Hackensack Cemetery Sign

Frank Cioffi Grave Marker

          This grave marker which is at Hackensack Cemetery located at 289 Hackensack Avenue Hackensack, New Jersey, reveals that Frank Cioffi served in the U.S. Army during World War II and died at the age of only 59.

Frank Cioffi was not on the Original Wall Unit List, but this confirms his connection to Hackensack by being buried within its borders since passing and forevermore.

Frank Cioffi is buried in the African American section of
Hackensack Cemetery. In the 1880’s a law was passed because of an incident concerning
Hackensack cemetery,

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Making it a crime to refuse burial of African Americans in cemeteries with a fine of up to $500.00. The cemetery was officially founded in the 1890’s and the segregation within its grounds went on for many years to follow with attitudes probably changing after World War II. Grave plots having been bought before a person dies in the 1950’s, and many African Americans more comfortable resting their loved ones in a more traditional area among friends and family not much has changed. Italians in Hackensack are much more highly represented in St. Joseph’s Cemetery for similar reasons they really were not welcome in the more Dutch and Anglo Saxon cemetery of Hackensack at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century so they created their own cemetery through St. Joseph’s Catholic ministries right next to Hackensack Cemetery. 

Written  by:
Bob Meli
August 16, 2018

Background image of African American soldiers during World War II obtained from:
http://canacopegdl.com/keyword/national-chinese-during-ww2.html