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And what you don't know about
Miami

is that back in the 1640s black
pirates came here.

They came from the Bahamas,

Andros Island was a hotbed for
pirates.

About a third of the crew
members of pirate ships

were black.

In fact, piracy was the first
opportunity for equal employment

that blacks had in the new
world.

Many brothers took advantage of
that.

If you go to Disney world and
you go through

the Pirates of the Caribbean
exhibit

you don't see blacks among the
pirates.

But they were there.

They had a very very stable
presence in the industry.

They were free, they shared
equally

in the spoils that the ships
took,

and in fact some of the emerged

as captains of their own ships.

The most well known black
pirate that we know of

who came to the South Keyes was
Black Cesar.

He operated around Biscay bay
back in the 1640s.

In fact there is a place on the
map today in the Florida Keyes

shown as Cesar's Creek.

That was one of his
headquarters

in the South
Florida area.

A notorious pirate who was

eventually pressed
by the British,

there was no US government at
that time

the US didn't exist at that
time,

Pressed by the British
government

went around the West Coast of
Florida

hooked up with Blackbeard, who
were then notorious

during their reign of piracy,

until finally the British
caught them both,

and they were executed.

(PAUL) Well Black Cesar
would be...

well he's either mythological
or he's real,

or somewhere in between that

hanging around South Biscay
Bay, there's Cesar's Creek,

he might have been a fugitive
slave from Virginia,

(MARVIN) There were two of them.

But the main one was the one
that operated

back in the 1640s.

The one who came after about
100 years later

was just a copycat of no
consequence.

Well the next movement of
blacks into what became Miami

would have been Bahamians,

who came in just during the
fishing season,

just during the turtling season.

Because tens of thousands of
turtles would

crawl up on these beaches,
lay their eggs,

and these Bahamians would come
over

harvest the eggs, slaughter
some of the turtles,

come back to Nassau and make
their living that way.

So that was going on
many many years

before the first English
speaking white people

came to South Florida.

And those Bahamian fishermen
who would be here

for weeks if not months
at a time,

would encounter black
escaped slaves

coming down mainly from
Georgia.

And these people were trying to
make it to the Bahamas

to freedom.

So the first ferrying of black
escaped slaves that we know of

from Georgia to the Bahamas to
freedom

happened with these Bahamian
fishermen

encountering these people on
these shores.

The Bahamas were so very close
to South Florida

and particularly during the
brief British period

in the late 1700s.

A lot of the Bahamians came
to Florida.

a lot of them were wreckers

because of the
Great Florida Reef.

There were no lighthouses
at the time.

And the first community was Key
West

and that was the wrecking
capital of the world.

Many of them ended up settling
in the Florida Keyes

and some even in the Miami
area.

Now these Bahamians coming in
then from the Bahamas

to Key West began migrating up
the Florida Keyes

primarily picking pineapples,

which were a major crop during
that time.

That brought many of the
Bahamians here

many of them stayed so that by
the time

Coconut grove emerged in the
1880s

there was a steady flow of
Bahamians already

in the Florida Keys coming
in from Key West.

As these Bahamians and
African Americans

black settlers that were coming
down from Georgia

encountered each other in
Coconut Grove

there was always a little bit
of friction.

Because the Bahamians had kind
of an attitude.

They would tell you quickly
"we're not ex-slaves.

We are subjects of the British
crown."

And expected white people to
treat them that was as well.

So a lot of the early friction
in Miami was between

African Americans and Bahamians

but particularly between white
people and Bahamians

because Bahamians simply
behaved differently.

They came from a different
culture.

They were not as passive or as
accepting

of some of the discrimination
that was so apparent

when they came into Florida.

(ARVA)The Bahamas abolished
slavery in the 1830s.

So the black Bahamians, by the
time they got here

had long not been slaves.

And they were educated, because
the English

one of the things they tended
to do everywhere

is as a colonial power they
educated people

better than most.

There was some snobbery.

I think it still exists.

I find it today talking
to different people

that the Bahamians just
have a very...

Like the old Americans.

Like the DAR types or
something.

They were here first

and they feel they have made a
tremendous contribution.

And they have.

(MARVIN) The Bahamians built
Vizcaya.

They provided the labour force
for Vizcaya.

They built many of the early
buildings in Miami.

The Bahamians built the Dade
County Courthouse.

Primarily Bahamians, and other
blacks too

were part of the workforce all
along.

African Americans and Bahamians
both.

Because you've got the
railroad

coming in with with Flagler,

and its early African
Americans

coming down to help
build the railroad

like they did with the rest of
the country.

And they're coming in and
there's a tourism industry here.

there's agricultural labour

there's a need for domestic
labour

and they're coming in,

they're working for white
families in the homes,

they're also building the
streets, the buildings,

huge estates like Vizcaya. They
were working the land.

But they were particularly
important in teaching whites

how to use coral rock to
construct buildings.

And we still have some homes,
some structures today

that reflect this influence on
architecture by the Bahamians.

(ARVA) But if you've ever tried
to dig in our wonderful "soil"

and you think that all they had
was a grub hoe

and to plant in Coral Gables,
it was all pineland

they had to grub up the pine
meadows

and grub up the rock.

And that's why they built a lot
of the buildings

out of coral rock.

In the early 1800s blacks began
coming down from Georgia

and the other slave states,
into Florida

to join up with the Seminole
Indians

who were themselves trying to
escape removal from Florida

to be out of the way of white
settlement of the south.

And these blacks, who were not
blood related to the Seminoles,

they joined them in terms of a
neutral survival strategy.

