"If These Streets Could Talk"-An Historic Exploration of Black Miami Part 1

819 NW 2nd Avenue,Miami FL 33136

15 February, 2022

Description

A Visual Exploration of Black Miami, is an exhibit dedicated to telling the true and remarkable story of Black Miamians! “If These Streets Could Talk” is a historic exploration of Black Miami. Though Miami is often associated with its sunshine, beaches, party scene, and stunning natural environments, there is much more to be seen if one would scratch under the surface. Not only discussing the history of Miami’s pioneering black families, the origins of the city, the development of Colored Town and its heyday, to the fight for civil rights and the impact that I-95 played in the destruction of this once vibrant community creating “Black Flight.” I intend to discuss the subsequent struggles with police abuse, gentrification, and the power of a collective voice. Considering the young age of Miami incorporated on July 28, 1896, and being only 124 years old today. In the late 1800s, early 1900s, Dade County’s northern boundary reached as far north as West Palm Beach. The tract of land even included half of Lake Okeechobee. The southern boundary dipped into the keys. Bordered in the west by the Everglades, which at the time was a short 3-mile walk from Biscayne Bay and of course the Atlantic Ocean on the east. For some of us, it is difficult to envision such a massive tract of land being one county, especially when you consider that in 1870 the US Census only documented 85 people living in the county, and by 1900 the count was 4,955. Now compare that to the City of Miami population after incorporation. The county in 1890 had only 861 people counted, but by the 1900 census, there were 1,681 people counted living in the new City of Miami alone. What if I were to tell you that there would be no Miami if it were not for Black people! What would you say? Although Blacks were not as highly regarded as Henry Flagler and George Merrick were, Blacks were pivotal pioneers of the City of Miami. While the Plessy v. Ferguson decision was handed down on May 18, 1896, which upheld state Jim Crow laws, by July 28, 1896, that ruling had yet to reach the southern shores of what we know today as Miami. Therefore, when it was time to vote on the new city, many white pioneers were reluctant to show up in person on the day that the Florida Secretary of State was in Miami to take the votes. Many white pioneers purposely did not show up, out of fear that Flagler was becoming too strong and powerful. They felt that incorporating the city would only play into the hand to benefit Flagler and lead to dire consequences. However, it was Black men who stood up that day to vote in favor of the incorporation, marking one-third of the city’s charter members who voted for the city’s incorporation were black. Shortly after Blacks were disenfranchised for 60 years. The Black Archives History and Research Foundation of South Florida, Inc. was founded in 1977 by Dr. Dorothy Jenkins Fields as a non-profit organization to collect and preserve the rapidly vanishing material that reflects the African American experience in Miami-Dade County. Over the years, the collection has grown; and the Black Archives is now a national resource for this history of the 19th and 20th centuries, providing a rich repository of materials that's used by scholars, students, teachers, and the media. The Black Archives also works to preserve historical sites in the Historic District of Overtown, the city’s first Black community. Most prominent among these is the Historic Lyric Theater, which opened in 1913, and quickly became the major entertainment gathering place for Blacks in Miami, serving as a symbol of economic influence, as well as a social gathering place – free of discrimination – and a source of pride and culture. Today, it is the focus of a public-private partnership, in which the Miami-Dade government has committed $10 million for its renovation and expansion.