WIMAUMA, Fla. — Paying respect at cemeteries is a custom that goes back centuries.

What You Need To Know

  • A Hillsborough County man is trying to exalt the rich history of African Americans in Wimauma

  • He co-founded the Ifi Heritage Center, which he hopes will be a performing arts center along with a community center honoring the African American heritage in Wimauma

  • He hopes to find about 10 acres of land to build the center, which he anticipates will cost millions of dollars

It’s a final resting place and a central location for loved ones to visit people that meant so much to them.

Ancestors of the past laid the groundwork for their culture, and that’s why this place means so much to Irvin Shell.

“If you don’t know your history, you know, it takes away from you,” said Shell, the co-founder of the Ifi (pronounced EE-FAY) Heritage Center, said. “It takes away from your identity.”

Shell is originally from Chicago, but when he moved to Sun City Center and went to a church service in Wimauma, he learned about the cultural history of this community and how it was fading away with time.

“Nobody deals with this history down here and is rich,” he said.

Look no further than the cemetery at First Prospect Missionary Baptist Church in Wimauma, with graves scattered around and small metal crosses inserted in different locations.

Irvin said those crosses were installed within the last couple years after he says TECO was trying to add a walking path through the area.

That didn’t happen, and now these graves are honored with these markers and preserved, but the work to highlight the cultural history of African Americans in Wimauma is just beginning for Shell.

He wants to honor the ancestors of the area, like James Berrien, who was a deacon at Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church.

According to Shell, Berrien some other families of the neighborhood secured blocks around the church during the civil rights era so Black families could build homes here.

“We are highlighting the culture because people are not aware of the deep, rich culture and historic culture that’s here,” Shell said.

To Shell, cultural history is so important because it helps shape our identity.

That’s why he co-founded the Ifi Heritage Center.

“They say, ‘Oh, we didn’t know Black people were back,’” Shell said. “And that’s the first thing they say. And then they didn’t know. Nobody comes down here because they think it’s just agricultural.”

The heritage center is a passion project for Shell designed to create a performing arts space and a community center that will honor the Black culture that runs deep in Wimauma.

“I’m trying to change its identity, you know, so everybody doesn’t just think it’s a farm land or something like that,” said Shell.

He says building the center will cost millions, and he’s still looking for the land to build it on.

“When you get the land, people are more ready to start donating and sponsoring you and partnering with you,” Shell said.

But when you think about cultural identity, for Shell he’s doing whatever it takes to pay his respects to this community.

Shell is hoping to find about 10 acres of land to build the new heritage center in Wimauma.

He wants to bring in performances from all over the Bay area so people will treat Wimauma as a cultural destination.