Preserving Black Heritage: Florida activists fight to save historic site and their culture
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Saturday, November 19, 2022 • • General
Behind a chain-link fence six miles from the cacophony of Orlando, a jumble of old masonry sits quiet and still, the foundations of what was the heart of a historically Black community nearly obscured by tall grasses swaying in a hot Central Florida wind.
The Hungerford property, as it is known, makes up 15% of the tiny town of Eatonville, a 1.6-square-mile patch of modest homes and businesses that is one of the oldest incorporated Black communities in the U.S. For the county school board offering the 100-acre tract for sale, the developers eager to build on it and a narrow majority of the town council, it is clear what they see behind the fence: profit.
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Tuesday, February 3, 2026 • • General
WASHINGTON (7News) — Three historic Black cemeteries in Washington, D.C., are getting a financial boost as the city moves to preserve sacred ground and the stories tied to it.
The District announced two grants totaling $250,000 for the care and preservation of cemeteries in Georgetown and Benning Ridge. Two nonprofits, the Woodlawn Cemetery Perpetual Care Association and the Black Georgetown Foundation, will each receive $125,000 to support research, maintenance, and community education efforts during the next fiscal year.
City leaders say the investment is part of a broader push to recognize and protect Black history in the nation's capital, especially places that were historically underfunded.
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Wednesday, October 22, 2025 • • General
The burying ground looks like an abandoned lot. Holding the remains of upward of 22,000 enslaved and free people of color, the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground in Richmond, Virginia, established in 1816, sits amid highways and surface roads. Above the expanse of unmarked graves loom a deserted auto shop, a power substation, a massive billboard. The bare ground of the cemetery is strewn with weeds.
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Friday, September 26, 2025 • • General
It is our pleasure to announce that the Unity Cemetery Fund is accepting applications for funding in 2026. The attached PDF includes detailed information about the grant process. Applications will be due February 28th, 2026. The award will be announced in May 2026.
In 2024 the Unity Cemetery Fund was pleased to be able to award funding to Geer Cemetery in North Carolina for needed repairs and infrastructure work, and in 2025 we provided funding to the Descendants of Olivewood in Texas for needed repairs within their cemetery.