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Hurricane of 1928 African-American Mass Burial Site

1913 establishments in FloridaCemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in FloridaNational Register of Historic Places in Palm Beach County, FloridaWest Palm Beach, Florida
Mass Grave 020
Mass Grave 020

The Hurricane of 1928 African-American Mass Burial Site (also known as Pauper's Cemetery) is a pauper's cemetery and mass grave in West Palm Beach, Florida. It is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The cemetery is situated near the junction of 25th Street and Tamarind Avenue between I-95 and U.S. Route 1. The site is the location in which 674 bodies of African Americans or those of an unknown race were buried following the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane, while most of the white victims of the storm received a proper burial at Woodlawn Cemetery due to segregation laws. Established in 1913, the property of the pauper's cemetery currently includes approximately 1.03 acres (0.42 ha) of land. Although the site is located at the southwest corner of 25th Street and Tamarind Avenue, 25th Street was paved above the northern portion of the mass grave in the 1950s, unearthing a number of bodies in the process. After the 1928 hurricane, the bodies buried at that location became mostly forgotten by the public. The city of West Palm Beach sold the land and it changed ownership several times into the 1980s. Beginning in 1991, a movement to convince the city of West Palm Beach to repurchase the property began, which succeeded in December 2000. On September 12, 2002, it was added to the US National Register of Historic Places.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Hurricane of 1928 African-American Mass Burial Site (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Hurricane of 1928 African-American Mass Burial Site

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Latitude Longitude
N 26.736388888889 ° E -80.061944444444 °
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Mass Grave 020
Mass Grave 020
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Dunbar Village
Dunbar Village

Dunbar Village is a 246-unit public housing community located within the North Tamarind neighborhood of West Palm Beach, Florida. The community is directly east of North Tamarind Avenue, and borders the neighborhoods of Pleasant City and Northwood Pines. It is named after the late 19th- and early 20th-century poet, Paul Laurence Dunbar. The community was built from 1939 to 1940 for African Americans, and is alike to Liberty Square and Edison Courts in Miami for its "army barracks" configuration. Constructed shortly after the passage of the Housing Act of 1937, the community is one of the first public housing in the state of Florida. The community had received significant attention after an assault and rape within the premises that occurred on June 18, 2007. According to The Palm Beach Post and Associated Press, up to ten men had gang-raped a thirty-five-year-old woman for three hours and then forced her to perform oral sex on her twelve-year-old son, who was also beaten and doused with household chemicals. As of September 3, police have arrested four suspects, ranging in age from 14 to 18.However, the community reverted to its rather peaceful state months into the investigation. A security gate has been installed and numerous housing blocks have been boarded-up, awaiting demolition for upcoming redevelopment. When completed, the redeveloped community will have both mixed-income rentals and renovations to the current, historical housing blocks.