task force was because ever since you brother died the place has looked like hell.’”

So, Adair joined. When he started, he was told that there were 15 to 50 remaining plots for graves. Today, he has found more than 2,000 unused plots, making the cemetery sustainable for years to come.

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Although Adair used to keep the cemetery grounds, these days he mostly focuses on the records and the stories that they tell, making sure that they continue to exist.

“We die twice. We physically die when our body gives up life,” Adair said. “And we die when our stories no longer talk. When our stories no longer talk, we die.”

Before Adair began working at New Cemetery, he worked in municipal government. He was driven to do so because of his children and the hope that they would have a better school experience than he did.

“I didn't want them to be subjected to the same kind of racial bias that we were subjected to in school,” Adair said.

Adair had planned to go to board of education meetings to make a difference in his children’s school. However, he ended up going to a Borough Council meeting and quickly decided what he wanted to do.

“When I saw the vaudeville show that was going on in Borough Council, I said, ‘I can do this,’” Adair said. “I declared my candidacy without even having party backing, and I kept going to council meetings and asking questions.”

Adair eventually did get party backing and won, he and another candidate knocking out two incumbents. He served on the Borough Council for three years, losing re-election by nine votes.

Since then, Adair has served on the Somerville Zoning Board of Adjustment for more than four decades, leading it as chairman for three decades. He has also served on the Recreation Committee, the Environmental Committee and the Human Relations Committee.

For Adair, his job as Somerville’s “griot” is an extension of his drive to serve his community, something that he, his wife Andrea (who is the commander of American Legion Post 12), his kids and his grandchildren take seriously.

“If I stop or die,” Adair said. “I’m very proud of the work my family and I are doing. It says we're doing something right.”

Adair feels like an award is too much for what he does, but he’s happy to continue what he has been doing for the past two decades.

“It’s humbling. I don’t deserve an award, but someone thinks I do.”

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Sal DiMaggio, a rising senior at Montclair State University, is a reporter interning with MyCentralJersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Somerville NJ man keeps the story of Black US soldiers alive