Overtown is a neighborhood of

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, United States, just northwest of

Downtown Miami Downtown Miami is the urban city center of Miami, Florida. The city's greater downtown region consists of the Central Business District, Brickell, the Historic District, Government Center, the Arts & Entertainment District, and Park West. It ...

. Originally called Colored Town in the

Jim Crow era The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...

of the late 19th through the mid-20th century, the area was once the preeminent and is the historic center for commerce in the

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

community in Miami and

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...

. It is bound by NW 20th Street to the north, NW 5th Street to the south, the Miami River, Dolphin Expressway (SR 836), and

I-95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadia ...

(north of the

Midtown Interchange The Midtown Interchange, located in the Civic Center and Overtown neighborhoods of Miami, Florida, is the convergence of three major motorways: I-95, I-395 (which connects to the MacArthur Causeway to the east), and the Dolphin Expressway (SR 8 ...

) to the west, and the

Florida East Coast Railway The Florida East Coast Railway is a Class II railroad operating in the U.S. state of Florida, currently owned by Grupo México. Built primarily in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, the FEC was a pr ...

(FEC) and NW 1st Avenue to the east. Local residents often go by the

demonym A demonym (; ) or gentilic () is a word that identifies a group of people (inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place (hamlet, village, town, city, region, province, ...

"Towners".

History

Miami FL Overtown Overtown Folklife Village

A part of the historic heart of Miami, it was designated as a "

colored ''Colored'' (or ''coloured'') is a racial descriptor historically used in the United States during the Jim Crow, Jim Crow Era to refer to an African Americans, African American. In many places, it may be considered a Pejorative, slur, though it ...

" neighborhood after the creation and incorporation of Miami in 1896. The incorporation of

as a city occurred at the insistence of

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...

and FEC railroad tycoon

Henry Flagler Henry Morrison Flagler (January 2, 1830 – May 20, 1913) was an American industrialist and a founder of Standard Oil, which was first based in Ohio. He was also a key figure in the development of the Atlantic coast of Florida and founde ...

, whose mostly black American railroad construction workers settled near what became Downtown Miami, just north of Flagler's Royal Palm Hotel on the Miami River. Owing to a substantive black population, 168 of the 362 men who voted for the creation of the city of Miami were counted as "colored," but the

separate but equal Separate but equal was a legal doctrine in United States constitutional law, according to which racial segregation did not necessarily violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which nominally guaranteed "equal protecti ...

segregation laws of the

Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion in the Southern United States. The term was first used to describe the states most dependent on plantations and slavery prior to the American Civil War. Following the war ...

dictated the city designate the portion of the city, in this case, north and west of FEC railroad tracks, as "Colored Town." The second-oldest continuously inhabited neighborhood of the Miami area after

Coconut Grove Coconut Grove, also known colloquially as The Grove, is the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhood of Miami in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The neighborhood is roughly bound by North Prospect Drive to the south, LeJeune Road to the west, S ...

, the area thrived as a center for commerce, primarily along Northwest Second Avenue. Home to the Lyric Theatre (completed in 1913) and other businesses, West Second Avenue served as the main street of the black community during an era which, up until the

Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...

, barred black residents from entering middle and upper income

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

areas like

Miami Beach Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which sep ...

and Coral Gables without "passes."Mjagkij 2001 During the

Florida land boom of the 1920s The Florida land boom of the 1920s was Florida's first real estate bubble. This pioneering era of Florida land speculation lasted from 1924 to 1926 and attracted investors from all over the nation. The land boom left behind entirely new, planned ...

, Overtown was home to one of the first black millionaires in the

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

, D. A. Dorsey (who once owned

Fisher Island Fisher is an archaic term for a fisherman, revived as gender-neutral. Fisher, Fishers or The Fisher may also refer to: Places Australia *Division of Fisher, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in Queensland *Elect ...

), and the original Booker T. Washington High School, then the first

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

educating black students south of Palm Beach.

Community organizing Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other or share some common problem come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. Unlike those who promote more-consensual community bui ...

and mobilization during the era, as such in actions of Reverend

John Culmer Father John Edwin Culmer (May 22, 1891 – June 18, 1963) was a minister and leader during the civil rights movement, most notable for his work in Miami. Early life Culmer was born on May 22, 1891. He attended Oskaloosa College, where he recei ...

