Born in the Bahamas in 1898, Branhilda Richardson Knowles immigrated to the Deerfield Beach area in 1922. Trained as a midwife, she helped deliver babies for the African American community in Deerfield Beach during Jim Crow era segregation, when many people of color could not obtain formal medical treatment such as hospital birth. She played a vital role in improving quality of life for many African American residents. Beginning in the late 1800s, this site also served as a cemetery for African Americans, many of them Bahamians who lived and worked in Deerfield Beach, because segregation barred people of color from burial in the city cemetery. The cemetery remained in use until 1950. In 2015, development threatened to destroy the burial ground, but archaeological investigation found numerous signs of human remains, and the city purchased the land to preserve it. In 2018, the City of Deerfield Beach named the 3.3-acre park in Knowles's honor. Conch shells at the park recall the original grave markers used by Bahamians like Knowles who came to Deerfield Beach for a better life.