PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — A new ground-penetrating radar survey conducted near Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg has revealed additional graves on the site.
"I feel like my own history has been ignored, my history has been bulldozed and built over, and so for me, when I go out there, I feel connected to my past," said Corey Givens Jr., St. Pete City Councilman.
For Givens Jr., the land around Tropicana Field is sacred.
"I have a great great grandfather, Will Williams who may or may not be buried under the parking lot at Tropicana Field," said Givens Jr.
But he's finally getting some more information about that land.
The recent ground penetrating radar survey was completed in the area that used to be known as Oaklawn Cemetery.
"We have a picture, but it's incomplete…but at least we have a picture," said Givens Jr.
Oaklawn Cemetery was established in 1905 and condemned in 1926.
It was a segregated cemetery, and neighbored two historically African American Cemeteries, Evergreen and Moffett Cemeteries.
These were eventually built over and neglected.
Surveys were done in those areas in 2021 and 2024.
The most recent found at least ten possible graves, eleven areas of interest and nine areas of possible grave removal.
"I think the survey says there's more to be done. There are answers but there are more questions," he said.
Givens Jr. said these people have been neglected for almost a century, and if the new stadium deal had moved forward, he's not sure the cemeteries would have gotten the respect they deserve.
"This deal was so close to going through, but something stopped it…it wasn't just the hurricane, right. I think the ancestors intervened…nothing is going to be successful at this site until we do right by our history and our past," he said.
Givens Jr. hopes to speak with descendants of those buried on the site and devise ways to honor them.
In the report, surveyors were not able to gain access to the area near 5th Avenue South.
Givens Jr. said more research needs to be conducted.
"These should be freak accidents, not a natural disaster"
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