DIGGING FOR DIGNITY At New Trinity Cemetery Haltom City, Texas.

 

DIGGING FOR DIGNITY

At New Trinity Cemetery

Haltom City, Texas.

Brothers and sisters…

As America prepares to celebrate 250 years of independence…

We gather not merely to wave a flag —

but to walk sacred ground.

We gather where history was buried.

We gather where names were forgotten.

We gather where dignity was delayed…

but not denied.

Welcome to DIGGING FOR DIGNITY

at New Trinity Cemetery

in Haltom City, Texas.

This is not just a cemetery.

This is a testimony.

Beneath that Texas soil lie more than 500 Black veterans —

men and women who wore the uniform of a nation

that did not always wear justice well.

Civil War soldiers.

World War I patriots.

World War II heroes.

Buffalo Soldiers.

Freedom builders.

For years their graves were covered in brush.

Their stories covered in silence.

But today —

we clear the ground.

We clear the record.

We clear the conscience of a community.

And we do not stop at restoration.

We walk it.

We tell it.

We teach it.

Through guided historical tours of New Trinity Cemetery,

we invite you to walk among greatness.

You will stand where:

Dr. Riley Ransom — Fort Worth’s first Black physician — rests.

You will hear the solemn story of Fred Rouse,

the only documented lynching victim in Tarrant County in 1921,

a reminder that truth must be told if healing is to begin.

You will learn of Rev. Greene Fretwell and Frances Fretwell,

pioneers who founded sacred space when segregation denied it.

You will honor Florence Marie Rawls of the historic 6888th Battalion,

and young Arthur Williams, who served in World War I at twelve years old.

This is not sightseeing.

This is soul-seeing.

This is not tourism.

This is truth-telling.

Texas Buffalo Soldiers Association members and trained guides

are prepared to lead you through living history —

to ensure that America at 250 does not celebrate freedom

without remembering sacrifice.

Because when honor is due —

you give honor.

And when history is restored —

a nation heals.

Pastor Kyev P. Tatum, Sr.

serves as Cemetery Commemoration Curator

for America’s Semiquincentennial.

And today —

we do not just remember the dead.

We resurrect their story.

Are you ready to walk the ground?

Are you ready to hear the names?

Are you ready to dig for dignity?

Then come.

Walk with us.

Learn with us.

Honor with us.

Because this sacred soil still speaks.

As America prepares to commemorate 250 years of independence, clergy, civil rights leaders, veterans, historians, and community partners across Tarrant County are coming together to restore honor where history once lay hidden — and to walk the ground where it lives.

New Trinity Cemetery — one of the first Black cemetery in Tarrant County — is the final resting place of more than 500 Black veterans, including Civil War soldiers, Buffalo Soldiers, World War I servicemen, World War II heroes, and generations of patriots whose stories were nearly erased by time and neglect.

Once buried beneath overgrown brush and silence, their headstones have now been uncovered, restored, and rededicated.

Located at 3916 NE 28th Street in Haltom City, Texas, this sacred ground was revitalized through a months-long restoration led by the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office Labor Detail Unit, American Legion Post 655, the Texas Buffalo Soldiers Association, New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church of Texas, and dedicated community volunteers.

But the restoration did not end with cleanup.

It began a movement.

Guided Historical Tours: Walking Through Living History

As part of the Semiquincentennial Commemoration, trained guides and members of the Texas Buffalo Soldiers Association are now offering guided tours through the historic cemetery — transforming New Trinity into an open-air classroom of courage, sacrifice, injustice, resilience, and redemption.

Visitors will walk among:

• Over 500 Black veterans whose military service spans from the Civil War through World War II.

• Florence Marie Rawls, member of the historic 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion — the only all-Black, all-female unit deployed overseas during World War II and recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal.

• Arthur Williams, born in 1905, who served in World War I at the age of twelve.

• Dr. Riley Ransom, Fort Worth’s first Black physician — a medical pioneer who served a segregated community with dignity and excellence.

• Fred Rouse, the victim of the only documented lynching in Tarrant County in 1921 — whose burial site stands as a solemn reminder of both racial injustice and the necessity of historical truth.

• Rev. Greene Fretwell and Frances Fretwell, early pioneers and founders whose leadership helped establish this sacred burial ground for the Black community when exclusion demanded self-determination.

Each tour tells a layered story — of military service and civil rights struggle, of faith leaders and freedom fighters, of grief and greatness.

This is not simply a cemetery visit.

It is a pilgrimage.

Restoration as Redemption

The restoration represents more than maintenance — it represents moral memory.

Participants in the Labor Detail program chose service over incarceration, clearing brush and restoring headstones. In doing so, they did more than repair markers — they reclaimed dignity.

During the Veterans Day 2025 rededication ceremony, leaders declared that dignity delayed would no longer be dignity denied.

“They never received their honor in life, so we’re going to make sure they receive it in death.”

— Pastor Kyev P. Tatum, Sr.

Cemetery Commemoration Curator for America’s Semiquincentennial

New Trinity Cemetery now stands as:

• A restored memorial

• A civil rights teaching ground

• A military honor site

• A historical destination

• A beacon for America at 250

When history is restored, healing begins.

When graves are honored, a nation remembers who it truly is.

This is powerful ground. And now it speaks.