that year, 2004, an unmarked grave was re-made and the status of the occupant elevated. deceased fireman sam haskins was finally given an honorable burial when a headstone is placed over his remains in evergreen cemetery. for years, haskins was buried in an unmarked grave and it was not known that he was the first black fireman in los angeles until the los angeles times uncovered the story. sam haskins was born a slave in virginia in 1840 and was appointed as a ‘call man’ to engine #2, becoming the first black hired by the lafd as a firefighter.