Mount Auburn Cemetery was founded in 1872 by Rev. James Pack and the Memorial United Methodist Church (Sharp Street Church) in protest to segregation in the white Methodist church at the time. It is the oldest black cemetery in Baltimore City. The 117 year old cemetery was originally known as the "City of the Dead for Colored People." Former slaves who had escaped to freedom through the Underground Railroad were among those buried here by Baltimore's African-American families. For years it was the only burial ground for Baltimore blacks.
In addition to runaway slaves, the cemetery contains the remains of one of the first black bishops in the African Methodist Church, William Asbie Hawkins; the first black ship chandler; the first black lightweight boxing champion of the world (1901-1908), Joseph Ganns; and civil rights activists, lawyers, doctors, teachers and the relatives of thousands of African-American families.