A little more than a year after the Florida Task Force on Abandoned African-American Cemeteries submitted their final report, there’s been little (legislative) action related to the panel’s findings and recommendations. But, in that time, several previously unknown cemeteries have been documented, including a few from the northwest region.
In addition to the Florida Master Site File, a database of all the state’s cultural and historical resources, these newly identified cemeteries are now listed on theFlorida Historic Cemetery Inventory. It wasn’t created as a result of the task force, but was expedited because of the panel’s work.
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“It’s an easy way for people to give basic information,” said Nicole Grinnan, faculty research associate at the University of West Florida and public archaeologist with the Florida Public Archaeology Network.
“The name of the cemetery, if they have it, the date of the oldest grave markers in the cemetery, date of the newest grave markers, about how many burials are there, and whether or not it is threatened, either from development or vegetation; not neglect, but the inability to care for something like that over time. It’s very difficult to do for communities.”
In the past year, with the Inventory’s less complicated form, the state has received 64 new cemetery site submissions statewide, with about a half dozen located in the Panhandle area (between Escambia and Gulf counties). Grinnan says the most outstanding submission came from resident Billy Middlebrooks on behalf of the Old Muscogee Cemetery in the Cantonment area.
“So, we met up with Billy out at the cemetery,” Grinnan began. “And, walking around, we’re kind of like, okay, we see a cemetery, it’s cared for. The grass is mowed. There are some signs of potential vandalism, which is a problem for a lot of cemeteries.”
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But, this section of the Old Muscogee Cemetery wasn’t really what Middlebrooks wanted to show them. He directed them across the red clay road in into the forest.
“We get into a very heavily vegetated area and there are more headstones. For some reason this particular area had not been cared for in the way that this other part of the cemetery was,” she noted.
She took photos and immediately began researching the people buried in the cemetery, finding that they were associated with the Muscogee community that was built up around a mill there in the 1870s.
“The lumber mill popped up after the Civil War, when a lot of northern money was coming down and being invested here. And, what came up mostly was that the individuals we were seeing represented by these headstones were members of the Muscogee area’s black and creole community,” Grinnan explained.
Middlebrooks, who describes his heritage as mostly Muscogee Creek, also has Scots-Irish, German, Dutch and African roots and because of his mixed-race background, he has relatives in both areas of the cemetery.
“I feel like this one’s been neglected,” he said of the area where Blacks and Native Americans are buried. “And, this one’s been taken care of, so I just wanted to bring this to the attention of the public to see if something could be done.”
The first crucial step was to bring the cemetery to the attention of FPAN and Grinnan, who arranged another visit with Middlebrooks.
“Most of the graves are broken or vandalized,” he said, describing the state of the cemetery’s condition as they went in for a look. “A lot of the stones are missing; a lot of sunken graves and unmarked graves,” he said, pointing out that people were buried in pine boxes and those boxes have deteriorated.
According to Middlebrooks, rows of north-south-oriented depressions are an indication of the Indigenous burials.
To date, the cemetery’s oldest known grave belongs to Archie Simmons, a one-year-old baby who died in 1907, over a century ago.
Eventually, we come upon the grave of Henrietta Williams, who was buried here in 1910.
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“She’s listed as a great aunt of my grandmother’s. But, due to adoptions and whatnot, we think she may be a more direct relation, possibly a fifth or sixth great-grandmother,” he shared.
An 1880 census record for Escambia County lists Henrietta as a Black woman, who was 26-years-old and the wife of Thomas Williams.
”We haven’t located Thomas, yet,” said Middlebrooks. “I have located a Thomas Williams in the Williams Cemetery over by McDavid.”
Here at the Old Muscogee Cemetery, which is partly on privately-owned property, Middlebrooks says he’d love to have it cleaned up and cleared out for people to have access, and he added that placards would be nice.
Efforts to identify, preserve, protect and maintain cemeteries like this one and others such as Tampa’s historic Zion and Ridgeway cemeteries, underscore the need for a comprehensive statewide approach to address the issue. That’s where recommendations of the task force come in.
“One of them was to set up like a cemetery office that would be funded through the state,” said Mike Thomin, faculty research associate at UWF and museum manager for FPAN’s Destination Archaeology Resource Center in Pensacola.
The office would develop guidelines for state agencies, local governments and developers to utilize in identifying and maintaining historic cemeteries, serve as an interagency governmental liaison, and to research and record previously unidentified sites. There are also recommendations regarding maintenance, education and research and prioritizing the placement of memorial markers.
“But, in terms of what the state actually implemented, there was a bill that was put forward, but it didn’t implement any of these things thus far,” said Thomin, offering an update. “There is a more recent bill that’s been put forward to the Florida State Legislature to try to once again implement some of these recommendations.”
The House and Senate versions of the 2023 bill (HB 49 andSB 430) to establish the Historic Cemeteries Program are currently making their way through committees, in the run up to this year’s regular legislative session, which begins Mar 7.
There has been action on the federal level, with the recent signing of the Omnibus Appropriations Bill that established the African American Burial Grounds Preservation Act.
More immediately, FPAN is doing its part by conducting a Cemetery Resource Protection Training workshop Thursday, Feb 23 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The workshop will begin with a morning classroom session at the Navarre Branch Library. The afternoon session, at Holley Point Cemetery in Navarre, will offer hands-on headstone cleaning instruction.
This workshop is free, but space is limited; participants must register via Eventbrite to attend.
