The Birmingham Public Library Archives, in cooperation with the Shadow Lawn Memorial Gardens Maintenance and Perpetual Care Association, and supported by funds from the Association and a generous donation from CSX Corporation, has made this database available to help family members and other researchers locate and verify grave sites at Shadow Lawn.

The cemetery is located at 1600 12th Street Southwest in Birmingham, Alabama. Shadow Lawn was originally deeded in 1889 as a "colored" burial ground and is the largest African American cemetery in Birmingham. The original records of the cemetery, dating from the late 1930s, are preserved in the BPL Archives and are available for research. The whereabouts of the earlier cemetery records is not known.