Desegregation Pioneer Recalls School Integration In Miami
I was born in Nashville and spent the first four years of my life in Tuskegee, Ala. My father, Dr. John O. Brown Sr., moved to Miami in 1955 to begin his practice in ophthalmology. To this day, I'm...
View ArticleEarly Miami Pioneer Recalls Early Days Of South Florida
I was born Martha Anne Peters in Victoria Hospital on Dec. 20, 1937, a second generation native-born Miamian . My daddy, Hugh Peters Jr., was born in the family home, on the corner of 75th Street and...
View ArticleAfter Bay Of Pigs And Pedro Pan Campground, Cuban Exiles Build Family In Miami
Our family came from Havana, a beautiful city that some have called a tropical paradise. My brothers and I came to Miami on a Pan American flight and were taken to a campground that the Pedro Pan...
View ArticleBig Milt's Story Has Its Share Of Pathos, Just Like Miami
I can imagine my dad's excitement leaving gritty Newark behind him and hitting the highway in his old Studebaker bound for paradise . . . Miami Beach. I can see the bathing suit postcards guiding his...
View ArticleSeven Essential Tracks From Miami's Disco Heyday
Miami boasts, of course, a reputation as a major clubbing center — but in decades past, the city is also where a big chunk of clubbing music actually got made. Most histories of disco music focus on...
View ArticleFormer Franklin Roosevelt Campaign Manager Settled In Pioneer-Era Coral Gables
My father, Ernest Peyton Jones, worked for President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was his campaign manager for the southeastern United States and became the associate commissioner of the Federal Housing...
View ArticleFormer City Commissioner Recalls Uncharted Waters From Cuba To Coral Gables
For me, the most important journeys have led to South Florida. The journey that started in December 1959 involved a move from Cuba, north to freedom. Forty-two years later, in July 1992, a return trip...
View ArticleEarly Settler Recalls Miami's Bustling Black Neighborhood Called "Colored Town"
My maternal grandparents, Sam D. and Ida Ellen Roberts Johnson, were born in Harbour Island, Bahamas. It is believed that their foreparents were among the millions of black slaves forced from West...
View ArticleVeteran Takes A Chance On 1950s Miami
Somewhere in the middle of 1951, my father, Cpl . Norman Segermeister , emerged from his commitment to the U.S. Army. After he was discharged, he met up with his parents, who had moved temporarily from...
View ArticleSuperintendent Learns Lesson: Where You Are From Doesn't Dictate Where You...
Every day I wake up with a spirit of excitement and anticipation of what the day may bring, in large part because of the incredible community that has become my adopted home, Miami. It is the kind of...
View ArticleExhibition Hopes To Unveil Opa-locka's Hidden Architectural Gems
When you think of architecture in South Florida, the first styles which come to mind might be Spanish Revival or Art Deco . Moorish Revival probably doesn't top that list -- unless you're familiar with...
View ArticleAfter No Goodbyes In Cuba, Exile Makes Miami Home
When I arrived in Miami in the early 1970s , I never could imagine that I would end up calling this city home. We came to Miami after a short stay in Spain. I came with my parents, Isabel and Ramon...
View ArticlePlunging In: How Miami's Beaches Were Integrated
Garth Reeves was a young World War II veteran when he came home to Miami and went to work at his father’s newspaper, the Miami Times . He bought property, paid taxes and voted in elections. But the...
View ArticleHow I-95 Shattered The World Of Miami's Early Overtown Residents
When Naomi Rolle talks about her childhood home in Overtown , tears fall from her eyes. Her father, Jerod Hastings Rolle , and his mother — her grandmother — constructed the cozy peach-colored home...
View ArticleA Wild Frontier In West Kendall
Southwest 132nd Avenue was on the edge of Miami in 1972, when Marily Reyes and her husband Frank moved into their new home just south of Bird Road. Their view across the narrow avenue was elephant...
View ArticleWorking At The Airport Becomes Sociology Lesson
This story, as told by Heidi Anthony, is part of an oral history series. I started working at Miami International Airport in 1988. My mind was young and impressionable and clueless. I was a public...
View ArticleThe Lee Boys Play Their Sacred Steel: Alvin Lee Shares His #MiamiStory
Alvin Lee is the leader of the sacred steel ensemble, The Lee Boys . He is a vocalist and guitarist for the band, although he can play a variety of instruments and was originally a bassist. Alvin grew...
View ArticleNational Hurricane Director, Education For Immigrant Teens, 50th Anniversary...
Hurricane season begins June 1 and director of the National Hurricane Center Ken Graham, who recently spoke at the 32nd Annual Governor’s Hurricane Conference , joins Sundial. The conference is held...
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