STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Several dozen gathered in Oakwood Sunday afternoon to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Frederick Douglass Memorial Park, the one-year anniversary of the cemetery’s designation as a New York City landmark, and the unveiling of a commemorative plaque. The celebration came only three days after the observance of Juneteenth.

With only a slight breeze to bring relief from the humidity, those assembled at the corner of Amboy Road and Montreal Avenue included members of the park’s board of directors, elected officials, and veterans from the 369th Infantry Regiment, known as the Harlem Hell Fighters, a renowned African American unit that served in WWI. Many others who’ve worked to ensure the site’s preservation enjoyed the day as well.

The cemetery, which once faced abandonment due to years of mismanagement, now shines as a historic and sacred symbol of respect to those interred there.

Board member Vasheena Brisbane served as the gathering’s emcee, while Chaplain Forest Ballard delivered the invocation.

Lynn Cuffee, secretary of the board, opened the afternoon by detailing the history of the memorial park and its role as a significant piece of Black history beyond the borough.

“We have not reached this moment without struggle,” Cuffee explained. “We have weathered storms, financial hardship, neglect and moments where our very survival was in question. And yet, we are still here.”

She went on to highlight that among those buried at the park are civil rights leaders, educators, clergy members, veterans and “everyday heroes.”

Those heroes include Cuffee’s own father, as well as blues singer Mamie Smith, trumpeter Tommy Ladnier, Negro League baseball players Elias “Country Brown” Bryant and King Solomon “Sol” White, as well as Joanna Berry Shields — one of nine women who founded Alpha Kappa Alpha, the first Black sorority.

“They are all here,’’ Cuffee added. ”Their stories etched in stone and memory.”

As the only existing non-sectarian cemetery founded by — and specifically for — New York City’s Black community, the memorial park was established in 1935 by Rodney Dade, a Harlem funeral director, to offer a dignified cemetery for Black New Yorkers at a time when discrimination and segregation excluded them from other burial sites throughout the city.

Although named for Frederick Douglass, the 19th century abolitionist and statesman born into slavery, Douglass is buried in Rochester, New York.

“This is not only a memorial park to those who are buried here, but to a part of American history that we all should not be proud of,” said Richmond County District Attorney Michael E. McMahon. “The history of slavery that led to segregation, and that fact that this park was needed in 1935, is in a way a blemish.”

Yet, those gathered came to honor the incredible work that kept the cemetery going, he said.

While a landmark, the memorial park still functions as a modern, nearly 15-acre cemetery, accommodating burials several times each week for people of all races and denominations.

It has also been used for the Richmond County Public Administrator’s Burial Program, which provides burials to decedents who have no one to otherwise handle their estates.

“Sometimes I see this referred to as ‘Staten Island’s historical Black cemetery,’” said Public Administrator Edwina Martin, the first Black individual to hold the position in the borough’s history. “It’s not just Staten Island; it’s New York state.

“This is not just Black history, this is American history, and it tells a story at a time when so much of our story is being erased or attempts are being made to,” she said. “The landmark status could not have come at a better moment in time.”

Martin presented Brandon Stradford, the park board’s president, with a certificate of achievement to officially mark the occasion of the landmark designation.

“I’ve been to many landmark designation unveilings in all five boroughs,” said Tom Krizmanic, a member of the board of the New York Landmarks Preservation Society. “This is the absolute best one I’ve been to.”

Sarah Carroll, chair of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, echoed these sentiments as she explained that, while she’s been involved in previous plaque presentation events, she considered Sunday’s to be “one of the most moving.”

Describing her time spent at the grounds as the commission was in the process of considering the site for preservation, Carroll said how touching it was for her to learn the stories of many of the everyday Black New Yorkers who are buried there, including family members of some of those in attendance.

As the ceremony came to a close, the plaque that everyone was waiting to see was finally unveiled to applause, hugs, handshakes and tears.

“This sacred ground has stood as a testament to Black resilience, self-determination and excellence,” said Cuffee.

“It was built by African Americans for African Americans, but not excluding other people,’’ she said. ”It is the purpose of the park to lessen sorrow by creating around death an atmosphere of beauty and inspiration.”