Residents living inside a Tampa Bay, Florida, apartment complex are being forced to move out after more than 120 possible coffins were discovered underneath.
The 30 families will be relocated by the local housing authority after the land turned out to be an abandoned black cemetery, according to WFTS.
The Tampa Bay Times linked the area to what they say could be the first African American cemetery in the area, dating back to the 1900s.
“As a child, we had heard that this used to be a memorial site but paid little attention to it because, you know, at the time, we needed housing,” a resident who lived there for 20 years said.
The housing authority chose to investigate, which led to an archaeologist discovering the coffins with radar.
Residents forced out after 120 possible coffins discovered under apartment complex https://t.co/WoYuvCtWCu pic.twitter.com/6sav6Jr6qr
— WCVB-TV Boston (@WCVB) September 1, 2019
“It’s time for the city to right its wrong,” the president of Hillsborough County’s NAACP, Yvette Lewis, said. “People’s resting place are where they are supposed to rest, and the souls can’t even rest because it has been disturbed.”
The site is now planned to be turned into a memorial following the discovery.