, who advocated for better living conditions for lower class blacks living in abject squalor during the 1920s, led to the completion of Liberty Square in 1937 in what is now-called Liberty City. Northwest Second Avenue and the surrounding neighborhood, once-called the "Little

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

" of the South, by the 1940s hosted hundreds of mostly black-owned businesses, ranging from libraries and

social organization In sociology, a social organization is a pattern of relationships between and among individuals and social groups. Characteristics of social organization can include qualities such as sexual composition, spatiotemporal cohesion, leadership, s ...

s to a hospital and popular

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

s. Popular with blacks and whites alike, Overtown was a center for nightly entertainment in Miami, comparable to Miami Beach, at its height

post-World War II The aftermath of World War II was the beginning of a new era started in late 1945 (when World War II ended) for all countries involved, defined by the decline of all colonial empires and simultaneous rise of two superpowers; the Soviet Union (US ...

in the 1940s and 1950s. The area served as a place of rest and refuge for black mainstream entertainers such as

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...

Cab Calloway Cabell Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, conductor and dancer. He was associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he was a regular performer and became a popular vocalist ...

Josephine Baker Josephine Baker (born Freda Josephine McDonald; naturalised French Joséphine Baker; 3 June 1906 – 12 April 1975) was an American-born French dancer, singer and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in her adopted Fran ...

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop si ...

, and

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

who were not allowed to lodge at prominent venues where they performed like the

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau (; ) is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the ''arrondissement ...

and the Eden Roc, where Overtown hotels like the Mary Elizabeth Hotel furnished to their needs. Further, many prominent black luminaries like W. E. B. Du Bois,

Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-1900s American South and published research on Hoodoo (spirituality), hoodoo. The most ...

Joe Louis Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed the Brown Bomber, Louis is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. He rei ...

and

Jackie Robinson Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line ...

lodged and entertained in the neighborhood. The area experienced serious economic decline from the late 1950s. Issues ranging from

urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...

to the construction of

interstate highway The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...

s like

(then, the North-South Expressway), the

Dolphin Expressway A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...

and the

in the 1960s, fragmented the-once thriving center with the resident population decimated by nearly 80 percent from roughly 50,000 to just over 10,000. The area became economically destitute and considered a "

ghetto A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...

" as businesses closed and productivity stagnated in the neighborhood. Development was spurred in the area again in the late 1980s with the construction and completion of the

Miami Arena Miami Arena was an indoor arena located in Miami, Florida. The venue served as the home of the NBA's Miami Heat, and the NHL's Florida Panthers. From 1988 until 1999, it also was the indoor arena for the Miami Hurricanes. History Completed in 1 ...

and

transit-oriented development In urban planning, transit-oriented development (TOD) is a type of urban development that maximizes the amount of residential, business and leisure space within walking distance of public transport. It promotes a symbiotic relationship between ...

surrounding the newly opened Overtown station. Since the 1990s and 2000s,

community garden A community garden is a piece of land gardened or cultivated by a group of people individually or collectively. Normally in community gardens, the land is divided into individual plots. Each individual gardener is responsible for their own plo ...

s have been created, in addition to renovations to the historic Lyric Theatre and revitalization and

gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and urban planning, planning. Gentrification ...

efforts spurred both by the city of Miami and

Miami-Dade County Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in ...

. Dr. Marvin Dun

founded the original Roots in the City Overtown Community Garden, turning an "overgrown, littered lot into a flourishing garden" maintained by Overtown residents and volunteers. Roots in the City, a non-profit "dedicated to community development, jobs training, inner-city beautification, healthy eating initiatives, and community research" used the Community Gardens to provide affordable fresh produce to low-income families, public school students, community agencies and homeless shelters. and is also organizes an urban farmer's market. These projects and other aspects of Overtown were featured in a short documentary ''The Ground under Overtown

centered on multi-issue multi-racial community organizing created around Florida protests against the Free Trade Area of the Americas#Disagreements, FTAA with a focus on

environmental racism Environmental racism or ecological apartheid is a form of institutional racism leading to landfills, incinerators, and hazardous waste disposal being disproportionally placed in communities of colour. Internationally, it is also associated with ...

