Unearthed cemetery mystery continues

When a backhoe uncovered a burial ground while preparing a site for an affordable housing project on Northwest 71st Street just east of Interstate 95 in Miami, the discovery set off a frantic search for a detailed history of the old Lemon City neighborhood. Black historians and activists are asking Miami’s preservation board to halt development on the rest of the property, since the tower being built takes up about half the area. Preservationists say hundreds of black Miamians, many of them thought to be immigrants from the Bahamas, may have been buried there between 1910 and the 1930s. The remains of about 20 people have been uncovered by archeologists.

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