A cleanup day is planned for this historic Fort Worth African American cemetery
A group of community organizations will join forces to clean up one of the oldest African-American cemeteries in Tarrant County this month, and you can help.
People’s Burial Park, at 2800 N. Beach St., also known as New Trinity Cemetery, is home to over 500 African-American veterans and others who helped shape Tarrant County. Various organizations have come together to hold a clean-up event at the cemetery at 10 a.m. May 30. They are asking for volunteers who do not need to sign up, but show up at the cemetery.
Mason Thompson, founder of Soul of Fort Worth: Black History Tours, said he learned about the cemetery earlier this year and, when he visited, saw trash and broken tombstones. Historical African-American figures are buried in the cemetery, such as Dr. Riley Andrew Ransom, one of the first African American doctors in Fort Worth, Thompson said.
“I just think with people like that, who have done a lot for us, so that we can be here today, should at least be taken care of,” Thompson said. “We definitely stand on the shoulders of giants, and we wouldn’t be where we are today without those figures.”
The cemetery’s earliest burial was the Rev. Greene Fretwell, a former slave, who died in 1886. There were no African American cemeteries in that part of Tarrant County. Frances, Green’s widow, collected donations and with the trustees of Trinity Chapel Methodist Church bought 2 acres in 1889 for a church and burial ground. Worship services were held under a brush arbor until a church was built.
In the 1920s, burials began on adjacent land, known as New Trinity Cemetery. Additional property was designated in 1931 and named People’s Burial Park.
The entire site is commonly referred as New Trinity Cemetery.
The clean-up is open to all who want to participate. Thompson asks for people to bring their own supplies from gloves, brushes and trash bags. If a person does not have supplies there will be other ways to help.
Various organizations will take part in the cleanup: Fort Worth Lodge No. 2144, Oriental Lodge No. 3499, Alpha Beta Iota Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., National Pan-Hellenic Council of Tarrant County, Panther City Lodge No. 159 Free and Accepted Masons, Psi Zeta Chapter of the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc., and Fort Worth Funeral Directors Association.
Last year, the cemetery was rededicated on Veterans Day after a months-long restoration project conducted by the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office’s Labor Detail Unit. The program allows people convicted of crimes in the county to serve their sentences through manual labor instead of jail time.