, critiques of so-called "free trade"

agreements Agreement may refer to: Agreements between people and organizations * Gentlemen's agreement, not enforceable by law * Trade agreement, between countries * Consensus, a decision-making process * Contract, enforceable in a court of law ** Meeting of ...

like the FTAA, and positive community solutions such as

permaculture Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using whole-systems thinking. It applies these principle ...

. Anti-FTAA protesters at Dr. Dunn's invitation held a workshop on permaculture at the Overtown Community Garden and donated over 100 cherry trees to the Overtown community. In 2015,

David Beckham David Robert Joseph Beckham (; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the current president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Known for his range of passing, crossing ability and bending fr ...

announced that he had secured land in the neighborhood for a future, since-named Major League Soccer expansion franchise in Miami, although the team has since proposed a stadium at a different site in the city.

Demographics

Miami FL Overtown Music and Art Festival

As of 2000, Overtown had a population of 10,029 residents, with 3,646 households, and 2,128 families residing in the city. The median household income was $13,211.99. The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 74.77%

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

, 19.90%

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race, 3.27% White (non-Hispanic), and 2.05% Other races (non-Hispanic).

Places of interest

Miami FL Historic Overtown Lyric Theatre

Overtown is home to several historic churches and landmarks listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

, including: * Dana Albert Dorsey House (250 NW 9th Street): built in 1913, was home to Dana Albert Dorsey, one of Miami's most prominent black businessmen and philanthropists; * Greater Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church (245 NW 8th Street): built from 1927 to 1943, was the home of one of Miami's oldest black congregations; * Lyric Theater (819 NW 2nd Ave): built in 1914, was a focal point of social life of the black community; * Mt. Zion Baptist Church (301 NW 9th Street): built from 1928 to 1941, was the church of one of Miami's oldest congregations; * St. John's Baptist Church (1328 NW 3rd Avenue): built in 1940, is an example of Art Deco style religious buildings in Miami-Dade County. Other places of interest included in the City of Miami Historic Preservation Program are: * Dorsey Memorial Library (100 NW 17th Street): built in 1941, was the first city-owned building constructed specifically as a library; * Dr. William A. Chapman House (526 NW 13th Street): built in 1923, was home of Miami's first black physicians; * Ebenezer Methodist Church (1042 NW 3rd Avenue): built in 1948, is an example of Gothic Revival design; * Hindu Temple (870 NW 11th Street): built in 1920 inspired to the sets of the film ''The Jungle Trial'', was home to the merchant John Seybold; * St. Agnes' Episcopal Church (1750 NW 3rd Avenue): built from 1923 to 1930 to house one of Miami's oldest black congregations; * Ward Rooming House (249 NW 9th Street): built in 1925, is a gallery and visitor center; * X-Ray Clinic (171 NW 11th Street): built in 1939 as office for South Florida's first black radiologist Dr. Samuel H. Johnson.

Parks and recreation

* Ninth Street Pedestrian Mall, NW 9th Street - NW 2nd Avenue; * Dorsey Park, 1701 NW 1st Ave; * Gibson Park, 401 NW 12th St; * Henry Reeves Park, 600 NW 10th St; * Spring Garden Point Park, 601 NW 7th Street Rd; * Town Park, NW 17th Street - NW 5th Avenue; * Williams Park, 1717 NW 5th Ave.

Education and institutions

Schools

Miami-Dade County Public Schools Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) is a public school district serving Miami-Dade County in the U.S. state of Florida. Founded in 1885, it is the largest school district in Florida and the Southeastern United States, and, , the fourth la ...

: * Frederick Douglass Elementary School, 314 NW 12th St; * Dunbar Elementary School - 505 NW 20th St, Miami, FL 33127 * Paul Laurence Dunbar K-8, 505 NW 20th St; * Phillis Wheatley Elementary School, 1801 NW 1st Pl; * Booker T. Washington Senior High School, 1200 NW 6th Ave; * Theodore R. and Thelma A. Gibson Charter School, 1682 NW 4th Ave.

