Apparent Slave Cemetery Uncovered On Fla. Island

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."    More