Organizations, Articles, Books

Where to Learn More

Alongside local Washington organizations offering public education resources about after-deathcare, the rise in do-it-yourself home funerals and green burial has spurred the formation of national organizations that help educate the public and professionals whose roles in funeral service are changing. Organizations, scholars, and activists are also highlighting the impact of racism on deathcare through seminars and publications. Each organization's website lists resource pages with extensive links to these articles, videos, and podcasts.

Organizations

Washington Organizations

A Sacred Passing: Death Midwifery and Education
End of Life Washington
Gathering Roots
Honoring Choices Pacific Northwest
Pearl Collective Doulas
People’s Memorial Association
PNW Grief
The Healing Center Seattle
VSED Resources Northwest

National Organizations
Funeral Consumers Alliance (FCA) provides information on creative ways to respectfully care for the dead without going into debt.
National Home Funeral Alliance (NHFA)is dedicated to increasing access to information related to community-led after-death care.
National End-of Life Doula Alliance (NEDA) inspires positive, creative change in American death practices by creating high standards, ethical and practical guidelines, and rich networking opportunities for all EOLDs, resulting in meaningful experiences for the dying, their caregivers, and the agencies involved.
Green Burial Council (GBC and GBCI) inspires and advocates for environmentally sustainable, natural death care through education and certification.
Conservation Burial Alliance (CBA) support the protection, restoration, and sustainable management of conservation land that incorporates natural burial cemeteries.
Celebrant Foundation and Institute (CFI) pioneers the widespread use of relevant, customized ceremonies to honor the fullness of the human experience.

Media Featuring WashingtonFuneral.org and Our Contributors

Coming Home: Keelia Carver and her husband, Blaine, brought their son Max home to be buried in the cemetery on the family’s ranch (with resource links) by Lori Russell, Ruralite, 9/1/21.
After Heather's near-death as a baby, her mother made preparing for her death a healthy part of their life. See the video of Heather's home funeral.
When My Brother-in-Law Died, We Skipped the Funeral Parlor and Took Him Home by Gary Wasserman, Washington Post, March 24, 2019.
Friends honor artist's last wishes with a water ballet in a Seattle kiddie pool by Brendan Kiley, Seattle Times, August 17, 2017

Resources Addressing the Impact of Racism on Deathcare

Resource Collections & Organizations

The Collective for Radical Death Studies is an international, professional organization formed to decolonize Death Studies and radicalize death practice.
Reimagine’s Resources for Racial Equity: Reimagine: Life, Loss, and Love is committed to providing guidance, resources and support for those affected by COVID-19, race-based violence and all those facing end of life.
National Funeral Directors and Morticians Association, Inc., has been active in several iterations since 1926, when it was named the Progressive National Funeral Directors Association, later merging with the National Colored Undertakers Association and the independent National Funeral Directors Association to become the National Negro Funeral Directors Association. The current name was adopted in 1957.

Videos, Documentaries & Podcasts

Coronavirus Ripped a Hole in NYC's Black Community by Yousur Al-Hlou and Oma DeKornfeld, The New York Times, 6/14/20
Why Are Black and White Funeral Homes STILL Separate? “Ask a Mortician” episode featuring Dr. Kami Fletcher, 4/20
How the Bad Blood Started: In the United States, racial health disparities have been as foundational as democracy itself, 1619 Podcast, The New York Times, 9/13/19
How historic and present-day death rituals and funeral practices in the Black community serve as acts of resistance Interview with Dr. Kami Fletcher on Grief Out Loud: The Dougy Center’s podcast (episode 156)
Why African-American seniors are less likely to use hospice, PBS NewsHour, 5/5/15
Homegoings: Going Home, PBS POV trailer 6/25/13

Articles & Blogs

7 Elements of African American Mourning Practices & Burial Traditions by Dr. Kami Fletcher, TalkDeath.com, 2/8/21
How Death Doulas Have Adapted End-of-Life Care Amid COVID-19 (includes discussion of the role of doulas in helping clients to navigate racism in the healthcare system) by Ilana Kaplan, Vogue, 7/30/20
How do you foster ‘a good death in a racist society’? by Chace Beech, Los Angeles Times, 6/25/20
Is Death Really “The Great Equalizer?” African American Deathways and Inequality in America Interview with Dr. Kami Fletcher, Seven Ponds, 5/20
African-American Funeral Directors Feeling Stress of Coronavirus Deaths by Ed Stannard, New Haven Register, 4/20/20
Black Funeral Food Traditions Are an Essential Part of Grieving by Nneka M. Okona, Shondaland, 7/25/19
How Death Doulas Ease the Final Transition by Cynthia Greenlee (includes discussion of the role of doulas in helping clients to navigate racism in deathcare, featuring Black and Indigenous death doulas), Yes Magazine, Fall 2019
Black Funerals Are a Radical Testament to Blackness: For African Americans, homegoings are the ultimate form of liberation by Ida Harris, Yes Magazine, Fall 2019
Grave Matters: Segregation and Racism in U.S. Cemeteries by David Sherman, Order of the Good Death (includes an extensive list of citations), 2019
Jazz Funerals and Second Line Parades by Matt Sakakeeny, 64 Parishes/Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities magazine
Race & The Funeral Profession: What Jessica Mitford Missed by Dr. Kami Fletcher, TalkDeath, 12/18
5 Reasons Why African Americans Are Less Likely to Choose Hospice by Christopher Adrien, 5/12/17
Homegoings: A Black American Funeral Tradition by Jakarta K. Griffin, Anthropological Perspectives on Death, 4/23/17
Who Gets to Have a Good Death? by Tessa Love, The Establishment, 9/28/17
The Disappearance of a Distinctively Black Way to Mourn by Tiffany Stanley, The Atlantic, 1/26/16
African-American woman hopes to break down racial barrier in funeral home business by Doug Moore, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 2/15/15
Material Culture and Social Death: Africa-American Burial Practices by Ross W. Jamieson, JSTOR, 1995

Books

Home Funeral Ceremonies: A primer to honor the dying and the dead with reverence, light heartedness and grace by Donna Belk and Kateyanne Unullisi

Changing Landscapes: Exploring the growth of ethical, compassionate and environmentally sustainable green funeral service by Lee Webster

Grave Matters: A journey through the modern funeral industry to a natural way of burial by Mark Harris

Reimagining Death: Stories and Practical Wisdom for Home Funerals and Green Burials by Lucinda Herring

African American Grief by Paul C. Rosenblat and Beverly R. Wallace

Final Rights: Reclaiming the American Way of Death by Joshua Slocum and Lisa Carlson

The Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust

Passed On: African American Mourning Stories by Karla FC Holloway

Greening Death: Reclaiming Burial Practices and Restoring Our Tie to the Earth by Suzanne Kelly

The After-Death Care Educator Handbook, a compilation of previously published booklets, written and edited by Lee Webster and Donna Bell

The Future of the Corpse, edited by Karla Rothstein and Christina Staudt of Columbia University

The Green Burial Guidebook by Elizabeth Fournier