Download or read book To Serve the Living written by Suzanne E. Smith and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2010-06-01 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For African Americans, death was never simply the end of life, and funerals were not just places to mourn. In the "hush harbors" of the slave quarters, African Americans first used funerals to bury their dead and to plan a path to freedom. Similarly, throughout the long - and often violent - struggle for racial equality in the twentieth century, funeral directors aided the cause by honoring the dead while supporting the living. To Serve the Living offers a fascinating history of how African American funeral directors have been integral to the fight for freedom.