Oaklawn might have an erased Black section

Land at Tampa cemetery is now a parking lot and a church fellowship hall.

TAMPA — The historic marker outside Oaklawn Cemetery describes Tampa’s first public burial ground as the “resting place” for “White and Slave, Rich and Poor.” As one of those enslaved by Tampa’s pioneering McKay family, Isaac Howard would have been destined to be buried in an unmarked grave in Oaklawn’s “slave” section. Then came the Civil War. Emancipated, Howard sought to establish places for Tampa’s free Black residents to be buried. He founded at least one — a Black section in College Hill Cemetery, an erased burial ground identified by a previous Tampa Bay Times investigation as likely being located under the Italian Club Cemetery’s parking lot. Howard might be linked to a second missing Black cemetery. The Times discovered a deed with Howard’s signature for an unnamed Black cemetery adjoining Oaklawn. Rebecca O’Sullivan, an archaeologist with the private firm Stantec, confirmed the deed is for that location. Today that property includes most of a parking lot owned by the Florida Department of Transportation, which is leased by the city of Tampa. The cemetery footprint would have extended in a northeast direction across the street to where Greater Bethel Missionary Baptist Church’s fellowship hall is now located, on the corner of E Laurel and N Jefferson streets. The Times could not find evidence that anyone was buried there. But now that the properties have been identified as the possible location of a cemetery, an archaeological survey will likely be required before any future developments are approved. It is illegal to knowingly disturb a grave. Archaeologists have confirmed that six sites throughout the region are home to erased or forgotten graves tied to pioneering Black communities.

FULL STORY

Reporter: By Paul Guzzo -- Times Staff Writer

Word Count: 1052

Publication: Tampa Bay Times

Section: METRO