SOULS MADE OF GOLD: Honoring the Historic Texas Freedmen’s Cemeteries With Texas Designation During the Semiquincentennial Celebration of America from 1775 through 2025.

SOULS MADE OF GOLD: Honoring the Historic Texas Freedmen’s Cemeteries With Texas Designation During the Semiquincentennial Celebration of America from 1775 through 2025.

Pastor Kyev Tatum of New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church of Fort Worth and the Christian Buffalo Soldiers International Set Out to Make Sure Every Texas Freedmen Cemetery Receives Historic Designation.

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” — Matthew 5:16

A Quest for Sacred Remembrance

FORT WORTH, TEXAS —

I believe every soul deserves to be remembered. Especially those who endured bondage, found freedom, and built the foundations of faith, family, and freedom in Texas.

Across the Lone Star State, beneath the shade of oak trees and behind rusted fences, lie stories too long untold — souls made of gold, resting in nearly 500 Freedom Colonies once founded by formerly enslaved people. Each of these sacred communities had one unifying landmark — a Freedmen’s Cemetery — where the first generation born free laid their loved ones to rest with prayer, pride, and promise.

Now, by God’s grace, the State of Texas has opened the door for those stories to shine again. Through the bold leadership of Senator Royce West of Dallas and Representative Harold Dutton of Houston, the Historic Texas Freedmen’s Cemetery Designation Program has been established — a landmark act of moral restoration and historical preservation, officially taking effect on September 1, 2025.

Administered by the Texas Historical Commission (THC), this program gives our churches, families, and freedom descendants a sacred tool to ensure that the resting places of the formerly enslaved are formally recognized, preserved, and protected — forever.

When Honor Is Due

As Chaplain of the Texas Buffalo Soldiers Association, I stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Christian Buffalo Soldiers across Texas to salute Senator Royce West and Representative Harold Dutton for their courageous vision.

This is more than a law — it’s a light.

“This remarkable program honors the lives and legacies of many Buffalo Soldiers — men who once wore chains but later wore the uniform of freedom,” I said. “It ensures their resting places, from Shiloh Cemetery in White Oak to New Trinity Pioneer Cemetery in Haltom City, will be forever honored as sacred ground.”

Every stone, every unmarked grave, every whisper of history tells a testimony of endurance. These are the places where faith outlived bondage and hope triumphed over injustice.

Veterans Day Weekend of Remembrance

This Veterans Day Weekend 2025, our mission takes physical form through two powerful acts of honor:

Saturday, November 8, 2025 – 9:00 AM

Historic Shiloh Cemetery – White Oak, Texas

Honoring the legacy of Black veterans, Freedom Colonies, and the East Texas Freedmen’s story.

Tuesday, November 11, 2025 – 3:00 PM

Historic New Trinity Pioneer Cemetery – Haltom City, Texas

Honoring Buffalo Soldiers, Tuskegee Airmen, Pioneer Infantry, the 6888th, Freedmen families, and forgotten Black veterans of Tarrant County.

Each event features military honors, historical reflections, and community prayers — lifting up the Historic Texas Freedmen’s Cemetery Designation Program as a living covenant between the past and the present, ensuring these souls made of gold will never again be forgotten.

The Law of Remembrance

The Texas Historical Commission’s new program will:

• Identify and protect cemeteries containing the graves of freed slaves.

• Preserve sacred grounds threatened by neglect or development.

• Record these sites in public deed records for perpetual remembrance.

• Honor the resilience, faith, and spiritual heritage of freed people across Texas.

Key Details:

• Eligibility: At least one grave of a freed slave.

• Application Fee: Not to exceed $25.

• Recognition: Official Historic Texas Freedmen’s Cemetery Medallion.

• Adoption Date: THC rules finalized by June 1, 2026.

• Participation: Entirely voluntary, with no land restrictions — only remembrance and respect.

The Sacred Soil of Freedom

According to Texas Highways, there are at least 489 verified Freedom Colonies across Texas — communities built by Black families determined to live free, worship freely, and be buried with dignity.

Each church, each school, each plot of land was a testament to faith in motion. Many of their cemeteries now lie hidden, neglected, or unmarked. Yet in every grave rests a seed of glory — of mothers and fathers who believed in a future they could not yet see.

Heritage Redeemed

The new program expands upon the Texas Historical Commission’s Historic Texas Cemetery Program, but carries a deeper spiritual significance.

This is not only about preservation — it’s about prophecy fulfilled.

The Freedmen’s Cemetery Designation sanctifies the very soil of emancipation, marking these places as holy ground — testaments of the divine exchange between faith and freedom.

This is not merely history; it is heritage redeemed.

A Call to Action

I am calling on churches, historians, veterans, and descendants across Texas to unite in this mission. Let us locate, document, and apply for the recognition our ancestors deserve.

“The souls resting in these cemeteries tell the story of Texas — of freedom born from faith and resilience born from hope,” I said. “Through this program, we are ensuring that the courage of our ancestors continues to guide the moral compass of our state.”

This is our moral assignment. Our generation’s duty is to make sure that no Freedmen Cemetery is left behind, unmarked, or unknown.

A Legacy of Light

The Historic Texas Freedmen’s Cemetery Designation Program is one of the most spiritually significant acts in Texas history — a light of remembrance that embodies justice, humility, and faith.

In honoring the dead, we teach the living.

In preserving the past, we protect the promise of tomorrow.

In marking the graves of freedmen, we lift up the light of faith that can never die.

For these Souls Made of Gold, the work has only begun —

but their memory will now shine forever.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Texas Historical Commission

www.thc.texas.gov

Media Contact:

Pastor Kyev Tatum

New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church

2864 Mississippi Avenue, Fort Worth, TX 76104

817-966-7625 |  kptatum1@gmail.com