Graves may be on school land

The Hillsborough School District looks into the possibility of an unmarked graveyard at King High.

TAMPA — Hillsborough County might have another long-forgotten African-American cemetery, and this one could be on the grounds of King High School. School Board Chairwoman Tamara Shamburger said a resident alerted district leaders to the possibility late Thursday. “We are taking this very seriously,” Shamburger said, appearing at a news conference Friday afternoon with Superintendent Jeff Eakins. She said they are working furiously to determine if it is true. The revelation comes less than two months after archaeologists discovered at least 127 coffins from Zion Cemetery are under a portion of the Robles Park Village housing projects. They believe hundreds more lie under the 2½-acre all-black, segregation-era burial ground’s footprint, which extends to warehouse property stretching across the 3700 block of N Florida Avenue.

Nearly 30 families are being relocated to other housing. The archaeologists were hired by the Tampa Housing Authority in response to a Tampa Bay Times report in June questioning if Zion was exhumed when it disappeared nearly a century ago. Information about the King High School land came from Ray Reed, the same cemetery researcher who asked the Times to investigate what became of Zion. “I wanted the school district to get its ducks in a row,” Reed told the Times in a text message.

FULL STORY

Reporter: By Marlene Sokol and Paul Guzzo Times Staff Writers

Word Count: 842

Publication: Tampa Bay Times

Section: A DESK