Advice from the elders and stories of prominent historical figures filled Bartow’s Evergreen Cemetery Wednesday. Buffalo Soldiers Inc. President Richard Wilder painted pictures with stories of some of the people buried at this gravesite.

“Pvt. James Johnson was buried here. We just don’t know exactly where — some of these tombstones don’t have names on them,” said Wilder. “When these Buffalo Soldier troops came to Lakeland, they came with authority; we’re talking about the men of the 10th Calvary, Black troopers.“

This week the Buffalo Soldiers Inc. will celebrate May Day in Lakeland, Bartow and Orlando.

“We are less about riding the horses around and more about educating people about who the Buffalo soldiers were and why celebrating days like “May 20th” are important,” said Wilder.

On May 20, 1865 Gen. Edward McCook read the Emancipation Proclamation in Tallahassee, Florida, freeing the slaves there. President Abraham Lincoln signed this proclamation on January 1, 1863, but it was not enforced in the South.

“After the war, there were military officers who were given authority to go to these rebellion states and take control and force the emancipation proclamation; this was May 20 in Tallahassee, Florida,” said Wilder.”

This is history that the Buffalo Soldiers Inc. of Polk County keeps alive through their stories and reenactments of the day. On Thursday, Wilder called on Lakeland’s Mayor, Bull Mutz, to read the proclamation. Wilder said events like this help to preserve the area's history, adding that the Evergreen Cemetery holds former slaves and men who fought in the war for this freedom.

“[Buried here are] people forgotten, people who haven’t been heard of but there’s history here,” Wilder said while walking through the cemetery. 

The city of Bartow now owns the land that Evergreen Cemetery is on. Spectrum News spoke with Bartow Commissioner Leo Longworth, who had just received the deed, dated back to September 26, 1907.

“I have ancestors buried there; my great grandfather, grandmother, their children are there too,” said Longworth. “My great grandfather that’s buried there was a slave; I never met him, but I feel like I know him from the legacy he and many others left behind.”

Longworth, with the support of the city of Bartow, is making a few changes to the historic cemetery.  

“We want to fix it up; there’s broken tombstones, fallen trees. It needs some work,” Longworth said.

Bartow’s Evergreen Cemetery is one of the oldest Black cemeteries in Polk County. If you’re interested in checking out its history, take a rise into Bartow. The cemetery is off U.S 60, right as you enter the city.​