🧵Machito and his Afro-Cuban orchestra were performing in Miami as early as 1945.

Though Miami was racially segregated, white Miami would make some exceptions for Black performers to entertain them, especially if they were Spanish speaking. The band had one African-American player Leslie Johnikens and they taught him how to say basic words in Spanish because the white Miami club promoters might discriminate against him if they found out he wasn’t Cuban.

🧵Miami's Goombay is one of the oldest Black Caribbean festivals in the U.S. It's back this weekend after a 5 year hiatus. Miami was founded by Black folks from the deep South and Bahamians. The first name on the city's charter is Silas Austin, a Bahamian man.

🎥 1982 Goombay Goombay happens in Coconut Grove, Miami's oldest neighborhood. The area was settled by Bahamians in the late 1800s. Bahamians were sought after to come to Miami for their expertise in construction and clearing land because the land in Miami was similar to the Bahamas.

🧵A brief history on how white terrorism chased Sidney Poitier from Miami, his place of birth.

Poitier was born on Feb. 20, 1927 in Miami to Bahamian parents who were in Florida to deliver their tomato produce for sale. Poitier's parents moved back to Bahamas w him as a baby. When he turned 13, they sent him back to Miami to live with brother Cyril in Liberty City.

Cyril lived in the Liberty Square Housing Project, the 1st housing project in the Southeastern U.S. created under the New Deal.

Happy 125th Birthday Miami! On July 28, 1896 the City of Miami incorporated.

Miami would not exist without Black men who signed the incorporation papers and the Black Americans and Bahamians, who literally built the city.

📸 Black Miami pioneers in Coconut Grove circa 1890s Black people were among early pioneer settlers of what would come to be known as Miami. The Black population was largely made up of Florida born Black folks, Bahamians and Black people who came further south from southern states like North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

Today in Black Miami history, Arthur McDuffie a beloved insurance salesman & veteran, was pulled over by Miami police on his motorcycle Dec. 17, 1979 & beaten violently with clubs and heavy duty flashlights.

He died 4 days later. His death led to the 1980 McDuffie Rebellion. The officers who killed McDuffie falsified their police reports and tried to stage the scene of their brutal crime as a "car accident." It didn't work. The medical examiner said it was clear McDuffie was beaten to death. His head was cracked like an egg. An investigation ensued.

This is a thread about the 1918 flu pandemic and how Miami’s black community got its first real hospital after that pandemic.

Special thanks to @jddelapaz_ for sharing some of his ongoing research on the 1918 flu pandemic and Miami's history. During the 1918 flu pandemic much of Black Miami lived in a segregated area called “Colored Town” now known as Overtown. Most of the homes were made out of wood. There was no running water or connections to sewer lines and it was really dense

In many parts of the US black communities were pushed to low-lying flood prone areas.

In Miami, the opposite is true. Black communities were built on high elevation away from the coast. Now because of sea level rise that high land is in demand. (THREAD)
wlrn.org/post/seas-rise… I teamed up with the @kai_wright and @Action__Johnson from @wnyc to tell the story of how elevation is now a key selling point for real estate in Miami—and what that means for high-elevation black neighborhoods like Little Haiti & Liberty City

Here's some of what we found.

Hearing # 2 of the day--Gov. Rick Scott is suing Broward's election supervisor over a lack of transparency and an unwillingness to disclose public records.

The hearing is scheduled to start shortly.

#FloridaRecount @wlrn For background reading:

wlrn.org/post/scott-sue…

After The March: A youth led townhall in Miami Dade addressing neighborhood gun violence.

Aliyah says there are clear neighborhood divides when it comes to gun violence. The people in Miami Beach can walk to Publix at 3 a.m. @WLRN #gunviolence One teen says he contemplates his own mortality after his step brother was shot. He says "that's trauma."

A group of Black students from Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High called a press conference today to say they have concerns that may not mirror those of their white peers. And that the media should listen. #MSDStrong Kai says while some might feel comfort to have more police officers at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, he does not. He says it's intimidating & that black students will face most of the consequences of an overmilitarized predominantly white school.

Rufus was looking for work in Liberty City. He needs $ to buy food. Says grandkids are down to cornflakes. Power still out. #hurricaneirma Mary says she feels forgotten after #HurricaneIrma. She's low on food and has no power. Her daughter suffers from epilepsy. #HurricaneIrma