CLEARWATER, Fla. — Historical maps shared by Pinellas County Schools officials confirm a segregated cemetery for African Americans existed on district property through the 1950s, but records showing the complete transfer of bodies to a new location in Dunedin have not yet been found.
Pinellas County Schools real estate analyst Charlene Beyer said on Thursday that she became aware of the cemetery when she started her position with the district but had no reason to believe any bodies remained on the site of the old Pinellas High School, which served the district’s African American students through the 1960s. The cemetery was moved to make room for the school’s expansion.
“I had been made aware of this a long time ago when I started my position but was under the impression that all the bodies were moved,” she said.
Beyer came out to the site Thursday morning with the Clearwater/Upper Pinellas NAACP President, Zebbie Atkinson IV. Archaeologists from the University of South Florida and neighborhood members of the Clearwater Heights Reunion Committee were present as well. This was the first meeting of the groups regarding this issue.
It was neighbors from the Clearwater Heights group that raised the issue of lost cemeteries in the area. They are also looking into another site on the property of the FrankCrum staffing firm along Missouri Avenue.
The district has not yet made a commitment to scan the area for graves using ground-penetrating radar, but Beyer said leaders will work with the community through this process. “We are working as hard as we can to help get this remediated or resolved to the best of our ability,” she said.
Documents 10News obtained through a public records request to Pinellas County Schools also show the area was designated as an African American cemetery by the city of Clearwater as early as 1940. According to city commission meeting minutes from Jan. 2, 1940, the city passed a resolution to create a cemetery in the area along Holt Avenue, just north of Palmetto Street.
“The cemetery being used for the burial of negroes in Clearwater is inadequate and not well located for the purpose; and…the City Commission has been requested to provide ground for a suitable negro cemetery.” – Clearwater City Commission meeting minutes, Jan. 2, 1940.
The minutes went on to read that the area should be set aside for a cemetery and should be used for no other purpose.
“That after the above-described property has been placed in suitable condition for use as a Negro Cemetery, and shall henceforth be used for that purpose and for no other purpose.” – Clearwater City Commission meeting minutes, Jan. 2, 1940.
A 1993 land survey from Silvie & Co. labeled the former cemetery and showed Holt Avenue splits the site nearly in half.
In the 1950s, the school board sold the property to the city under the condition it would move 350 graves to a new location in Dunedin.
Atkinson said because some graves might not have been marked by a headstone, it’s likely some bodies could remain.
Jeff Moates, central region director for the Florida Public Archaeology Network, said the Silvie & Co. survey could make it easier to use ground-penetrating radar to search for graves. However, because the road splits the old cemetery site, part of the land is not in the school district’s hands.
Moates was one of the archeologists who did ground-penetrating radar for Zion Cemetery, where 144 coffins were detected underneath the Tampa Housing Authority’s Robles Park Village. He also sits on Hillsborough County Schools’ Historical Response Committee for King High School, where 145 graves were detected from Ridgewood Cemetery. Both cemeteries were segregation-era sites where African Americans were laid to rest.
"Our people back then didn't have a whole lot of voice and then wasn't heard like they should have been,” said Carlton Childs, Clearwater resident who is looking for loved ones’ lost graves. “…Today we feel like we may have a little bit more of a voice, and we intend to be heard."
Emerald Morrow is a reporter with 10News WTSP. Like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter. You can also email her at emorrow@wtsp.com.
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