Upper Arlington Schools says a court will consider a request next month to move unidentified human remains from the grounds of Upper Arlington High School, which was once a cemetery owned by a Black man who freed himself from slavery.
Upper Arlington Schools said in a statement that the high school was built on top of Pleasant Litchford's family cemetery in the 1950s. Litchford was a blacksmith and bought his freedom from slavery before moving from Virginia to Ohio.
The district moved dozens of bodies found at the site in the 1950s, but full skeletal remains of a 9-10-year-old girl were found during construction of a new high school in 2020. DNA results weren't able to determine if the remains were connected to Litchford.
There were also bone fragments found from three other unidentified individuals, who were reburied at Union Cemetery. The district said the fragments will be reburied at the same cemetery.
The potential move has to go through a court process since there wasn't DNA evidence linking the girl to any of Litchford's living descendants. The district is working with several of Litchford's descendants to cremate and respectfully rebury the unidentified remains.
"She will be cremated and reburied at the site of the Litchford Family Cemetery, which is now known as the Litchford Memorial Garden and sits just to the south of Upper Arlington High School," the statement said.
The district plans to have an Ohio Historical Marker placed at the memorial garden in the future.
Franklin County Probate Court will consider the request at a hearing scheduled for March 12.
