This grave marker which is at Hackensack Cemetery Located at
289 Hackensack Avenue Hackensack New Jersey reveals that Shelley Points served
in the U.S. Army during World War I for the State of New Jersey and died at the
age of only 52.
Shelley Points was not on the Original Honor Roll List which was in the
Evening Record Newspaper August 2, 1918, but I have listed Shelley Points with the Original Honor Roll List for these reasons:
First, being African American he most likely would not have attended school or no more than an 8th grade education at Hackensack Schools prior to World War I.
Second, the grave marker states that Shelley Points served for New Jersey during his time in service couple that with being buried in Hackensack, he either lived in Hackensack, or the surrounding area which was all considered Hackensack prior to 1921 which is after his date of birth.
Also, he was living in Hackensack at the time of the war because he is mentioned in
the July 30, 1918 article.
Finally, this confirms his connection to Hackensack by being buried within its borders since passing and forevermore.
Shelley Points 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:
Click here to view
It was made 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 died 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
