The Discovering Unmarked African American Burials in Florence Cemetery Project was awarded the Preservation Kentucky Excellence Award.
The Discovering Unmarked African American Burials in Florence Cemetery was a five-year project by Boone County Public Library researcher, Hillary Delaney, who investigated what was thought to be a potter’s field.
The result was the discovery of the identities of more than 120 Black community members, nearly half of whom were born into enslavement. The others were church and community leaders, landowners and men who served during the Civil War in the United States Colored Troops.
For investigating and the identifying the Black individuals buried in Florence Cemetery and telling a fuller story of their community, the “Preservation Kentucky-Edith S. Bingham Excellence in Preservation Education Award” was presented to Boone County Public Library for the project.
The burials were honored with a memorial ceremony, and a monument was installed to identify the gravesites. Delaney’s commitment to the project, along with support from her colleagues, preserved the names, memories and contributions of those whose legacy now tells a fuller story of Boone County’s history and cultural heritage.