The Dr. Walter Smith Library

Dr. Smith is a former President of Florida A & M University and author of The Magnificent Seven and A History of Black Community Colleges in Florida.

Information provided by Florida Department of State.

Black History and Art Museum

Located inside the Paradise Missionary Baptist Church, this museum is in the heart of the historic Central Avenue neighborhood once called The Scrubs. The building was constructed in 1891 as the Allen Temple African Methodist Episcopal Church. The museum includes ...

Glover School

Hillsborough County Historic Landmark

In 1866, freed slaves from East Hillsborough County founded the community of Bealsville-named for Alfred Beal, a member of one of the original families. Since the beginning of the community, education was important to its residents. ...

Bing Rooming House

The Bing Rooming House was built in 1926 by Janie and E.L. Bing and operated by Mrs. Bing until 1975. During segregation, this boarding house served as the most prominent hotel for blacks in Plant City, including the visiting Negro ...

Bethlehem Progressive Baptist Church

According to oral histories, Frank Saxton, a white man, built this church in 1861 for his former slaves. By 1869, 15 black Baptist churches in the state formed the Bethlehem Baptist Association. Fort Taylor Cemetery, south of Brooksville, is the ...

Pleasant Hill Baptist Church

Built between 1895 and 1910, this wood frame church is the oldest surviving African American church in Floral City.

Information provided by Florida Department of State.

Frazier Cemetery

H.C. Frazier established this African American cemetery in 1908 when he buried his son here. Arthur Norton, one of the first black settlers who worked in the phosphate mines, is buried here. The overwhelming majority of Floral City's phosphate workers ...

National Historic Landmark-Mission Concepcion

National Historic Landmark - Mission Concepcion

Established in 1731 by Franciscan friars, this is the best preserved of the Texas missions. The massive church building is designed in Mexican Baroque style, with twin bell towers.

Courtesy National Park Service National Historic Landmarks

National Historic Landmark-Majestic Theatre

National Historic Landmark - Majestic Theatre

The great movie palaces gradually replaced burlesque as entertainment within everyone's reach, rich and poor alike. In the 1920s and '30s, the picture palace flourished in big cities and small towns, as fantasy worlds into ...

National Historic Landmark-Spindletop

National Historic Landmark - Spindletop Oil Field Lucas Gusher

On January 10, 1901, at Spindletop, a little knoll of land rising out of a swampy prairie, the first great oil gusher roared in.

Lucas Gusher signaled the opening of the vast oil ...