Whereas the black Seminoles...

basically fought with
the Seminoles,

were interpreters for
the Seminoles,

and in fact there was marriage
between the Seminoles

and these blacks who joined
them.

One of the main reasons for the
so called Seminole wars,

which are kind of forgotten
wars in American History

unless you're a Floridian, was
the fact that many of the slaves

were fleeing into then Spanish
Florida.

And the United States wasn't
very happy about that.

So they really started fighting
the Seminoles

because they had provided
sanctuary

to a lot of the African slaves.

(MARVIN) And it's very
important to point out

that black Seminoles were
not necessarily

dependent on the
Seminoles.

Sometimes the Seminoles were
dependent on the blacks.

So it was a very symbiotic
relationship

in which both groups benefited.

I think that one of the unique
things about Miami

is that if you look at African
American history

there's this big period of time
that they call

'The Great Northern Migration'

which happened after
reconstruction in the south.

So after the civil war,
reconstruction was an attempt

to rehabilitate the south.

Make it more friendly towards
blacks

and to make it more friendly in
general

towards northern ideals about
democracy and things like that.

It didn't work. It crashed,
right?

So we saw a lot of black people
leaving the south.

They went to New York, they
went to Chicago,

they went to major cities.

They left all these
agricultural communities

they had been based in before.

So at that period of
scholarship,

that period of history

in African American
scholarship is called

'The Great Northern Migration'.

People don't often recognize
that there was a

great southern migration too.

Miami was booming in the 1880s
and the 1890s

because of the fact that it had
just been founded

so there were jobs here, the
railroad had arrived

there was opportunity here.

So you saw African Americans
not just going to the north,

going to New York,

but there were also African
Americans

from Alabama and Georgia,

who were coming down to Miami
to work.

(MARVIN) Now especially around
the 1880s and early 1890s

There were blacks, primarily
Bahamians,

who were settled well into
Coconut Grove,

who worked on these
waters.

They were fishermen, they were
crabbers,

they were turtlers,
they were tour guides,

they were hunting guides.

So as white people started
coming into South Florida

for tourism purposes, they were
aided and supported

often by blacks who
knew the waters,

who knew the best
fishing spots,

knew the best
hunting areas

and they made a living, many of
them, doing exactly that.

A lot of the blacks were not
maids and gardeners

and agricultural workers.

Many of them participated
handily in the tourism trade.

We're standing on Charles Avenue

in front of the home of
E.W.F. Stirrup.

The richest black man in
Coconut Grove.

Charles Avenue was the original
avenue

along which most of the homes
for blacks were built.

It used to be known as
Evangelist Street,

because all of the churches
were on this street.

So this was the begging
community of Coconut Grove

for the black community, on
this street.

Mr. Stirrup was probably the
first black

wealthy person in Miami-Dade
County.

He acquired a great deal of
property.

He owned land from Munroe
County to Fort Pierce

and when he died he left a very
sizeable estate.

He was one of the people who
could be relied upon

to help young men when they got
into trouble.

He was the one who when movers
came out

would get on his horse and
buggy

and go up to the white folks
hotel, the Royal Palm hotel,

get the movers, bring them back
down to the Odd Fellas Hall

which was the social centre of
Coconut Grove.

And that's how black people got
to enjoy movies.

It is a very important street.

It may be the most historically
significant street

in Miami-Dade county in terms
of black history.

1894 this event took place

which became known as
the Great Freeze.

It was horrendous.

People had never really
seen anything like it

in their lifetimes.
Everything froze.

Florida was basically under ice.

They say it even snowed in
North Miami.

As a result of that freeze,
Henry Flagler was

convinced to bring his Florida
East Coast railroad

on down from West Palm Beach on
down to the Miami River.

The Great Freeze was a defining
moment for the birth of Miami.

And it brought many blacks,

if not more blacks than whites,
to South Florida.

Because their labour was needed
on this land

that was below the freeze line.

The Big Freeze was an act of
God

and this act of God lead to the
city of Miami

and the arrival of thousands of
blacks into this community.

So yes, it was related to a
natural event.

When John Soule came down the
March of 1896

he put into his memoirs about
13 or 14 African Americans

who had been working with him
in West Palm Beach.

And see, West Palm Beach was a
staging ground

for the elaborate Palm Beach
across the lake.

And so the really gritty work
was done by people

living in West Palm Beach.

Both in West Palm Beach worked

but were also building this
great resort called Palm Beach.

And Soule brought down, as he
later referred to it,

his Black Artillery, refering
to these voters.

But these were trustworthy
workers

because Flagler had told him
it's now time

to build this great hotel

that I've told Mrs. Tuddle
I'm going to build.

Plus I want it because I'm
going to promote that

as a tourist spot.

So he brought them down,

they levelled the
Indian burial mound

in the March of 1896 on the
edge of Briscayne Bay then,

today it's about 3 blocks in.

And they began to lay the
foundation for the hotel.

So these were workers that
Soule knew from earlier jobs.

The railroad was everything.

People can't appreciate that
now.

Before there was the I-95,
before there was the turnpike,

before there was air travel,
there were trains.

Everything moved on the
railroad.

The railroad magnates had
a lot of power

a lot of money, a lot of
influence.

And the railroad also
provided jobs.

A lot of black people worked on
the railroad.

One of the best jobs you could
have in Miami

was to be a Pullman car porter.

Working the railroad from Miami
to Jacksonville,

back and forth, you wore a suit.

It was a clean job, you got
tips.

It was wonderful. That was one
of the highest status jobs

in black Miami in the early
years.

