1. Name: ______________________________________ Date: ___________
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A 19th-
century cemetery, believed to hold the
remains of slaves, has been uncovered
at a former cotton plantation in
Florida, archaeologists announced
Thursday.
The discovery of six gravesites was
made last year at the Kingsley
Plantation in Jacksonville, but the
announcement was delayed to allow
for further research and to alert
possible descendants of those buried
there. It brought a sense of accomplishment to those who spent years finding the site and
a surge of emotions to those whose ancestors were enslaved there.
"The word emotional almost seems not powerful enough," said Johnetta Cole, director of
the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African Art and a descendant of the
Kingsley family. "I wept. This is not ordinary; this is not an everyday experience."
A team led by James Davidson, a University of Florida anthropologist, worked with just
two vague century-old leads to find the site, which was described as being adjacent to a
giant oak tree. Once Davidson found the graves, a smattering of clues helped determine
they were, in fact, apparently those of slaves.
Square-cut nails in the coffins helped pinpoint the fact that they were from the 19th
century. Five-hole buttons and brass coat buttons narrowed the time frame even further.
And measurements on the skeletal remains indicated they were likely those of Africans
rather than Europeans or Native Americans.
None of the materials ever left the gravesites, though, out of respect for the dead.
"We were not going to exhume anybody, we were not going to collect any material,"
Davidson said.
The remains include a man who appeared to have died at around age 40, a woman who
lived to 60 or older and three children. The age and sex of the sixth body was not
determined.
Because there is little documentation of who was enslaved at Kingsley Plantation,
identifying the remains and whether they have any living descendants has not been
possible, the investigators said.
The gravesites are on Fort George Island, on land administered by the National Park
Service in an area called the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve. No decision has
been made yet on whether to pursue additional excavations to determine if other graves
are located there. Nor has there been a decision made on whether to mark the gravesites.
Zephaniah Kingsley moved to Fort George Island in 1814 with his wife, Anna Madgigine
Jai, who he purchased as a slave in Senegal. Historical records show she helped manage
the plantation and, after she was freed by Kingsley, owned her own slaves. The couple is
Cole's great-great-great-great grandparents.

2. Where were the graves discovered?
How many graves were there, and what bodies are in them?
What physical evidence led the investigators to believe that they had found the
graves of slaves?
Why can’t the descendents of those people who were buried there be identified?
What is Johnetta Cole’s connection to the graveyard?
Where was Anna Madgigine Jai likely born?
What was unusual about Anna Madgigine Jai?