A major roadway in Houston’s Fifth Ward may sit atop as many as 100 unaccounted sets of human remains, according to a new report.
Lockwood Drive was built through the historic Evergreen Negro Cemetery, a burial site for some of Houston’s earliest Black residents that was partially cleared during mid-20th century construction. The discovery—originally reported by KPRC2—is raising renewed questions about how the city will respond and whether more should be done to address the legacy of the burial site.
“I take pride in legacy. After your family member passes away, you want somebody to be able to take on the project that you started and keep that legacy and mission going,” said Zanitra Wells, a preservation advocate and descendant of family members buried in Evergreen.
The gravesite was founded in the late 1800s and contained hundreds of remains of war veterans, Buffalo Soldiers, former slaves and other early Black residents of Houston.
The burial ground remained active up until the 1950s, according to the Historic Evergreen Negro Cemetery project, a non-profit established to preserve the sanctity of the burial site.
“These places have left deep-rooted stories that deserve to be remembered by future generations,” said Lisa Jedkins, who has been involved with the preservation effort since 2008 and now has guardianship over the cemetery.
Between 1957 and 1960, the city of Houston expanded Lockwood Drive—splitting the cemetery and necessitating the relocation of hundreds of bodies to other cemeteries.
But advocates now say those efforts may have fallen short.
In 2023, during the research phase for a potential METRO rapid rail line through Lockwood, a team of archaeologists discovered that at least 39 sets of remains were underneath a median separating the burial sites.
Even then, Jedkins says that discovery only scratched the surface. She and several other advocates believe there could be hundreds of remains underneath a median in front of the cemetery.
However, the grunt work, such as excavating the median to retrieve the remains, would require significant effort and investment from the local government. Up until this point, the majority of preservation and beautification work had come from private donations and volunteers.
Since the METRO project never came into fruition, Jedkins and other advocates like Juliana Dearman hope that this does not deter officials from making the effort a priority.
“We want the city to make it right,” said Dearman, who has invested close to $300,000 into African American cemeteries using the estate of her late friend and distinguished preservationist, Lynna Kay.
Part of what this would look like includes creating a historical designation around the median where the remains were discovered, so it can not be tampered with in the future. Additionally, they would like to see funding support for clean-up efforts after storms and barriers surrounding the cemetery.