Tampa Puts New Cemetery Owners on Watch

TAMPA -- One resident calls it a sad way to begin Black History Month.

Tampa City officials are paying attention after outrage over the sale of a historic black cemetery to private owners.

Noreen Copeland Miller has several relatives buried in Memorial Park Cemetery.

The city of Tampa was maintaining the cemetery after the owner died in 2019. It had placed a lien on the property to pay for the upkeep, then foreclosed on the cemetery, hoping to take it over. But a private buyer outbid them.

Miller and others questioned the new owner's motives at Thursday's city council meeting.

Tampa city officials and city council say they'll keep an eye out to make sure the owner is meeting state and city requirements. State laws protect cemeteries from development and city ordinances also have requirements of cemetery owners.

Several historically black cemeteries in Tampa and nearby communities were bought and wiped out during the Jim Crow era, often with bodies remaining on site. The places where former African-American cemeteries have been wiped out include the Robles Park neighborhood, King High School, and MacDill Air Force Base. Memorial Park is one of a vanishingly small number of historic black cemeteries that survived into the 21st century.

Photo: Canva


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