Oak Woods Cemetery

Oak Woods Cemetery is the setting of Sanquita Bell’s burial, a brief graveside ceremony held three days after her daughter’s birth. The scene places a personal loss within a public ritual: Sanquita is laid to rest in her gold cap and gown, while those who knew her gather around a coffin and then disperse back into their separate lives.

Sanquita Bell’s Burial

Sanquita is buried in her gold cap and gown at Oak Woods Cemetery. The choice of clothing preserves a visible connection to her youth and achievement, even as the service marks the end of her eighteen years. The funeral is described as a poor reflection of her courageous life: its formal gestures cannot encompass the person her friends and companions knew.

The Graveside Gathering

Among those present are Sanquita’s friends from Joshua House, Jean Anderson, two teachers, Herbert Moyer, and Brett Bohlinger. Jean’s pastor prays over the coffin and delivers an impersonal eulogy for a young woman he never met. The gap between the pastor’s words and Sanquita’s actual life gives the ceremony its painful inadequacy; those closest to her must carry the knowledge that the public tribute does not tell her story.

Departure and Significance

After the service, the gathering quickly breaks apart. Jean returns to Joshua House, the teachers go back to their jobs, and Sanquita’s friends walk up the grassy hill toward East 67th Street to catch the bus. Tanya lights a cigarette, takes a drag, and passes it to Julonia. The ordinary motion of leaving, set against the burial, underscores how abruptly Sanquita’s death becomes a memory for the living. For Brett, the scene makes that loss immediate and difficult to accept: the funeral is over, but the thought that Sanquita’s memory may fade a little each day makes her shudder.