Washington Funeral Resources & Education
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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.

On This Page

  • Links to local Washington organizations and information from leading nonprofit websites​
  • Resources addressing the impact of racism on deathcare​
  • Books about being with the dying, home funeral, ceremony, and natural burial

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

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Home Funeral Ceremonies: A primer to honor the dying and the dead with reverence, light heartedness and grace by Donna Belk and Kateyanne Unullisi
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Changing Landscapes: Exploring the growth of ethical, compassionate and environmentally sustainable green funeral service by Lee Webster
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Grave Matters: A journey through the modern funeral industry to a natural way of burial by Mark Harris
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Reimagining Death: Stories and Practical Wisdom for Home Funerals and Green Burials by Lucinda Herring
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African American Grief by Paul C. Rosenblat and Beverly R. Wallace
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Final Rights: Reclaiming the American Way of Death by Joshua Slocum and Lisa Carlson
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The Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust
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Passed On: African American Mourning Stories by Karla FC Holloway
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Greening Death: Reclaiming Burial Practices and Restoring Our Tie to the Earth by Suzanne Kelly
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The After-Death Care Educator Handbook, a compilation of previously published booklets, written and edited by Lee Webster and Donna Bell
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The Future of the Corpse, edited by Karla Rothstein and Christina Staudt of Columbia University
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The Green Burial Guidebook by Elizabeth Fournier

Learn How To:

Perform Body Care
Complete Paperwork
Arrange Disposition
Transport the Dead
Create Ceremony
​Go Out Greener
Work With Professionals
Pay For a Funeral

Learn About:

How to Get Help
Washington Funeral Law

Professionals
Community Education
Home Funeral Resources
FAQs
​Glossary of Terms
Stories
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Washington Funeral Resources
and Education
 

WAstatefuneral@gmail.com
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Contact

Landscape photos courtesy of
Sean Proll
Justin Craig

All Rights Reserved
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Washington Funeral Resources and Education is a non-commercial public interest site dedicated to helping Washington consumers care for their own dead with or without the assistance of a funeral director. See FuneralPartnership.org for more state funeral information. This site is maintained as a project of White Eagle Memorial Preserve and Sacred Earth Foundation, which coordinates responses to inquiries with other Washington-based organizations and practitioners that support the mission of the Funeral Partnership.
Disclaimer: 
This website has been created by volunteers making reasonable efforts to provide resources and materials for informational purposes only. Any information you obtain from this website is not legal advice and should not be relied upon without confirmation of current law. No warranties, expressed or implied, are made with respect to the information herein. There is no guarantee that the information contained here is complete or up-to-date as of the date that you view this site. ​The agencies linked via hyperlinks are responsible for the content of those sites. Their information is subject to change and should be consulted directly to ensure accurate and up-to-date information. Please report any inaccuracies to us in the form on the CONTACT page. Thank you!
  • Home
  • How To
    • Get Help Now
    • Learn the law
    • Have a Home Funeral
    • Perform Body Care >
      • Cooling Techniques
    • Complete Paperwork
    • Arrange Disposition
    • Transport the Dead
    • Create Ceremony
    • Go Out Greener
    • Pay for a Funeral
    • Work With Professionals
  • Learn More
    • Resources For Professionals
    • Tools for Community Education
    • Organizations, Articles, Books
    • Sample Forms
    • Glossary
    • Media Kit
    • Pandemic Care Guide >
      • Pandemic Care Guide
      • Practical Guidelines
      • Ceremony Resources
      • Articles
      • Covid-19 FAQs
    • FAQs
  • Read Stories
    • Read Their Stories
    • Heather's Story
    • Mikaela's Story, P 1
    • Mikaela's Story, P 2
    • Mikaela's Story, P 3
    • Alicia's Story
    • Rich's Story
    • Jake's Story
    • Briar's Story
    • Karen's Story
    • Lashanna's Story
  • Blog
  • Contact