Jacksonville, Florida
Mrs. Sophia Nickerson Starks was the owner and President of Nickerson’s School of Beauty Culture located at 1503 North Myrtle Avenue, Jacksonville, Florida. The school was founded in 1924 and was the first licensed beauty culture school in the State of Florida.The school offered both Read More …
We’ve all heard the story of the “40 acres and a mule” promise to former slaves. It’s a staple of black history lessons, and it’s the name of Spike Lee’s film company. The promise was the first systematic attempt to provide a form of reparations Read More …
Sallye B. Mathis was one of the first Black women to be elected and serve on our City Council in 1967. Locally, Ms. Mathis is honored by the local NAACP Jacksonville Branch by naming their annual community service award in her honor, as well as Read More …
This song is by Nellie Florence, features Barbecue Bob on guitar and appears on the compilation The Country Girls! 1927-1935 (1964) and on the compilation album Barbecue Bob, Vol. 2 (1928-1929) (1991) by Barbecue Bob. Nellie Florence is an obscure blues vocalist who recorded two songs for Columbia Read More …
Jacksonville’s Abraham Lincoln Lewis was Florida’s first black millionaire after his founding of the Afro-American Life Insurance Company here. The company was founded to provide affordable life and burial insurance to the black community. As well as being a leading contributor to black colleges like Read More …
Learn about the exciting life of Captain James W. Floyd (1861-1940) with speaker Jerry Urso, the Grand Historian of the Most Worshipful Union Grand Lodge of Florida. Captain Floyd was a celebrated hero of the Spanish American War, a business owner, and a civil rights activist from Jacksonville, Florida. Program Read More …
Mary Singleton one of the first black women elected to our City Council in 1967, she is also the first black woman from Jacksonville to be elected and serve in the Florida House of Representatives. Ms. Singleton is honored in so many ways here locally, Read More …
Jacksonville’s Bob Hayes is not only the first to win both a Super Bowl and an Olympic Gold Medal, he is the only person to accomplish both. The “Bullet” won gold medals at the 1964 Summer Olympics in both the 100m and 4x100m relay, setting Read More …
If you have ever visited St. Augustine, you might have noticed a large concentration of Victorian era homes just southwest of recognizable landmarks like the Bridge of Lions and the Cathedral Basilica. This is Lincolnville, a historically black neighborhood in America’s oldest city. Formed by Read More …
The Museum of Science & History, in partnership with the Jax Melanin Market present to you POWER, a dynamic fusion of arts, culture, and history, coinciding with the celebration of Black History Month. This program is part of MOSH’s ongoing effort to connect and engage with Jacksonville’s Read More …
Jacksonville’s Bob Hayes is not only the first to win both a Super Bowl and an Olympic Gold Medal, he is the only person to accomplish both. The “Bullet” won gold medals at the 1964 Summer Olympics in both the 100m and 4x100m relay, setting Read More …
Alfred L. Cralle was an African American inventor and businessman. While working as a porter in Markell Brothers drugstore and St. Charles Hotel in Pittsburgh, Pa, he noticed that ice cream stuck to the spoons and ladles the servers used, and they usually had to use two hands Read More …
Happy Kwanzaa! Today in 1966, Kwanzaa was founded as an African American cultural holiday. It is centered around seven principles based on African culture to build and reinforce community. The holiday’s name comes from the Swahili phrase “matunda ya kwanza,” meaning “first fruits.” Each of Read More …
Jacksonville officials are moving forward on a plan for a heritage trail in the historically African American community of LaVilla — a cultural hub once known as the Harlem of the South. The path would include historical markers at the Richmond Hotel, Old Stanton High School, Read More …
Viola Muse, a Jacksonville hair salon owner and writer with the Negro Writers’ Division of the Florida Federal Writers Project conducted interviews in the Jacksonville Black Community during the 1930’s and 1940’s. Her interviews detailed the lives of children, former slaves and everyday people in Read More …
Sallye B. Mathis was one of the first Black women to be elected and serve on our City Council in 1967. Locally, Ms. Mathis is honored by the local NAACP Jacksonville Branch by naming their annual community service award in her honor, as well as Read More …
African American landmarks and legacies can be found at a variety of locations in Jacksonville. While some of these sites can be visited, other listings are marked “private” and are not open to the public. 1960s Civil Rights Historic Site Marker James Weldon Johnson Park, Read More …
Happy Birthday to prominent author, anthropologist, and key figure in the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston. In the late 1930s, Hurston ran the “negro unit” of the Federal Writers Project, whose offices were in the Clara White Mission right here in Jacksonville. Learn more about Read More …