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Annual Remembrance Day

July 13, 2010

Legislature approves annual remembrance day for Californians who died anonymously in state institutions

From the mid-1880s to the 1960s, more than 45,000 individuals died while residents of a state institution and were buried in numbered or unmarked graves in mass sites. Now they will be be honored every third Monday of September, thanks to an Assembly resolution of July 8, authored by Sen. Wesley Chesbro, and sponsored by Disability Rights California, People First California and the California Network of Mental Health Clients.

In 2002, the Department of Mental Health established the California Memorial Project together with the three advocacy organizations to identify the location of gravesites at the remaining state institutions and to develop suitable memorials for the many people with developmental and/or mental health disabilities who died without recognition or ceremony at state hospitals or developmental centers. Two monuments have been placed so far, one on the California State University Stanislaus campus, and another at Stockton Rural Cemetary. Each year, the three organizations have held a Remembrance Day in honor of the 45,000, featuring poems, songs, stories and oral histories by former residents, their friends, families and self-advocates. In 2009, more than 700 people attended the September 21 ceremonies at the Parkview Cemetery in Manteca, Napa State Hospital, Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk, Patton State Hospital, Hillcrest Cemetery in Porterville, Agnews Historic Cemetery in Santa Clara, Sonomoa Developmental Cemetery in Eldridge, Stockton Rural Cemetery and Ukiah Cemetery.

The Resolution (Assembly Concurrent Resolution 123) recognized that "Attention to the California Memorial Project and its work are...critical pieces of California's history and serve as an opportunity to reflect upon the strides made in reducing the stigma of disability, including psychiatric and developmental disabilities, as well as promoting awareness and education. The resolution can be read in full: www.aroundthecapitol.com/bills/ACR_123/