(PAUL) Suddenly with the
railroad converging on Miami,

the railroad was laid from West
Palm Beach

down to north bank of the
Miami River.

People come, because
they can get jobs

working with the
railroad.

They can get jobs building,
get jobs as entrepreneurs.

So suddenly there's hundreds of
people in Miami

in the spring
of 1896.

nd the Flaglar organization said
this is going to be unwieldily.

What we need to do is get this
place incorporated.

So they announced in late June

they were going to have a
corporation meeting

which they did, they
incorporated on July 19 1896.

About a third of the voters
were African Americans.

They had been workers primarily
for Flagler

under the guidance of John
Soule, a white man.

And as he said he marks his
black artillery to the poles.

They register to vote, and they
march up to the pole

to vote for incorporation.

As it turned out it was by
acclimation anyway.

When the city of Miami was
established in 1896

about 160 or so black men out
of a total of 340 or so,

participated in the actual
incorporation meeting

for the city of Miami.

Had the blacks not been there,

and women didn't have the vote
at that time,

so had those black men not been
there,

the city of Miami could not
have been established

at that time.

Because the state required a
minimum number of voters

for a place to become a city.

And there simply
were not enough

white men present in 1896 to
make that happen.

So they ordered all the Flagler
workers into the meeting

and they were told to vote to
incorporate into a city.

And they did it.

(ARVA) I didn't know that.

That wasn't taught in Miami
history.

I was taught that much later,
and talking to Dorothy Fields

we started reading all of this.

I had seen their names in the
Soule book

and I said wait a minute,

his name is here on the
incorporation list.

There's actually a list.

And the first one happens to be
black. It was alphabetical.

Blacks were kind of, the pillar
of the Palms,

as some people say we are
today.

Essentially they were used
by the railroad,

by the Flagler
structure,

to move whatever political
agenda the railroad had.

What's unheard of is that

we've got a very important
American City

that was incorporated so late.
1896.

And it had such a sizeable
percentage of incorporators

who were African American.
That was unheard of.

Overtown used to be called
Coloured Town.

And it was born when the city
was founded, 1896,

exclusively for blacks.

As the Flagler railroad came
south, a lot of towns sprung up.

North Palm Beach, Palm Beach,
Fort Lauderdale.

All these towns sprung up as
the railroad came through.

And in each case the black
community was established

in the north-west quadrant of
each of those towns.

So if you go to West Palm
Beach,

blacks from the
north-west quadrant.

You go to fort Lauderdale,

blacks live in the north-west
quadrant.

Miami, we live in the
north-west quadrant.

Unless you think that we had a
chromosome that made us

gravitate to the north-west
corners of communities,

there had to be a plan.

The plan by the railroad was to
have blacks isolated

from the rest of the community,
but close enough to get to work.

So that was the plan

for establishing the black
communities

in the north-west quadrant.

When Overtown was established

it was a highly segregated
community.

You couldn't leave Overtown

if you were a black person
after dark

or you run the risk of being
arrested.

There was a considerate effort
by the powers that be

to keep blacks restricted to
colour town,

particularly after dark.

Colour town- the races by law
had to live apart.

And so soon as Miami
incorporated in 1896

colour town is established.

Until then they lived in tents
or make shift places

around white people.

But now that you've...

institutionalized a city by
incorporating,

you need to do something
about this.

And so the north-west quadrant
of the city was set aside

as an African American
community called colour town.

It was not an unusual name.

Many black communities in the
south were called colour town.

(MARVIN) This area has had
several names.

Originally colour town,
Overtown,

the Central Negro
Business District.

All of these names attended to
Overtown.

But the reason I understand

that this area is called
Overtown,

and there's a lot of
controversy about that,

Is that if you lived in Coconut
Grove, south of here,

and you wanted to visit someone
black, here in Miami,

you had to go over down town to
get here.

I tend to think that the
earlier period

was a great period.

Now I understand, speaking as a
guy born later,

and caucasian, the deprivation
that many people experienced.

The outdoor privies, no library
for a while,

no high school till 1927.

But I really think it was a
community...

that really took care of its
own needs.

So for me the golden age, even
though there are these problems,

sanitation, KKK,
thuggish white policemen,

I think it was a pretty good
age by and large.

The community was forced to be
self sufficient,

and was self sufficient.

Oh I loved it. It was great. It
was like a family

everybody knew each other,
everybody cared for each other.

If you didn't have some flour,
if you didn't have some sugar,

you went to your neighbour and
you could borrow it.

And the neighbour looked out
for you.

If anybody saw us doing
anything 'wrong'

they
would tell my grandmother or
tell my aunt.

(MARVIN) If you were to ask me

where the richest people in
Dade County lived

I would have to say Fisher
Island, behind me.

Probably the greatest
concentration

of wealth in Dade
County.

But at one time, that Island,
now named after Carl Fisher

founder of Miami Beach, was
owned by a black man.

His name was D. A. Dorsey. He
purchased that island

for the express purpose

of having a place
where black people

could actually get into the
salt water.

So Fisher Island, actually
owned by D.A. Dorsey

up until the Great Depression
in the 30s,

was the only place blacks could
come

not just from Dade County, but
from other parts of the country

to swim and enjoy the benefits
of beautiful Biscayne Bay.

When the depression hit,

Mr. Dorsey needed cash like
everybody else.

And it was during that time
that he sold the property

to Carl Fisher who was the
developer of Miami Beach.

And that's why this is now
called Fisher Island.

We are standing in front of the
Lyric Theatre.

