The African Cemetery at Higgs Beach is an historic cemetery in Key West, Florida. It contains many graves of the 295 Africans who died in Key West after being rescued in 1860 from captured slave ships. The cemetery was discovered in 2002 using ground-penetrating radar. On June 26, 2012, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places

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Near this site lie the remains of 294 African men, women and children who died in Key West in 1860. In the summer of that year the U.S. Navy rescued 1,432 Africans from three American-owned ships engaged in the illegal slave trade. Ships bound for Cuba were intercepted by the U.S. Navy, who brought the freed Africans to Key West where they were provided with clothing, shelter and medical treatment. They had spent weeks in unsanitary and inhumane conditions aboard the slave ships. The U.S. steamships Mohawk, Wyandott and Crusader rescued these individuals from the Wildfire, where 507 were rescued; the William, where 513 were rescued; and the Bogota, where 417 survived. In all, 294 Africans succumbed at Key West to various diseases caused by conditions of their confinement. They were buried in unmarked graves on the present day Higgs Beach where West Martello Tower now stands. By August, more than 1,000 survivors left for Liberia, West Africa, a country founded for former American slaves, where the U.S. government supported them for a time. Hundreds died on the ships before reaching Liberia. Thus, the survivors were returned to their native land, Africa, but not to their original homes on that continent.

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The burial ground’s location was confirmed 10 years earlier, when a survey using ground-penetrating radar revealed the presence of graves on the county-owned beach.

According to Corey Malcom, director of archeology for the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society, the graves are almost certainly those of Africans who died in 1860 after being freed by the U.S. Navy from three American-owned slave ships captured near the Cuban coast and brought to Key West for sanctuary.
“This is not a slave cemetery; it’s a cemetery of African refugees. I don’t know of any comparable sites in the New World,” said Malcom, whose research and that of Florida Keys historian Gail Swanson led to the discovery of the cemetery site.
According to records kept by U.S. Marshal Fernando Moreno in 1860, more than 1,400 African men, women and children were transported to Key West after being rescued from the slave vessels. Key West workers quickly built housing and a hospital for them.

While most of the refugees were eventually returned to Africa, 295 died at Key West, most likely from illnesses resulting from the brutal conditions aboard the slave ships. They were buried in unmarked graves along the island’s southern shore.
Two years later, construction began on a martello tower that encompassed part of the cemetery site, and the graves were forgotten.
In 2001, after research revealed that the cemetery was located somewhere in the Higgs Beach area, the Key West African Memorial Committee and the Old Island Restoration Foundation unveiled a state of Florida historic plaque opposite the beach to tell the refugees’ story.

These elements combine to reflect the cultures of the people buried in the cemetery and how they came to be so far from home.
After nearly 15 years of research and effort, Key West’s African refugee cemetery is recognized as a uniquely significant heritage site — and the Africans buried there are remembered and honored.

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A concrete base features a rendition of the slave trade’s maritime route, while a tile mural is inlaid into the platform riser and ornamental fencing encloses the site on three sides.

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Symbol of Agreement, Understanding, Shared or Common Purpose...
Although each person had to be as strong as possible individually, all knew that their real strength came from unity of understanding and collective consciousness. Survivors who made the crossing aboard the same ship forged particularly strong life-long bonds. Those who came to Key West also bonded with those from other ships and with the local community.

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