Burial Site of Illinois’ First Black Voter, David Strother, Confirmed in El Paso
Local historians in El Paso, Illinois, have confirmed the burial site of David Strother, identified as the first Black man to vote in Illinois after the 15th Amendment. Ground-penetrating radar was used to detect anomalies consistent with four burials in…
St. Louis, MO, September 16, 2026 —
Local historians in El Paso, Illinois, have officially confirmed the burial site of David Strother, a pivotal figure recognized as the first Black man to cast a vote in Illinois following the ratification of the 15th Amendment. This significant discovery sheds new light on a crucial moment in Illinois’s civil rights history.
The confirmation was made possible through the use of ground-penetrating radar. This advanced technology was employed to survey a plot of land located near Strother’s existing memorial marker. The radar detected anomalies that were found to be consistent with the presence of four separate burials within the plot.
The findings strongly suggest that David Strother is interred in this identified location, alongside three family members. While Strother’s historical importance has been acknowledged with a memorial marker, the precise location of his final resting place and those of his family members had remained less definitive until this recent investigation.
The work was conducted by local historians dedicated to preserving the legacy of early African American voters and their contributions to the state’s democratic development. Further details regarding the specific family members or the exact timeline of the burials were not immediately available.
Story summarized from the original created by Lizzie Seils on www.stlpr.org, see more information here.
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