The Lyric was the social centre
of Overtown

during its heyday.

This building was erected
around 1917

owned by a black man, Juda
Walker.

Everything that happened that
was of social importance

happened in this building.

It's importance to the
community, culturally

and historically is unsurpassed.

It's the most historic building
still standing

in Overtown today.

During Overtown's boom the
Lyric was the place to be.

You wanna be here to see the
latest movies,

to be entertained...

by the biggest
entertainers of the time.

This was a major place to be
during the heyday

because of the attraction of
this place to

so many performers.

A lot of the nightclubs in
Overtown,

the big nightclubs attracted
many white people.

They would come to Overtown not
so much for the movies

or black oriented events here,
but the nightclubs.

A lot of these folks

found their best entertainment
in Overtown.

But even then, even in the
black nightclubs in Overtown,

they were segregated. The
whites had one section

the blacks had another section.

In their own neighbourhood
there was segregation.

In Miami, Colortown was the
Harlem of the south.

People called it that: the
Harlem of the south.

Anything you could get in Harlem

you could get here on 2nd Ave.
or 3rd Ave.

Overtown experienced so many
problems with law enforcement.

Both legal, the police, and
extra-legal.

This is a deep south community
in many ways

all through the 60s.

And the police were thuggish.

My dissertation was on criminal
justice

and there were stories where
they would look at statistics

for a month of arrests, and
I think one month

there were 38 arrests, 37 were
African American

yet they only comprised 25% of
the population.

Then there was the extra-legal
problem.

The Klan entered Miami, as far
as we know, in 1921

for the first time. They would
kidnap ministers,

one in Coconut Grove and one in
Overtown,

tar and feather both, push them
out of speeding cars,

attempted to force them to go
back to the Bahamas.

And the reverend Hayes did go
back.

There were never any charges,
never any arrests

never any prosecution of those
cases against the Klan.

And the klan would march
through Overtown

as late as 1939.

There was a spring municipal
election

and there was a man named Sam
Solomon

who organized a lot of new
voters in Overtown

and he was going to take them
to the polls the next day.

And the klan didn't march, they
drove through Overtown

early May of 39, and they had a
makeshift noose

and they had a black man
hanging from it, you know,

"this 'N' attempted to vote."

But the next day Solomon
marched those people north

on 2nd avenue which splits at
1st place,

then from 1st place up to
14th street

and over to
the fire station,

which is now being restored,
it's over on Miami Ave.

and 14th street. And they
voted.

So the klan was a force for
decades.

Not just the early and mid 20s,
they remained here.

I don't know how robust it was
but it appeared periodically.

By then its targets are
Catholics, Jews, Philippinos,

Caucasian women- I mean they
went after everybody

who didn't fit their narrow
definition of

100% white American Protestant.

(MARVIN) In 1926 there was no
weather bureau.

People had no way of knowing
what was coming from out there.

This thing came in late at night

swept across Miami, went right
across Miami.

The eye passed right over
downtown Miami.

And when it did people thought
the storm was over.

There were a lot of new
arrivals here

they went running out on to the
Ocean front to see the damage.

The Bahamians knew better.

They knew the other side of the
storm was coming.

So you had many people who were
killed

mainly because they exposed
themselves

to the rushing water coming in

on the other side of the
hurricane.

It destroyed most of Miami, but
had an even greater affect

on colour town, what we now
call Overtown.

The buildings there were
shanties for the most part,

they were vulnerable to the
storm,

many more people were left
homeless in Overtown

than in other parts of the
community.

So it had a great effect on the
city of Miami

because aftar that...

they put buildings up
with bricks and concrete

rather than wood.

But Overtown/colour town was
severely damaged by the storm.

Then the city, the county and
possibly others,

went to colour town
and got the black men

to come and help
clean up.

For free. To move bodies,
clear the streets.

And you didn't get to choose
not to do it.

If someone told you you were on
a work crew to clean up

after the hurrican,
you had to go.

This was a common practice. If
there was a natural disaster,

not just in Miami, the modus
operandi would be to

go to the black community and
get black men

to come and help clean it up.

So this happened in most of the
major events that I can think of

that required that kind
of labour,

black were required to do it.

The same things that we
experienced in hurricane Andrew

in 1992, people experienced
that in 1926.

There was no federal government
to come rushing in to help.

The people had many weeks of
isolated survival.

Trying to exist under these
horrendous circumstances.

But I have to reiterate that
some of the folks here,

some of the blacks, knew what
was going to happen.

I interviewed a lady in Coconut
Grove

who was alive when it happened.

She said that that night she
woke up her husband

because everything outside was
yellow.

All the elements had changed
colour.

She had never seen anything
like that before.

So we know that this was a
phenomena

associated with that hurricane.

I came here when I was a boy of
11 or 12 every week.

This was the only place a black
person

could get into salt water.
This was our beach.

Little did we know that there
was a sewage treatment plant

right around the bend here, but
we loved it.

We came out here. They would
have state troopers

parked on the bridge to keep us
from going to

the white beach. We weren't'
allowed to go there.

This was just fine as we saw it
at the time.

The beach was available to us
after the Navy stopped using it

to train black sailors to swim
during the second world war.

That's how blacks first got on
the Virginia Key Beach.

It was a military training site
for the Navy

because the white people would
not allow black sailors

to be trained to swim at the
white beach.

Blacks could not go anywhere in
Miami-Dade County

to a beach.

And a group of blacks got
together

and went to Haulover beach.

And Judge Thomas went out there
with them.

