Burr Oak Cemetery and Restvale Cemetery

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The Burr Oak and the Restvale cemeteries are located in Alsip, Illinois a suburb about 20 miles southwest of the city of Chicago. Many legendary musicians from the Chicago blues era are buried here.

Burr Oak Cemetery is located at 4400 West 127th Street in Alsip. Amongst those of note interred here are:

James Kokomo Arnold (1901-1968), blues musician
Lexie Bigham (1968-1995), actor
Ezzard Charles (1921-1975), world heavyweight boxing champion
Jimmie Crutchfield (1910-1993), All-Star Negro League baseball player
Willie Dixon (1915-1992), blues musician and songwriter
John Donaldson (1892-1970), star pre-Negro League baseball pitcher and barnstormer businessman
Inman Jackson (1907-1973), player with the Harlem Globetrotters
Otis Spann (1930-1970), blues pianist
James A. "Candy Jim" Taylor (1884-1948), Negro League baseball player and manager
Emmett Till (1941-1955), murder victim whose death helped spawn the U.S. Civil Rights Movement
Dinah Washington (1924-1963), "Queen of the Blues"

Restvale Cemetery is located at 11700 S. Laramie Street in Alsip. Amongst those notables interred here are:

John Henry Barbee (1905-1964), blues singer, guitarist
Earl Hooker (1929-1970), blues guitarist
Big Walter "Shakey" Horton (1918-1981), blues harmonica player
Samuel "Magic Sam" Maghett (1936-1969), blues musician
Charles "Papa Charlie" McCoy (1909-1950), blues musician
Joe "Kansas" McCoy (1905-1950), blues musician
Nathaniel "Sweetwater" Clifton (1926-1990), professional basketball player
James Burke "St. Louis Jimmy" Oden (1903-1977), blues musician, composer
Eddie Taylor (1923-1985), blues guitarist, songwriter
Theodore Roosevelt "Hound Dog" Taylor (1915-1975), blues musician
Muddy Waters (1915-1983), great blues musician
Valerie Wellington (1959-1993), actress, opera singer, blues singer