Memorial Park Cemetery, established in 1919, contains thousands of graves and is one of Tampa, Fla.’s historically Black cemeteries.
USF alumna Lakeema Matthew (second from left) and students from the Lina Bean Academy opened the presentation with a drumming exhibition. (Photo by Corey Lepak)
As part of USF’s Living Heritage Institute, the Black Cemetery Network (BCN), founded and directed by USF College of Arts and Sciences anthropology professor and chair Dr. Antoinette Jackson, aims to connect people and communities to Black cemeteries through the creation of a living archive facilitating research, advocacy, and collaboration.
The BCN hosted the public outreach event, “Legacies in Place, Memories in Mind: A Tribute to Black History and Memorial Park Cemetery,” in October centered on “remembrance, research, art, and fellowship.”
Guest speakers included: Fentrice Driskell, state representative and democratic leader for the Florida House of Representatives; Fred Hearns, curator of Black history at the Tampa Bay History Center; Norene Copeland Miller, a Tampa resident whose grandfather is buried in Memorial Park; Walter ‘Wally B’ Jennings, associate director of diversity initiatives at the USF Foundation, BCN creative consultant and spoken word artist; Tony Mulkey, interim director of parks and recreation for the City of Tampa.
“Locating, documenting, and preserving Black cemeteries is critically important,” Jackson said. “Recent focus on Tampa’s Zion Cemetery, for example, led to widespread demands for accountability because of systemic erasure and abandonment of historic Black cemeteries, often a direct result of segregation laws, ordinances, zoning, and housing, and tenancy policies legally in effect in the U.S. prior to the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964.”
Jackson said that Memorial Park Cemetery was one of several burial sites for Black residents during segregation.
“It remains an active site of burial and remembrance and is a testament to Black history in Tampa,” she said.
Memorial Park in the balance
Dr. Antoinette Jackson giving her opening remarks. (Photo by Corey Lepak)
Memorial Park Cemetery was purchased by John Robinson in 1929, who operated it until his death in 2019. Robinson left the cemetery to his niece and nephew who subsequently separated themselves from it, Jackson explained.
The City of Tampa then began maintaining the 20-acre cemetery with at least 13,000 unmarked graves and 6,000 headstones and had planned to take official ownership by placing a lien, foreclosing, and purchasing the property at county auction.
However, the city was outbid by a company that specializes in buying and reselling foreclosed property. The future of the land remained uncertain until, eventually, the city purchased the property back from the company.
In June 2023, House Bill 49 - Abandoned and Historic Cemeteries, introduced by U.S. Rep. Driskell, was signed into law and establishes the Historic Cemeteries Program and the Historic Cemeteries Program Advisory Council within the Department of State’s Division of Historical Resources. These initiatives, Jackson explained, support and facilitate education about and the maintenance of abandoned and historic cemeteries such as Memorial Park.
“It’s abandoned, lost, erased, degraded, stolen. We know that this is the legacy of many of our cemeteries due to the fact that Florida used to be a slaveholding state and we had a history of segregation,” Rep. Driskell said. “We know, however, that the great triumph in that is that that is not the legacy of our people. We in this present moment can provide the links necessary back to our history, back to our past, and try to right those wrongs in the present moment and make sure that the state, the county, the city, whomever it needs to be, does what's right by these cemeteries and by our communities, and particularly the descendant communities.”
Connecting with community
U.S. State Representative and Democratic Leader for the Florida House of Representatives,
Fentrice Driskell, speaks with attendees. (Photo by Corey Lepak)
Dr. Jackson shares the Black Cemetery Network’s latest research, advocacy and collaboration
efforts. (Photo by Corey Lepak)
“Being here, your energy, and the support from the community and all of you is what keeps us going,” Jackson said in her opening remarks. “I'm thinking about the African proverb ‘Until the lion tells the story, the hunter will always be the hero.’ And I know many of you know that, but it brings it back to mind where, at events like this, it is our responsibility to share stories about Black history.”
The event, open to the community and held at C. Blythe Andrews Library across from the cemetery, consisted of four parts: honoring the historical significance of Memorial Park, sharing the current work being done to maintain the cemetery, information about preservation networks working in the field of preventing cemetery erasure, and a walking tour. Several spoken word artists also shared original pieces.
“Memorial Park is a personal endeavor for me,” Jennings said. “As a young man and a child growing up here in the city of Tampa, my first cemetery experience was at Memorial Park Cemetery. So, this is absolutely a full circle moment for me and obviously very important to the legacy and lineage of our history here in the Tampa Bay area.”
“Knowing your past is a sacred act. Telling our stories is a divine act,” Jackson said.
Learn more about the Black Cemetery Network housed at the USF Living Heritage Institute.