He didn't go in the water,
but people like

Mrs. Madelle Bramen who was
active in the PTA,

and some of the PTA people,
they went out there

and they went in the water.

And when it was reported they
expected to be arrested

and Judge Thomas had money to
bail them out.

But when the sherif went out
there, he just said:

"Well, we'll talk about this."

And so they got some of the
leaders together

to decide how to resolve the
problem.

(MARVIN) The NAACP and other
groups

had weighed in on Haulover
Beach in north Miami,

which is a county owned beach,
as a way of

showing the county that if you
don't allow us

to have Virginia Key Beach, we
will come to this beach.

And that scared the county
commission.

For that reason they voted to
establish this beach for blacks

within weeks of that
demonstration.

and that was before the civil
rights movement started.

The demonstration that lead to
the opening of

Virginia Key Beach was probably
the only civil rights effort

that touched almost all the
black folks.

Because you could argue that
some blacks got the benefits

of the civil rights movement
because they had an education,

they went to colleges and what
have you,

but everybody could come to
Virginia Key Beach.

So that one effort issued in a
freedom for all blacks

regardless of education or
status.

A very significant change.

In the late 1950s, the
interstate system was expanding

in this country. This is I-95
behind me.

I-95 was put in to go directly
through Overtown.

It divided Overtown into east
and west.

So that afar this expressway
was built,

people could have easy access
to other parts of Overtown.

People had to move.

Overtyown went from some 40,000
to about 12-15,00 people

in less than a decade.

This overpass behind me is just
one example of

how the interstate as built to
ride over the community.

So that if you didn't want to
see black people,

all you had to do was not look
down.

It only comes down when you get
up to Liberty City.

So the expressway didn't kill
overtown,

but it added to the decline
very significantly.

more things added to it, but
the interstate system

was a major factor in its
decline.

Well you know what? It was
called urban renewal.

And it meant black removal, I
think.

Because my parents were offered
money for their house

and I'm sure that it wasn't the
value.

The initial thought was to put
it right overtop of the

Florida East railroad right of
way,

but then they decided to move
it west

and it came right through a lot
of Overtown.

Overtown's population in 1960
was 34,000 plus people,

today it's about 9500.

The expressway's probably the
major villain there.

(ENID)The I-95 helped to tear
up the community.

The urban renewal did the same
thing.

And I think that if we had the
insight back then

that we have today,

we should have stood up for our
community.

We should have fight for our
community.

Because now, the way it's going,

we're not going to be able to
stay there

because it's being taken over
by developers.

(MARVIN) Fidel Castro came to
power in 1960.

And that changed everything in
Miami.

It changed life for whites in
Miami,

it changed life for blacks in
Miami,

and it provided a phenomena
that

the country had never seen
before.

The influx of tens of thousands
of people

in a very short period of time,
almost all of them

settling in the same place.

That was the impact of the
Cuban migration,

the 1st migration into Miami.

Another one followed in 1980
when the Marioles came in.

Another large group of Cubans
coming in,

and this time with many blacks
among them.

The 1st wave of Cubans that
came in

were basically privileged
Cubans who were

trying to get away from Castro.

They had education, businesses.

Many of them were doctors or
teachers.

They sort of fit into South
Florida seamlessly.

The government also provided a
lot of help for them

during this transition as a way
of poking Castro in the eye.

Those who came later in 1980
were more impoverished Cubans.

Many of them black,

a significant number of them
had mental problems,

law enforcement problems.
And they just overwhelmed

South Florida in their numbers

and the suddenness of
that migration.

But the black community became
very difficult

because just when people were
starting to hire blacks

they hired all these Cubans
instead.

I remember Dorothy Fields
saying:

"We went from 2nd class

to 3d class citizens overnight."

I think that's very well said.

When they came, they got
privileges that black Americans

didn't have. Our government was
able to give them things

that we didn't get.

So naturally there was this
jealousy of all these people

coming to town and being able
to get jobs

and most coloured people felt
that they were taking the jobs

from coloured people.

My late husband at the time,
who wasn't my husband then,

he was the presided of the
NAACP was saying that

they were not taking your jobs,
you didn't want those jobs.

Blacks had reached a point
where they no longer

wanted to be waiters and doing
all those things on Miami Beach.

So these people came and they
were wiling to do that.

And you had to give them credit
for what they did.

A lot of them came already
professionals.

A lot of doctors, a lot of
lawyers, a lot of nurses came

and they didn't mind doing
almost anything to make a living

until they could get to where
they wanted to go.

And because of this division of
Americans, Bahamians,

that for some reason...

we have always been like
crabs in a barrel.

We just didn't want to see one
another get ahead.

The Cubans and hispanics that
came here?

Different attitude altogether
about what they were gonna do.

They stuck together and were
able to get something.

Just like the jews.

When the Jews came,

and they were segregated
around Miami Beach,

they didn't do anything but go
ahead and buy up the beach.

They use said we'll put our
monies together

and we'll take over the beach.

So there was no dogs allowed
and no Jews allowed

and no coloureds allowed.

And the lines were all over the
place on Miami Beach.

And the Jewish came and found
moneys to buy Miami Beach.

They did what they had to do.

We just hadn't been able to do
it as a people.

Well Haitians started coming
in...

in significant numbers in the
1970s.

Surprisingly they began
arriving.

No help from the government,
the only support they got

was from the Catholic church.

Notre Dame Church in little
Haiti helped them.

They were left on their own.

Even those of us who were
African Americans

didn't do nearly as much as we
should have to help them.

But they came in looking for
work, looking for freedom,

just like the Cubans, but they
were treated shabbily

by our government.

