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The Geography of American Memory

Source: Andrew Lichtenstein / Getty

In Sarasota, Florida, members of the African American Cultural Coalition are working to preserve an important story from Black American history that has rarely been told.

If you’ve done any research on living while Black in America during the early 1900s, then you more than likely have heard the stories of the Jim Crow South. Living in America before and after the Civil War was hell on earth for Black people. But buried amongst the painful reminders of this country’s racist past are beautiful Black stories of resilience and hope.

Florida has a historic Black neighborhood called Newtown that in 1914 became a safe haven for Blacks looking to escape racial violence that plagued many of the states north of the panhandle.

With racism all around them, Newtown residents were able to build a self-sustaining community that included an entire business district, its own schools, grocery stores, and churches.

Vickie Oldham, the CEO and President of the African American Cultural Coalition wants to make sure the legacy of Newtown lives on forever.

Oldham and the organization have plans to build an African American Art Center and History Museum from one of Newtown’s original structures.

What makes the story of Newtown even more mind-blowing are the tales of free Blacks who roamed the Everglades in Florida 100 years before Newtown was even a thought.

During the late 1700s and early 1800s, Florida was very different than what we know it as today. America was still very much trying to find itself as a nation and influences from all over the world wanted a say in its destiny, including Spain, as well as the Native Americans. Blacks who escaped slavery during this period moved into the forests where some encountered indigenous communities on Florida’s coastal lands.

Runaway Slave

Source: MPI / Getty

The land was still owned by Spain and their manumission laws allowed for Blacks to live a life with more provided freedoms as opposed to U.S. rule which encouraged slavery. Blacks began to work and live among the Creek and Seminole Indians and also developed a relationship with the Spanish helping build forts, towns, agricultural services as well as military support. The Spanish would also offer slaves freedom from British rule if they converted to Roman Catholicism.

Florida continued to be an intricate location in the fight for America as power switched back and forth from British rule to Spanish.

Runaway slaves who integrated into Native American culture in the early 1700s were called Maroons.

White colonial Americans saw the Maroons as a direct threat to their way of life, which was slavery through fear, violence, and control.

Some believe the first free Black settlement in Florida was established in 1738 just north of St Augustine by maroons who had escaped from the Carolinas.

There were also other free Black communities in Florida at the time that flourished. In the early 1800s along the Manatee River lived a neighborhood of 750 escaped slaves. They called their community Angola. Once British troops left the shores of America after the War of 1812, maroons who aided in the battle kept the fort and turned into a self-sustaining community by farming the surrounding land.

Insert President Andrew Jackson, one of the worst things that could have ever happened to free Black life in Florida during the early 1800s. Jackson made it one of his top priorities to destroy every single Maroon community south of the Mason-Dixon.

In 1818, Andrew Jackson sent troops down the Apalachicola River to destroy Maroon, Seminole, and Creek communities in what was known as the First Seminole War.

Second Seminole War

Source: MPI / Getty

U.S. military forces burned Black and brown villages along rivers throughout northern Florida.

During the Battle of Suwanee, the 50 maroons were able to hold off the United States army, allowing hundreds of Maroons to escape to Jamaica, Key Biscayne, and Cuba. Those who did not want to leave the lands they worked so hard to build a life on fled into Florida’s Everglades, eventually pushing into the Sarasota area, leaving a legacy for the people of Newtown to pick up, which they did. Now decades later, as we celebrate Newtown and its history of Black excellence, we also acknowledge that our excellence in Florida started way before.

Vickie Oldham understands this better than anyone. Her research of the free Black community of Angola is what kick-started her passion for marketing and preserving Black history in Florida.

“These people were looking for freedom, said Oldham. “They found it along the Manatee River where we grew up but nobody was able to share their story. Our cultural and history facility will give these stories a place to live forever.”

Her plans for the facility are lofty. Oldham is starting the project African American Arts Center and History Museum.

The city has leased the historic Leonard Reid house and plans on moving it to a better tourist location. It will open as small art, history, and cultural center with plans to expand into a 17,000 square foot multimillion-dollar facility.

“There are there hidden gems of Black history all over the country and the state of Florida,” said Oldham. “We just need to find them and give them the voice they deserve.”

SEE ALSO:

The Black Town Of Nicodemus And The Enslaved African Prince Who Inspired A ‘Promised Land’

The Black Town Under Lake Martin: A Father & Son’s Dream Of Greatness

Florida's Legacy Of Free Blacks Pre Civil War  was originally published on newsone.com