District Unveils Memorial To Lost Black Cemetery At High School

TAMPA, FL — When he was commissioned to design a memorial for a lost Black cemetery in Tampa, architect Jerel McCants said he had two goals. He wanted to create a monument that would pay tribute to the forgotten souls long buried in the cemetery, and he wanted to create a place where people could reflect on the past.

The result of McCants's labors were unveiled by the Hillsborough County School District Monday. If approved by the community, the monument will be erected on a 1-acre site on the campus of King High School on 56th Street.

The possibility that the high school had been built on top of a historical Black pauper's cemetery, known as the Ridgewood Cemetery, came to light when Tampa historian Ray Reed discovered a 1959 deed for the purchase of the property by the school district that showed some discrepancies with the property's appraisal.

The school district hired a team of geophysical technicians to use ground-penetrating radar to search the school campus. The team confirmed the presence of at least 145 coffins dating from the 1940s on a 1-acre piece of property used by the high school's agricultural department.

But records indicate there could be as many as 286 people buried at the site. Many of the dead buried in the cemetery were infants or small children— possibly 77. Their small coffins would be difficult to detect during a scane. Other coffins may have decayed to the point that ground-penetrating radar could no longer pinpoint them.

The school district formed a historical response committee made up of representatives from community groups and faith-based leaders, as well as city, county and state elected officials, to decide what to do about the revelation.

Rather than disturb the cemetery by attempting to move the coffins, the committee opted to turn the 1-acre site into a memorial.

McCants, whose firm, Jerel McCants Architecture Inc. of Ybor City, most recently tackled the renovation of the historic three-story Memorial Middle School at 4702 N. Central Ave., Tampa.

But when it came to designing a tribute to Tampa's Black ancestors, McCants had to think outside the box.

"My main goal was to restore the connection so, before doing any sketches, I wanted to understand the history of the burial ground and how I could restore that connection," he said.

In his sketches, McCants said he experimented with various religious themes and symbols before settling on a design that incorporated two 21-foot-long triangles with created with aluminum frames covered with bronze sheets set on a 7-foot-high stone pediment at a 42-degree angle with water running between them into a pool below.

The triangles represent the wings of doves, a universal symbol of love and peace, said McCants. They also symbolize hands ushering the earthbound souls in the cemetery toward heaven.

"I wanted to create a place where a student could spend time alone contemplating," McCants said. "I want them to see that there's something greater than themselves and that they have a connection to the past.

The Florida Legislature has allocated $50,000 to help pay for the memorial.

School board member and lifelong Tampa resident Henry "Shake" Washington said he thought McCants captured the message the historical response committee hoped to convey but suggested that the names of those laid the rest on the 1-acre site be added to pavers that will surround the memorial.

"There were no decisions made today," said Washington of the rendering unveiled Monday. "We want to take it to the next step and get the community's input before moving forward."

This is the second lost Black cemetery discovered in Tampa in the past two years.

Several months before the discovery of the Ridgewood Cemetery, archaeologists hired by the Tampa Housing Authority discovered that the original Robles Park Village housing project at 3814 N. Central Ave., developed in the 1950s, had been built on top of a portion of the Zion Cemetery, founded in the 1900s as one of the first cemeteries for Black residents in Tampa.

Ground-penetrating radar located at least 127 coffins beneath 67 buildings in the housing project.

The Tampa City Council and housing authority had long planned to raze the development and replace it with 1,000 new affordable homes. After the discovery, 97 residents were immediately relocated and the city fast-tracked the new housing project.

Then, weeks after the discovery of the Ridgewood Cemetery, research into records and old newspaper articles indicated that another cemetery for indigent Black residents may have been located on the grounds of MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa.

The Air Force base used cadaver dogs to search the grounds of the base and discovered multiple anomalies that suggest the Port Tampa Cemetery, containing about 38 grave sites, is located in a wooded area on the property.

See related stories:

• Officials Look For More Lost Black Pauper's Cemeteries In Tampa
• Forgotten Black Cemetery Discovered On Florida High School Campus
• Planners Named To Redevelop Projects Built On Black Cemetery
• King High School Campus May Contain Black Pauper's Cemetery
• Lost African American Cemeteries Researched By USF Students