During the 50s you start to see
a trickle. A trickle?

There is always a trickle

before there are these
mass migrations,

of other Caribbean groups
coming in.

In particular you start to see
Haitians coming in and

start to work in the travel and
tourism industry

because at the time Haiti is a
major travel destination.

So they're coming to promote
that.

Some people from the diplomatic
core are living here.

And then there's this huge
number of labourers

coming in to work in the
garment industry

which is very huge in Miami in
the 50s as well.

So you start to see Haitian
seamstresses coming in

and starting to work during
that period,

but at that time it was just a
trickle.

You don't start to see mass
migration of Haitians

until the 1970s.

I have never heard of the US
government

locking out Swedes, Norwegians,
Germans-

Any white folks that want to
come here

they more or less have an open
access into this country.

The browner the people that
come, the darker they come,

the less welcome they are here
in America.

That was true when Castro came
into power and it's true today.

So what you see in the 1970s is
that boat loads of Haitians,

because of the political
turmoil in Haiti

and also the need for increased
economic opportunity,

start coming to Miami.

They're assuming they're going
to be treated

maybe the same way the Cubans
are being treated.

And so there is going to be
more opportunity

for them to stay here. That's
not the case of course.

After they land here,

I mean thousands and
thousands of people,

it freaks
the city of Miami out.

They're dealing with all the
influx of a huge amount

of Cubans at the time, so these
policies developed

which are known as wet-foot
dry-foot.

So the wet-foot dry-foot policy
means that

if you are caught at sea you
get returned automatically.

But if you get caught on land
you get processed here.

If your boat lands on the
beaches on Miami

you get to go through the
process of figuring out

if you get political asylum
here, wether you can stay.

You're not turned around right
away.

But that policy gets in place
mainly because of

the Haitian migration in
particular.

It is only applied to the
Haitians.

Unfortunately, the lowest
stereotyped group among blacks

are the Haitians.

We are treating Haitians in the
same way that

southern white folks treated us.

We expect them to do the worst
jobs,

we expect them to be submissive
and passive,

we distain their culture, their
habits,

their religion.

I don't see that much of a
difference in the way

that African Americans treat
Haitians today

and the way that southern
whites treated us.

The influx of Jamaicans was not
nearly as impactfull

as the influx of Haitians.

Mainly because the Jamaicans
that came were of a

more educated class. Many of
them already had businesses.

Many of them settled in north
Dade County.

So they didn't just move into
Liberty City,

they moved into the more
upscale black communities.

So there was not this kind of
problem

with the Jamaicans coming in.

I did a study in terms of which
black ethnic groups

were doing best in terms of
income, education, etcetera.

And Jamaicans came out far
ahead of African Americans,

Haitians, Cuban blacks...

because of what they
brought into the country.

A work ethic, a business
acumen, no emotional baggage

with slavery, a willingness to
take chances with businesses

in the white community.

So we got to give the Caribbean
blacks in general

and the Jamaicans in
particular, credit for having

ventured out beyond the normal
boundaries that

we African Americans set for
ourselves.

We have a lot of growth to do.
Just as black people

coming together for mutual
goals.

I do not see that happening-
happen yet.

My experience has been that the
thing that brings

people together is crisis.

If you have somebody shooting
water hoses and putting

police dogs on black people,
and you show it on TV,

a lot of people are moved to
act.

If you have dead bodies washed
up on the shore

of Biscayne Bay, Haitian
bodies, that moves people

to action. If there is some
sort of

incredible act of atrocity
against people,

it moves people together.

Even natural events bring us
together.

So those are the kinds of
things that happen

or have to happen before you
see real movement

emotionally bringing people
form whatever race together.

That and winning the super bowl.

Or the Miami Heat winning the
championship,

that'll bring us together quick.

When people think of Miami today

they should think Latin, they
should think Hispanic.

That's what we are.

If you want to get away from
Hispanics,

you need to move to Idaho.

They're here, they're not
leaving.

We need to live together,
they're not taking over.

If they did it couldn't be
worse than what it was

when the white folks were in
charge,

it couldn't be worse than in
Detroit

when black folks took over.

I am not moved by this fear
that the Cubans are taking over.

Miami, interestingly enough,

was an early civil rights town.

Which means you had some pretty
aggressive activity

here against communism as early
as late 1940s.

In the 50s you had civil rights
activities, for example

the attempt to de-segregate
city park swimming pools.

And you had not only African
Americans,

but you had Jews
working with them.

Which was really interesting.
Really great.

You had lunch counter sit ins
in late 59,

leading to the de-segregation
of the DeCriox lunch counter

in 59, a year before
Greens-borough Carolina.

And it was a combination of
African American leaders

like Dr. John Brown, but also
some Jewish people.

Jewish women, some Jewish men
but mainly Jewish women.

There were a lot of black
ministers involved with that.

Martin Luther King was here on
way more than one occasion

with civil rights stuff. So I
see Miami as quite progressive

in terms of the civil rights
movements.

One of the reasons people don't
recognize Miami

as having that civil rights
movement is because

Miami is this tourism town
that's always been

a tourism town...

since the beginning of its
period in time.

So the leaders are very
concerned

about its public image.

So they don't want TV picking
up news of blacks protesting

and bringing up issues of
racial discrimination

because that's going to but
your tourism down.

People aren't' going to come if
there's a bad image if Miami.

