RECLAIMING OUR ROOTS: The Sacred Toil on Sacred Soil in Haltom City, Texas. Long Live the Living Legacy of the New Trinity Slave Cemetery, Est. 1889

 

RECLAIMING OUR ROOTS: The Sacred Toil on Sacred Soil in Haltom City, Texas. Long Live the Living Legacy of the New Trinity Slave Cemetery, Est. 1889

HALTOM CITY, TEXAS - In 1886, a man of faith and freedom — the Reverend Greene Fretwell, himself a former slave — was laid to rest in the backwoods off red Texas dirt roads. At that time, there was no burial ground for Black souls in this corner of Tarrant County. Yet even in death, Rev. Fretwell sparked a new beginning. His widow, Frances, refused to let his legacy fade into the wilderness. Riding horseback from farm to farm, she gathered donations from neighbors and church members — raising thirty precious dollars. With those humble gifts, she purchased two acres of land in 1889 for a church and a burial ground where her husband, and all who came after, could be laid to rest with dignity and devotion.

Under a simple brush arbor, the faithful gathered to worship. In time, they built a frame church — Trinity Chapel Methodist — and from those sacred roots grew what we now know as the New Trinity Cemetery. By the 1920s, burials expanded onto adjoining land, and in 1931, an additional section was dedicated as People’s Burial Park. Together, these three sacred grounds — Fretwell Cemetery (1889), New Trinity Cemetery (1920s), and People’s Burial Park (1931) — tell one continuous story of faith, resilience, and renewal.

For decades, these hallowed acres in Haltom City, Texas, served as a resting place for generations of African American families — veterans, ministers, mothers, musicians, and freedom dreamers — all resting beneath the wide Texas sky. Their lives were lived in the long shadow of segregation, when even in death, Black men and women were denied equal ground. But through this injustice, they built their own place of peace — a sanctuary of self-determination and sacred dignity.

Among the honored souls interred here is Technician Fifth Grade Florence Marie Cole Rawls, a proud member of the trailblazing 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion — the only all-Black, all-female battalion to serve overseas during World War II. Today, she stands among America’s heroes as a Congressional Gold Medal recipient, her spirit continuing to inspire generations to come.

The preservation of this historic cemetery has been championed by generations of committed stewards. Rev. L.D. Adams faithfully tended the grounds for decades, ensuring that the graves of ancestors were never forgotten. Mr. Edward Briscoe has also been deeply engaged in the care, restoration, and celebration of this sacred site, bringing renewed energy and commitment to honoring its legacy.

For over forty years, American Legion Post 655 of Haltom City has honored the veterans and heroes resting here, performing ceremonies and maintaining a tradition of respect that underscores the community’s enduring gratitude. Their decades-long presence reinforces the cemetery not just as a resting place, but as a living monument to service, sacrifice, and heritage.

Like many historically Black cemeteries, People’s Burial Park endured years of neglect. Time, nature, and indifference nearly silenced the stories written in stone. But today, the spirit of renewal has returned. Descendants, community leaders, faith-fueled visionaries, and devoted caretakers continue to restore, preserve, and celebrate this sacred ground. Each cleanup, each marker restored, and each name remembered represents a reclamation of history and hope — a living ministry of remembrance.

This once-forgotten cemetery is no longer a place of sorrow — it is now a place of rising, where history breathes again. It tells the story of a people who turned oppression into opportunity, exclusion into endurance, and grief into glory.

Standing among the graves of Rev. Greene and Frances Fretwell, heroes like Florence Marie Rawls, and generations of veterans honored by American Legion Post 655, we are reminded that this ground is not just where bodies rest — it is where faith, freedom, and future meet.

The New Trinity Cemetery — born from the faith of the freed, nurtured by devoted caretakers, and revived by descendants and community champions — continues to whisper the same timeless truth:

“We were buried in hope, and now we rise in honor.”