Libraries

* Overtown Public Library (350 NW 13th St), with its exterior walls adorned with paintings by Overtown's famous urban expressionist painter, Purvis Young. * Dorsey Memorial Library (100 NW 17th St) (1941–1961), Dorsey Memorial Library was the first city-owned building constructed specifically for library purposes.

Museums

* Black Police Precinct & Courthouse Museum, 480 NW 11th St.

Places of worship

In addition to the churches listed in the places of interest section, in the neighborhood there are: * A.M. Cohen Temple Church of God in Christ, 1747 NW 3rd Ave * Christ Church of The Living God, 225 NW 14th Ter * Greater Israel Bethel Primitive Baptist Church, 160 NW 18th St * Greater Mercy Missionary Baptist Church, 1135 NW 3rd Ave * Mt. Olivette Baptist Church, 1450 NW 1st Ct * New Hope Primitive Baptist Church, 1301 NW 1st Pl * Saint Peter's Antiochian Orthodox Catholic Church, 1811 NW 4th Ct * St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, 1682 NW 4th Ave * Temple Baptist Church, 1723 NW 3rd Ave * Triumph The Church and Kingdom of God in Christ, 1752 NW 1st Ct

Other institutions

* Miami-Dade County - Culmer Neighborhood Service Center, 1600 NW 3rd Ave; * City of Miami - Overtown Neighborhood Enhancement Team, 1490 NW 3rd Ave Suite 112-B; * Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency, 1490 NW 3rd Ave Ste 105; * Overtown Youth Center, 450 NW 14th St NW 3rd Ave.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Overtown is served by the

Miami Metrorail Metrorail is the heavy rail rapid transit system of Miami and Miami-Dade County in the U.S. state of Florida. Metrorail is operated by Miami-Dade Transit (MDT), a departmental agency of Miami-Dade County. Opened in 1984, it is Florida's only ra ...

at: * Historic Overtown/Lyric Theatre (NW Eighth Street and First Avenue) * Culmer (NW 11th Street and

US 441 U.S. Route 441 (US 441) is a auxiliary route of U.S. Route 41. It extends from US 41 in Miami, Florida to US 25W in Rocky Top, Tennessee. Between its termini, US 441 travels through the states of Florida, Georgia, North ...

)

Health care

* Jefferson Reaves Sr. Health Center, 1009 NW 5th Ave NW 10th Street.

Gallery

File:Miami FL Overtown Ward Rooming House.jpg, Ward Rooming House File:Dana Dorsey House 04.jpg, D.A. Dorsey House, built in 1914 File:Miami Overtown FL St John Baptist01.jpg, St. John's Baptist Church, 1940 File:Miami Overtown FL Mt Zion Baptist01.jpg, Mt. Zion Baptist Church, 1928 File:Overtown Historic District - Ebenezer Methodist Church (Miami, Florida).jpg, Ebenezer Methodist Church, 1948 File:Miami FL Overtown X-Ray Clinic.jpg, X-Ray Clinic, 1939 File:Miami FL Overtown New Providence Lodge.jpg, New Providence Lodge File:Miami FL Spring Garden Hindu Temple.jpg, Spring Garden Hindu Temple File:Miami FL Overtown International Longshoremen’s Association.jpg, International Longshoremen's Association File:Miami FL Overtown Black Police Precinct and Courthouse Museum.jpg, Black Police Precinct and Courthouse Museum File:Miami FL Overtown Jefferson Reaves Sr. Health Center.jpg, Jefferson Reaves Sr. Health Center File:Miami FL Overtown 3rd Ave Park.jpg, NW 3rd Avenue Park

References

Notes Bibliography *

N. D. B. Connolly Nathan Daniel Beau Connolly (born Nov. 6, 1977) is an American historian and professor. He is the Herbert Baxter Adams Associate Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University and co-host of the U.S. history podcast ''BackStory''. He is also th ...

. "Colored, Caribbean, and Condemned: Miami's Overtown District and the Cultural Expense of Progress, 1940-1970," Caribbean Studies 34. no. 1 (January–June 2006)

External links

{{Authority control African-American history in Miami Neighborhoods in Miami