So what's different about Miami
from other places

is that at that point in time
where blacks are protesting

when they would bring up a
point like that

that lunch counters needed to
be de-segregated

or beaches be de-segregated,

you see all these back room
meetings

where white leaders are meeting
with black leaders

and they're talking about what
they can do

to get things changed and done
together.

So they're working on a more
cooperative level

than you would see in other
states because they're

very concerned about making
sure that tourism doesn't die

and it's to the advantage of
blacks here.

So I think it's done faster or
at least

a little more cooperatively
than you see

in other cities.

There were a number of riots in
Miami history

including a very significant
one in 1968.

but the darkest day in Miami
history started here

in 1979 at this spot, where
Arthur McDuffie,

a young black insurance man,

was set upon by at least a half
dozen white Miami-Dade

police officers and beaten to
death.

That was the start of the great
riot of 1980.

McDuffie was speeding, coming
up North Miami Ave.

and here at North East 38 st.
came to a halt.

Several police officers were
chasing him,

and once he stopped they set
upon him,

handcuffed him, hands behind
his back.

And with McDuffie on the ground
started to beat him.

One of the officers, a man
named Alex Marrero,

took his flashlight, one of
these long flashlights

the police carry, straddled
McDuffie's body

as he was prone on the ground

face down with his head against
the curb

and struck the back of his head.

That split McDuffie's skull.

It took him another day or 2 to
die,

but Alex Marrero, one of those
officers on the scene,

struck the killing blow.

They did some things to try to
cover up what they had done.

One of the things they did was
to get some of the

police cars to roll up onto the
motorcycle

to try to make tend to the idea
that McDuffie lost control

of the motorcycle, slipped over
and died

when his head hit the pavement.

Unfortunately, the medical
examiner, wondered why-

and they took their flashlights
and nightsticks

and they broke the gas tank on
the motorcycle on both sides.

Big mistake because the medical
examiner wanted to know

if the motorcycle fell on one
side,

why were the gauges on the
motorcycle on both sides busted.

And that began the official
investigation into this murder.

The trail of these officers was
moved to Tampa

because of concerns about
tensions in the community

and these men getting a fair
trial.

On May 17, 1980, this all white
all male jury in Tampa

heard this case and came back
with a not guilty verdict

for all of the officers
involved.

And that sparked this riot.

Blacks in Miami-Dade County did
not riot

because McDuffie was beaten to
death by the officers.

The beating death itself and
the riot

were several months apart.

The riots happened because the
people who committed that murder

got away with it by the law.

And the blacks were simply
outraged.

McDuffie was a young insurance
man,

a former corporal in the United
States Marine Corps,

father of at least 2 children,

no police record.

And he left a very large family
of McDuffles

living in Dade County today.

Family members of McDuffie did
eventually receive

a settlement from the county
for his murder,

but the scar on the community
never left.

I think the riots hurt the city
terribly.

And it really complicated them
that you

had the whole Marrero issue,
the cocaine cowboy issue,

so you had all these
counter-veiling problems.

A girlfriend of mine at the
time said

"that's gotta be the worse city
to live in"

She came from Nebraska.

And then some friends of mine
at Tallahassee said

"How can you go back to that
place?"

(MARVIN) When Mr. McDuffie was
killed

and the trial happened, that
saturday I got a phone call

from an associated press
reporter

asking me if I knew of trouble

up on 62nd street
in Liberty City.

I was at home still reeling
from this verdict.

I couldn't believe, most of
Dade County couldn't believe

that these people were
innocent.

They had been found innocent.

I came up 62nd street to the
Liberty City

housing project that afternoon

and the riot was in full force
by the time I got here.

Hundreds of young men, mostly
men, on the streets

pouring out of the housing
projects

and they set upon a car load of
3 white people.

The Colt brothers and a young
girl

who was in the car with them.

They were stoned, the car was
attacked, the car hit a wall

a little girl was standing
there, she was 8 years old.

Her name was Shanrika Perry,

and the impact of the vehicle
severed her leg.

That really set off the riot in
a big way.

well that day I was outside
playing baseball

with my friends, and I say my
Aunt and my sister

going to the store.

So instead of me running to 2nd
base,

cause I was standing on 1st
base,

I ran the other way to tell my
aunt and my sister

to bring me something from the
store.

And I saw people on the street

but I didn't know what a riot
was.

And the riots, I guess they was
just starting.

There was people on the streets
but there was

no violence going on at the
time.

And that's the last thing I
remember of that day.

The police had a difficult time
responding to this.

They had blocked off north west
7th ave.

and north west 17th ave.

to prevent white people from
coming into Liberty City.

But somehow a car slipped
though with these 2 brothers

the Colt brothers driving with
the girl,

and they got caught in this.

And the amount of anger

the amount of absolute rage was
incredible.

I saw a group of 20, maybe 30
black men

around these 2 boys, they were
on the ground

and they were using a Miami
Herald newspaper box

that you get the paper in, to
crash down on this boys head.

Repeatedly.

And then there were hundreds of
people watching.

Including me.

It was as horrible as any
lynching in Mississippi

because it was purely motivated
by rage and race.

I called the police department
to tell them

that there were people being
killed on 62nd st.

They told me they weren't'
ready to come up yet.

It was late that night that
they finally got

an armoured vehicle to come up
into Liberty City

and get these boys who were now
almost dead

and this young girl rescued
from this riot.

I know one named Michael Colt.

That's the one that survived.

And I forgot the girlfriend's
name, she was in the car.

And the other Colt brother,

I don't remember his 1st name

but I remember they killed him.

I think initially when they
threw the rock

it was because he was white.

But once they pinned me to the
wall

I think it just lead to a worse
situation for them.

