UnRested:
An Investigative Series
A new docu-series unveiling the untold stories of Tampa Bay’s 11 lost Black cemeteries
Based on the award-winning journalism of Paul Guzzo
UnRested is a hard-hitting investigative docuseries that uncovers how greed and racism—not oversight—led to the erasure of Black cemeteries across America. Anchored by the exclusive reporting of journalist Paul Guzzo, the series begins with 11 burial grounds in Tampa Bay—flattened by developers, ignored by city officials, and nearly wiped from the public record.
Through raw interviews, unearthed archives, and time-jumping visuals, UnRested reveals how systemic racial injustice shaped the very ground beneath our feet—from Tampa to Texas to Virginia. This isn’t forgotten history. It was deliberately buried—for profit.
Logline:
Unrested: An Investigative Series
Uncovers how greed—from early 20th-century land developers to modern-day city policies—led to the destruction of 11 Black cemeteries in Tampa Bay.
Through the groundbreaking reporting of journalist Paul Guzzo, the series exposes how profit-driven decisions buried entire communities, rewriting the land—and the truth—beneath our feet.
Investigating Erased Cemeteries: Why It Matters
This is journalism in motion—exposing truths long buried and demanding accountability. UnRested is remembrance, resistance, and a call to action. Because once you know the truth, you can’t unsee it.
The series investigates four interwoven themes through the lens of Tampa's II lost cemeteries:
1. Systematic Erasure: How policies, greed, and prejudice buried history.
2. Forgotten Legacies: The lives and stories of those lost to time
3. Community Impact: The enduring scars of racial cover-ups on Black families.
4. Patterns of Injustice: Connecting Tampa's story to a larger American patter of racial oppression
Episode Summaries
The docuseries will explore four themes of the Il lost, erased and destroyed Black cemeteries found throughout the Tampa Bay area.
How it started
In 2018, Ray Reed, the retired head of Hillsborough County's indigent healthcare system, reached out to the Tampa Bay Times with an intriguing claim- he was regularly visited by a nearby indigent cemetery's ghosts who pestered him to bring them dignity in death.
How it happened
Following the Civil War, freed enslaved men and women founded their own communities outside the Tampa Bay area's city's limits. Each community had a school church and cemetery But, as the cities' populations grow, the boundaries expanded and used questionable but legal devices to take the land
The people of the cemeteries
When the cemeteries were erased, so were the stories of their founders and those buried in each. Those include one freed enslaved man who rose to become a state senator who helped found Florida's modern education system and another who created the largest
What next
Most of those who own the cemeteries did not know they were purchasing land with erased graves of planeering Black residents. Now, the cities, counties and the state must wrestle with how to make these property owners financially whole-some have lost millions of dollars
Style and Voice:
UnRested combines the depth of investigative journalism with the artistry of immersive storytelling. Using a non-linear narrative, the series masterfully weaves Tampa's buried histories with similar injustices across the US, creating a visually haunting yet deeply empathetic experience. Through archival footage, poignant interviews, and modern-day visuals, the series captures the visceral reality of systemic racism while amplifying voices of resilience and hope.
The Story
Exclusive Investigative Archive Behind UnRested
