TAMPA, Fla. – Two Tampa legislators took steps forward last month in continuing their effort to find and save destroyed African American cemeteries throughout the Tampa Bay area, according to a report from WTSP-TV.
The goal of the legislation is to keep records of the abandoned African American cemeteries found as well as commit to finding and saving those that are lost, WTSP-TV wrote.
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According to WTSP-TV, this comes after hundreds of graves from Zion Cemetery were discovered under Tampa businesses and apartments in 2019, which led to a cascade of other cemeteries located throughout the area, including at local schools and an air force base.
Rep. Fentrice Driskell and Sen. Janet Cruz, who filed the bill in the House and Senate respectively, also said a key part of the legislation is to establish curriculum based on the history and erasure of these cemeteries in Florida schools.
The legislative duo joins a number of others, including Betty Wade, a woman working to save the historic Oakland African American Cemetery, dedicated to preserving these pieces of African American history.