Historic Black Cemetery Sold At Auction, City Blasted By Critics

TAMPA, FL — Angry that the city of Tampa allowed Memorial Park Cemetery to be purchased at a blind bid foreclosure auction, residents paraded before the Tampa City Council Thursday to demand the city take action to reacquire the historic Black cemetery.

Among them were Norene Copeland Miller, whose grandfather, a World War II veteran, her brother, also a veteran, her mother and at least 12 other family members are buried at the cemetery at 2225 E. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

"I was at peace knowing 35 years ago that my mother was buried there and had a headstone. My mother's soul is not resting now," she said. "I cannot even say how disgusting it is for the city of Tampa to allow this to happen. It never would have happened in another city. The audacity that the city allowed someone to bid on a historic Black cemetery is disgraceful."

In 2015, the owner of the cemetery since 1929, John Robert Robinson, offered to sell the historic burial grounds to the city. However, the city declined to purchase it, saying the city is not in the business of operating cemeteries, recalled Copeland Miller.

Robinson died in 2019, leaving property taxes unpaid and the ownership of the cemetery in limbo. The city took over the maintenance of the cemetery and formed a task force to determine the fate of the Memorial Park Cemetery and other historic Black cemeteries, some of which had been lost to history after development took place on top of gravesites.

Following Robinson's death, Tampa residents Eileen Henderson and Adrienne Rodriguez of the nonprofit Cemetery Citizens Action Group, said city officials assured them that plans were in the works to start a nonprofit to oversee the Memorial Park Cemetery.

Then, without any notice to the families of those buried there, the city paid the service fee for the required public notice of sale and sent the property to a judicial blind bid public auction on Jan. 6.

"All while making public statements about how they were making strides with our cemeteries, specifically our Black cemeteries, the city allowed the property to be sold," Henderson said.

The property was purchased for $18,000 by 2715 West Sligh LLC, a company that buys and sells property at public auction. With taxes and fees, the sale of the property totaled about $30,000.

Under the laws pertaining to the public sale of property with tax liens, there is a 10-day redemption period before the sale is final. But there is no mechanism for the city to claim a property, said Rodriguez. However, she said the cemetery could have been claimed by a nonprofit like the one the city failed to organize.

"The city of Tampa acted carelessly, recklessly and irresponsibly, and there needs to be reparations," Rodriguez said.

In the meantime, she and Henderson met Wednesday with the new owner of the cemetery, Alexis Arteaga, who is willing to negotiate a sale to the city, they said.

Quoting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rodriguez told the city council, "The time is right to do what is right." She urged the council to take immediate action.

See related: Historic East Tampa Cemetery Maintenance Taken Over By City

Bob Whitmore, executive director of the Cemetery Citizens Action Group, likened the sale of the cemetery to slavery.

"A few weeks ago, a white man purchased over 6,000 Black men and women for $30,000," he said. "The city tried to pull a fast one and tried to get the property on the cheap instead of outright purchasing it and honoring the dead with a historic designation. It's one of the most despicable acts of unbridled greed this city will ever see, God willing."

According to Halley Reed, who's researched the cemetery, some of those buried at Memorial Park Cemetery were, indeed, enslaved people.

She said she's documented 15,000 burial sites at the cemetery, 10,000 of which are unmarked. Those buried there include community leaders like Cyrus Greene and George W. Middleton.

The oldest person in the cemetery died in 1919 at the age of 106. Reed said he was likely born into slavery in 1813.

"Many of those buried are old enough to not only have been born into slavery but spent a significant part of their adult lives as slaves," Reed said.

In 1920, the cemetery was dedicated as a dignified resting place for Tampa's Black veterans, she said. There are 830 veterans buried there, from members of the Colored Regiment who served in the Civil War to those who served in Vietnam.

"More than anything, they are the unacknowledged workers who literally built Tampa," such as cigar makers, farmers, dockworkers, laborers and housekeepers, Reed said. "I am asking you today to not let them be forgotten."

Saying the council was never told about the pending sale of the cemetery, council member Orlando Gudes called this yet another "breakdown in communications with the city administration."

"By whatever means necessary, I want it resolved," he said.

Council member Guido Maniscalco agreed.

"We have to fix it and make it right," he said.

"Council member Gudes talked about lack of communication," said council member Bill Carlson. "The first I learned that the city failed to get it was when I read it in the paper. I was told the city was taking over it."

Nicole Travis, administrator of development and economic opportunity for the city, said city staff is investigating ways to acquire and maintain the cemetery, noting that it could be declared a passive park and fall under the parks and recreation division.

"I give you all my word, we are working on this," she said. "I assure you that we're going to take care of it."

In the meantime, Carlson said nothing will happen to the cemetery.

"This council passed new rules to protect cemeteries," he said. "The seven of us put those into place with help of staff."