A CHANCE OF A LIFETIME: How a Historic Juneteenth Legacy Project in Texas Is Reclaiming 140 Years of Forgotten Black History.

 

A CHANCE OF A LIFETIME: How a Historic Juneteenth Legacy Project in Texas Is Reclaiming 140 Years of Forgotten Black History.

The Juneteenth Find-A-Grave Legacy Project at Historic Fretwell Cemetery–New Trinity Cemetery at the People’s Memorial Burial Park

Haltom City, Texas | June 20, 2026

Underneath the wide branches of an old pecan tree known simply as the Togetherness Tree, history is preparing to speak again.

For nearly 140 years, the sacred grounds of Historic Fretwell Cemetery–New Trinity Cemetery at the People’s Memorial Burial Park in Haltom City, Texas, have quietly held one of the most important untold African-American stories in the American Southwest.

Beneath its sacred soil rest more than 7,700 Black pioneers.

Teachers.

Preachers.

Homemakers.

Business owners.

Buffalo Soldiers.

Community builders.

Freedom dreamers.

And more than 500 Black military veterans who fought for a nation that often denied them full citizenship even while wearing its uniform.

Many of their stories were never fully told.

Many of their graves were never digitally recorded.

Many descendants never knew exactly where their loved ones rested.

Until now.

On Saturday, June 20, 2026 — Juneteenth weekend — a remarkable coalition of churches, historians, civic leaders, volunteers, genealogists, veterans groups, and families will gather for what many are already calling one of the most significant Black cemetery preservation efforts in Texas history:

The Juneteenth Find-A-Grave Legacy Project.

Led by the City of Haltom City, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church of Fort Worth, the massive undertaking seeks to digitally map, photograph, preserve, and restore thousands of graves resting at Historic Fretwell Cemetery–New Trinity Cemetery.

But organizers insist this is about far more than technology.

This is about memory.

This is about dignity.

This is about reclaiming erased history.

And perhaps most importantly, this is about reconnection.

“For too long, these stories have remained hidden beneath the ground and hidden from public memory,” said Pastor Kyev Tatum, one of the movement’s leading voices. “But now their names, their lives, and their legacies will rise again.”

Tatum, who coined the now-growing restoration movement Digging for Dignity, has spent decades helping draw attention to forgotten Black cemeteries and neglected African-American burial grounds across Texas.

From helping preserve a historic slave cemetery in Kyle during the 1990s to supporting restoration efforts at a historic family military cemetery in the Shiloh Community near White Oak in 2026, Tatum’s work has become part ministry, part preservation movement, and part public history mission.

He often refers to those buried at Historic Fretwell Cemetery–New Trinity Cemetery as “Souls Made of Gold.”

And among those souls is one of the most historically significant military figures connected to modern American history:

Florence Marie Cole Rawls.

Rawls served in the legendary 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion — widely known as the “Six Triple Eight” — the only all-Black, all-female U.S. Army battalion deployed overseas during World War II.

Comprised of 855 Black women, the battalion was assigned one of the most overwhelming logistical crises of the war: millions of backlogged letters and packages intended for nearly seven million American soldiers stationed throughout Europe.

Facing racism, sexism, wartime conditions, and impossible expectations, the women of the Six Triple Eight worked around the clock in three continuous shifts.

Military leaders initially estimated the assignment would require six months.

The battalion completed the mission in only three.

In the process, they sorted more than 17 million pieces of mail, restoring morale and reconnecting countless soldiers with loved ones back home.

Last year, America once again found hope in an envelope when the extraordinary story of the Six Triple Eight captured national attention and reminded the nation that courage often travels quietly through forgotten hands.

On April 29, 2025, the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion officially received the Congressional Gold Medal — the highest civilian honor awarded by the United States Congress — during a historic ceremony held in Emancipation Hall at the U.S. Capitol.

The children of Lieutenant Colonel Charity Adams Earley accepted the medal on behalf of the women whose service helped shape modern American history.

And now, resting beneath the sacred soil of Historic Fretwell Cemetery–New Trinity Cemetery at the People’s Memorial Burial Park, lies the only Congressional Gold Medal recipient buried within the cemetery:

Florence Marie Cole Rawls.

During the Juneteenth Find-A-Grave Legacy Project, organizers say one of the most emotional moments of the day will come when volunteers officially upload Rawls’ gravesite into the Find-A-Grave digital archive, permanently preserving her memory and making her story accessible to descendants, historians, students, veterans, and future generations around the world.

But Rawls’ story is only one among thousands waiting to be rediscovered.

A Sacred Reunion Between Past and Present

The project itself feels almost cinematic in scale.

More than 150 volunteers are expected to participate.

Entire families will walk the cemetery grounds together.

Children will learn history while standing directly above it.

Teenagers will digitally preserve names that once risked being lost forever.

Military veterans will honor fellow veterans buried generations before them.

Churches will work side by side with historians.

Community members of every race and background will move plot by plot through the cemetery using the Find-A-Grave app to document graves for descendants around the world.

The effort is being coordinated in partnership with Dr. Spencer Smith, a retired radiologist and leader within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Smith and LDS volunteers have spent months organizing the cemetery into designated sections while preparing volunteers to serve as digital preservation teams throughout the day-long event.

“This is truly a joint effort,” Smith said. “Families deserve the opportunity to reconnect with their loved ones and preserve these stories for future generations.”

That spirit of unity is why organizers now refer to the large pecan tree at the cemetery as the Togetherness Tree — a living symbol of remembrance, reconciliation, restoration, and shared humanity.

And perhaps nowhere is that symbolism more powerful than in the project’s timing.

Juneteenth.

A holiday rooted in delayed freedom.

A holiday centered on memory.

A holiday that asks America not simply to celebrate liberation, but to confront the cost of forgetting.

Two Historic Legacies Converge

This year’s event also marks two major milestones in North Texas Black history:

The 140-Year Fretwell Legacy

1886–2026

And:

The 100-Year

Baker Funeral Home

Legacy

1926–2026

For generations, Baker Funeral Home has served Black families throughout Fort Worth and surrounding communities with dignity, compassion, and sacred care during some of life’s most difficult moments.

Now, as these anniversaries converge, organizers say the Juneteenth Find-A-Grave Legacy Project becomes something even larger:

A living historical archive.

A community healing movement.

A spiritual act of remembrance.

And a public declaration that Black history, Black memory, and Black legacy matter.

“Sometimes the Heart Can Lead You…”

Organizers have adopted A Chance of a Lifetime by Take 6 as the movement’s official theme song.

The lyrics feel almost prophetic:

“Sometimes the heart can lead you where few have ever been…”

That may be the perfect description for what is unfolding in Haltom City.

Because this is not simply a cemetery project.

It is an act of national memory.

An intergenerational bridge.

A sacred rescue mission for stories nearly erased by time.

And on June 20, 2026, at Historic Fretwell Cemetery–New Trinity Cemetery at the People’s Memorial Burial Park, thousands of voices from the past will finally have the opportunity to speak again.

Not through statues alone.

Not through speeches alone.

But through names rediscovered.

Families reunited.

Military veterans honored.

Photographs preserved.

And history rising from the ground itself.

For more information about the Juneteenth Find-A-Grave Legacy Project, contact Pastor Kyev Tatum at 817-966-7625 or Dr. Spencer Smith at (682) 209-8485.