Dr. John Brown (left) and two other men at the segregated Virginia Beach in Key Biscayne, Florida for "Colored Only."

Acknowledgements    Biographical Notes

Bibliography


The Civil Rights Movement and the Black experience in Miami reverberates with both strife and triumph. In Miami, as with other cities across the United States, cultural clashes between ethnicities contributed significantly to civil unrest and racial tension. Champions of equality whose lives and hearts were committed to making Miami a place of peace and understanding between races evolved out of a deeply segregated, yet shared environment.


This presentation is the online companion of the Special Collections exhibit located on the 2nd floor of the Otto G. Richter Library, University of Miami (February 18 - May 1, 2009). The selected images tell a story of struggle, community challenges, and hope for Black Miami in the 20th century. Through a combination of personal papers, books, professional photography, fliers and reports of civil rights activities this exhibition on Black Miami presents a sobering glimpse at what was and illustrates a path of civic involvement and pride.



Theodore R. Gibson Family Papers

The Reverend Theodore R. Gibson papers contain letters, reports, and photographs illustrating the remarkable life and career of Reverend Gibson, longtime Miami Commissioner during the 1970s and 1980s, and champion of Black Coconut Grove.See more.


Dr. John O. Brown and Marie Faulkner Brown Papers

The Brown Family papers show the extent of Dr. John O. Brown and his family’s involvement in campaigning for the advancement of African Americans through personal artifacts from the family, photographs with notable government figures, and more. See more.


Bob Simms Collection

The Bob Simms Collection features documents, photographs, and accounts of the civil rights efforts of Bob Simms. These selected photographs depict the Miami Inner-City Minority Experience (MICME) workshop held in 1974 for 66 participants. See more.


Michael L. Carlebach Photography Collection

The Michael L. Carlebach Photography Collection contains poignant black and white photographs by U.M. Professor Emeritus Michael L. Carlebach of the Krome Avenue Detention Center, exposing substandard conditions in which Haitian refugees were questionably detained.See more.