Calif. activists want racist gravestones in Mormon Island cemetery changed

(CBS/AP) EL DORADO HILLS, Calif. - Thirty-six concrete gravestones tucked away in the 50-year-old Mormon Island cemetery in a corner of California's former gold fields, bear a blatant reminder of a more racist past.

The dead, both black and white, were moved from a Gold Rush-era hamlet known as Negro Hill to El Dorado Hills, west of Sacramento, in the 1950s to make way for a reservoir.

The problem is the way the markers continue to identify them almost 60 years later:

"Unknown. Moved from Nigger Hill Cemetery by U.S. Government - 1954."

Now activists are trying to get the markers replaced with ones bearing what they say was the original name, Negro Hill.

The trouble is getting someone to take responsibility for fixing an error committed during an era when the N-word was commonly used. The Army Corps of Engineers, which had the graves relocated, says it handed over control of the gravesite to El Dorado County. The county says it welcomes a solution from the Corps.

On Thursday, a group that oversees work projects for state prison inmates stepped in with an offer to update the gravestones.

Chuck Pattillo, general manager of the California Prison Industry Authority, said the inmates can finish the work in two days, free of charge. He just needs approval from El Dorado County.