In search of the Fountain of Youth, Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon first arrived in Florida in 1513 accompanied by three African crew members.  Based on his route through the Caribbean, some say he stopped in Miami's Biscayne Bay. Eventually his explorations led to Spanish settlements in central and northeast Florida coasts. Though known to geographers, South Florida was relatively uninhabited until the 1870s. Bahamian craftsmen traveled only 70 miles west to settle in the Miami district known today as Coconut Grove. Prime shorefront property built by Bahamian settlers was testament to the region's great possibilities. And Coconut Grove Cemetery is their final resting place.

    In the 1890s, European American industrialists and African Americans laborers from the South came for to extend the railroad. Those industrialists built resort hotels along the way. For many African Americans, this was a fresh start in a part of the South that did not suffer as much from the legacy of slavery, though a caste system quickly emerged. After the railroads enabled safe passage, entrepreneurs coupled the resident cheap labor with shrewd marketing to drive a real estate development boom.

    Real estate marketers dangled a carrot in front of wealthy European Americans seeking a summer vacation or winter home in subtropical, but mainland USA. Such marketing also attracted gangsters like Al Capone whose line of work required frequent R&R. It is fair to note however, that huge numbers of poorer European American immigrants brought Jim Crow discrimination with them. Via discrimination in nearly all walks of life, their elevated social and legal status marginalized the Bahamian Americans who preceded them and African Americans who arrived simultaneously or later. But this part of the story is not unusual for America. For a more important distinction that explains the character of daily life, see how Cuba Policy Impacts Overtown.

    Today, Miami civic officials are exorcising that legacy of America’s Cuba Policy by acknowledging more effort is required to undue past wrongs towards the Black community. The challenges of Liberty City, like other economically challenged neighborhoods in America, remain. But city officials have stopped razing historic structures in Overtown and now have a more sensible plan for Overtown’s renewal, albeit one that needs more private investment.

    Race relations have, by and large, progressed to cordial. Tourists of all stripes are downright welcome. There is an unmistakable sense being cultivated that all people are working to make this a better 21st century city. The influx of Caribbean immigrants has also made Miami a haven for Black entrepreneurs in dining, shopping, entertainment and transportation. Arguably, the best decision Miami civic officials and bankers made, was to help fund the nation's first Black-owned resort hotel, the Royal Palm Crowne Plaza Resort.