I have a lot of mixed feelings
about it.

Yes I think that the people in
my community

caused the people to hit me,

I don't really blame them, I
don't blame

the people that hit me either.

I just think that the police is
the real cause

of the accident because of what
they did

to Mr. McDuffie.

I guess the black people,
because of

past history of police doing
them wrong,

this was their way of
retaliating against them.

Unfortunately we do it in our
own neighbourhood

instead of peaceful protest.

(THELMA)I would tell that this
is one of

the best places in the world to
live.

You come here and you want to
be-

I come here and I say "Hi" "How
are you?"

"good afternoon, how you doing?"

to everybody out there.

And just be- you know,
everybody out there

we've all got children.

And somebody's just waiting for
someone to say

good morning to them or good
afternoon or hi

or how's it going? Or how are
you today?

I think if we could just get
along

and live in communities, and
speak to people

everyone would understand that
non of us

are so powerful that we can't
relate.

And I don't care how much money
they've got out there

it's not going to do you any
good if you don't

help somebody else with it.

And so I want all the athletes
to know

that I want them to get it
together

into communities and help in
communities

especially in black communities
where the help is needed.

Everybody wants to do something
on Miami Beach

or they want to do something on
Bellhop

or they want to do something
where other people

are doing it already in areas
like Coconut Grove

and Overtown and Liberty City

where all those blacks with all
that money,

all those athletes that come to
this town,

they talk about South Beach

they don't even know they live
in Miami.

they think they live on Miami
Beach

and you hear them talk about
coming to

South Beach, they coming to
Miami.

So Miami is the place they
ought to help see change.

Study the origins.

Study the origins of the black
community in Miami.

Why were they living where they
lived,

why were they confined to
certain jobs,

why were they disempowered,

how have they fought that,

how have things changed?

I'd study the origins then
compare today with that.

For example little things like
we've had a black police chief.

We didn't have a black
policeman until 1944

and he had limited powers.

We've had a black school
superintendent.

Black communities didn't even
have a high school

until 1927.

So there's been a lot of
improvement.

But I think in order to
appreciate the changes,

both good and bad, you need to
know that happened

in the beginning.

So I'd say study its origins
to understand

what it was like then and what
has changed today.

I think that I wish the thing I
wish

people realized the most with
blacks in Miami

is that were there from the
beginning

of Miami's incorporation and we
play

a fundamental role in the
development of the city.

Through labour, through
building of communities,

through fighting for change.

There was discrimination here
and through fighting

for change from the early
periods of time

from the 1900s all the way
through the 1960s.

I think in 10 to 20 years the
black population of Miami

will be and ethnic mix of
primarily Caribbean blacks

and African Americans.

I think we will have far more
blacks in Miami who are

descendant from people who came
from the Islands,

from other parts of the
hemisphere and not from the

North American continent.

It is inevitable.

It's not bad, it's the nature
of change we can expect

given the geography of where we
are.

This is going to happen.

Today, unless a black person
opens their mouth,

you don't really know who
you're dealing with.

But certainly 20 years form now
it will be very difficult

to pick out an African, Haitian
or Jamaican-

well, the Jamaicans stand out a
little bit.

But all the others you can
recognize immediately.

I should stop joking about the
Jamaicans.

I think blacks in Miami today

are in the best position
they've ever been in.

I think that this era when the
hispanics

made them 3rd class citizens is
somewhat passing

that if anyone is threatened
today

it may be the Anglos! But not
really,

I'm just joking about that.

I think that today, a lot of
people

really respect people for who
they are.

If you're a jerk you're a jerk,
you know?

You're a jerk 1st

then maybe the colour of you
comes 2nd.

Well I think that we need to
become more powerful

in the positions that we have.

We have some black people in
strategic positions

but they're not using those
positions

to benefit the black people.

It's almost as if they're
afraid that if they do something

if they turn around, they'll be
gone.

And this has not been my
experience.

My experience has been that you
stand up

for what you believe is right.

And so as far as helping the
black community

I don't see people who are in
positions

doing that.

They got the position,

but what's going on?

How are they helping the people
who are

in need of help?

How are they helping the
institutions,

how are they helping to push
the black institutions

that are struggling? Where are
they?

I think we've come a mighty
long way.

I think that we've made some
in-roads,

I think that we've made a lot
of progress.

But I also think we've got a
whole long way to go.

I'm not happy with everything
that's happening

but I am happy to see that
things are changing

and that people are begining to
see the importance

more and more of why it is that
we have to be out there

and be a part of what's going
on.

And having people understand
that we need

to do more volunteer stuff

and that we don't always need
to be paid

for what we do, cause there's
not that much

money out there to just give
away

so we gotta work for it.

And I say to young blacks all
the time

don't wait for them to give it
to you,

they're not giving it to you.

You gotta work for it if you
want out of this life.

But I think a new day is
arriving

and has arrived.

And I see it in the tours I do,

the talks I give, especially
like the chamber

of commerce leadership in Miami,

I see so many fantastic young
African Americans.

I think a new day is arriving.

I think the problem is that we
have to

take care of yesterday.

What are you going to do with
Overtown?

What are you going to do with
Liberty City?

But I see so many sharp young
people.

I think Marvin will tell you
the same thing,

but he taught at FYU and he saw
a lot

of young people coming up,

I just see a new day already
here.

But what are we going to do
with yesterday?

See that's the problem.

the struggle is not over, the
struggle is still here

because you have now a
different culture

becoming the majority

and everybody else is becoming
the minority.

Therefore you've got this
struggle.