Charles Avenue Historic District Marker

The first black community on the south Florida mainland began here in the 1880s when blacks from the Bahamas and southern U.S. came to farm the land or to work at the Peacock Inn, the first hotel in the Miami ...

The Old Dillard High School

This Masonry Vernacular structure, one of the oldest buildings in the city, was built in 1924. It was the first black school in Fort Lauderdale and named in honor of James H. Dillard, a philanthropist, educator and promoter of education ...

James F. Sistrunk Blvd Historical Marker at Von Mizell Library

Dr. James F. Sistrunk was the first black medical doctor to practice in Ft. Lauderdale and the only one for almost 16 years. With his partner, Dr. Von Mizell, Dr. Sistrunk solicited financing for Provident Hospital, which opened in 1938 ...

The African American Research Library and Cultural Center

This library, research facility, and cultural center contains 75,000 books, documents and artifacts by and about people of African descent, a community cultural center, a 300 seat auditorium, meeting rooms, exhibit areas, a historic archive, a viewing and listening center ...

St. Ruth Missionary Baptist Church

Founded by Charlie Chambers in 1908 and named in honor of his daughter, this was the first black church in Dania and housed the first colored school. The bell tolled to call the congregation to service and to mark the ...

The Colored Beach

In the early 1950s the northern tip of what is today John U. Lloyd Beach State Park was purchased by the Broward County Commission for use as the Colored Beach. Beachgoers took a ferry to reach the beach until a ...

The Overtown Community

Extends between Fourth and Tenth Streets from U.S. 41 to Orange Avenue.

Though many buildings in this historically African American community have been lost, others have been rehabilitated and adapted to commercial use. Payne AME Chapel is a symbol of ...

The Leonard Reid Home (Private)

A one-story frame vernacular building completed in 1926, the Leonard Reid home was originally located on Coconut Avenue. A highly respected African American pioneer of early Sarasota, Reid helped establish Sarasota's first black community, Overtown. Working for a fish merchant ...

The Johnson Chapel Missionary Baptist Church

The only remaining rural church in southern Sarasota County dating from the 1910s, Johnson Chapel was built as the Osprey Missionary Baptist Church in 1915 on the west side of the Tamiami Trail in Osprey, six miles north of Laurel, ...

Grover and Pearl Koons House

The Florida Academy of African American Culture is located in this house that was occupied by Grover and Pearl Koons between 1927 and 1930. The house is an excellent example of a Mediterranean Revival style bungalow.

Information provided by Florida ...