Liberty Square (Miami)
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Liberty Square, often referred to as the Pork & Beans, is a 753-unit
Miami-Dade 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 count ...
public housing Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...
apartment complex in the Liberty City neighborhood of
Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
,
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
. It is bordered at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard/North 62nd Street to the south, North 67th Street to the north, State Road 933 (Northwest 12th Avenue) to the east, and Northwest 15th Avenue to the west. Constructed as a part of the
New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...
by the
Public Works Administration The Public Works Administration (PWA), part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by United States Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was ...
and opening in 1937, it was the first public housing project for African Americans in the
Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...
. It is featured in the 2023 documentary film, '' Razing Liberty Square.''


History

As development flourished in
South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...
from the early 20th century through the
1920s File:1920s decade montage.png, From left, clockwise: Third Tipperary Brigade Flying Column No. 2 under Seán Hogan during the Irish War of Independence; Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcohol in accordance to the Eighteenth Amendment to ...
,
restrictive covenant A covenant, in its most general and covenant (historical), historical sense, is a solemn promise to engage in or refrain from a specified action. Under historical English common law, a covenant was distinguished from an ordinary contract by the ...
s and
Jim Crow laws The Jim Crow laws were U.S. state, state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, "Jim Crow (character), Ji ...
barred
black American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
s in the Miami area from living in much of the area outside of Overtown. Overtown, then called Colored Town, grew to be one of the most
densely populated Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
areas in South Florida. Several
city block A city block, residential block, urban block, or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design. In a city with a grid system, the block is the smallest group of buildings that is surrounded by streets. City blocks are th ...
s of Overtown homes were dilapidated
shotgun house A shotgun house is a narrow rectangular domestic residence, usually no more than about wide, with rooms arranged one behind the other and doors at each end of the house. It was the most popular style of house in the Southern United States from t ...
s with no electricity or access to municipal water and sewer, being host to a relatively high incidence of
infectious disease An infection is the invasion of tissue (biology), tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host (biology), host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmis ...
s in many areas.
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s and advocacy by respected black businessmen and
clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
, such as the works of undertaker Kelsey L. Pharr and Rev. John E. Culmer, informed the creation of the Southern Housing Corporation (SHC). Formed by seven
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Miami-area attorneys and led by former
state attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...
John C. Gramling, the SHC garnered public support for the endeavor from Miami residents. It then
lobbied Lobbying is a form of advocacy, which lawfully attempts to directly influence legislators or government officials, such as regulatory agencies or judiciary. Lobbying involves direct, face-to-face contact and is carried out by various entities, in ...
the new administration of
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
in the first 100 days for the creation of a new "negro colony" on what was-then the outskirts of the city to alleviate blight and to largely displace blacks from Overtown to spur further private real estate development in
Downtown Miami Downtown Miami is the urban city center of Miami, Florida, United States. The city's greater downtown region consists of the Central Business District, Brickell, the Historic District, Government Center, the Arts & Entertainment District, and ...
. The new facility opened 243 single-family units opened to tenants February 6, 1937. Built just west of the north Miami neighborhoods of Buena Vista and Lemon City, opposition to the proximity of the new apartments to the mostly white communities led to the erection of a wall along West 12th Avenue from North 62nd Street north to 71st Street, most of which was torn down since the 1950s. Construction of
I-95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, north to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the ...
and I-395/ State Road 836 (then, the North-South and East-West Expressways, respectively) purged thousands of African Americans from Overtown into other black area communities like the burgeoning Liberty Square and surrounding Liberty City area. Until the '' de facto''
racial segregation Racial segregation is the separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, ...
in public accommodations and private homeownership practices ended after the enactment of the
Civil Rights Act Civil Rights Act may refer to several civil right acts in the United States. These acts of the United States Congress are meant to protect rights to ensure individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private ...
s of
1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...
and
1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...
, Liberty Square became the most densely populated subdivision in the Miami area. Once a largely
middle income The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Commo ...
community, a purge of poor elderly and several
welfare Welfare may refer to: Philosophy *Well-being (happiness, prosperity, or flourishing) of a person or group * Utility in utilitarianism * Value in value theory Economics * Utility, a general term for individual well-being in economics and decision ...
-dependent single mother families from Overtown fled to Liberty Square, leading to a
black flight Black flight is a term applied to the migration of African Americans from predominantly black or mixed inner-city areas in the United States to suburbs and newly constructed homes on the outer edges of cities. While more attention has been paid ...
of middle and higher-income African Americans to
suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...
an Miami-Dade county and a decline in
living standard Standard of living is the level of income, comforts and services available to an individual, community or society. A contributing factor to an individual's quality of life, standard of living is generally concerned with objective metrics outside ...
s in the project between the 1960s and the 1980s. Liberty Square and surrounding area were the location of notable Miami area
race riot This is a list of ethnic riots by country, and includes riots based on Ethnic conflict, ethnic, Sectarian violence, sectarian, xenophobic, and Racial conflict, racial conflict. Some of these riots can also be classified as pogroms. Africa A ...
s in the years following the Civil Rights Movement.


Redevelopment

In late January 2015, the
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 coun ...
Department of Public Housing and Community Development announced plans for construction of a "New Liberty Square." Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Giménez released a statement saying, "the plan promises to create 2,290 jobs and $285 million in economic output.” Funding for the mixed-use, mixed income public housing complex that will be “the largest renovation, revitalization of a public housing complex in county history” will come from a combination of county, state and federal resources. Local funding for the project, known as “Liberty City Rising,” is expected to be paid through General Obligation Bonds ($32 million); Document Taxes ($6 million); and Capital Fund Financing Program ($8 million). Six developers submitted proposals in response to the county's request: RUDG, an affiliate of
The Related Companies Related Companies, L.P. is an American real estate firm with headquarters in New York City, and with offices around the country including in West Palm Beach, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, as well as in London. Related developed t ...
, South Florida’s largest condo developer; Atlantic Pacific Communities; Carrfour Supportive Housing, Florida's largest nonprofit provider of affordable housing, mostly to the homeless; Centennial Management Corp., owner of 13 rental communities in Florida; a joint venture of Virginia-based Community Housing Partners Corp and Miami Waymark 2.0 Joint Venture LLC; and Miami Redevelopment Partners LLC. The director of the county’s housing agency said redevelopment will not displace the more than 600 residents currently living in Liberty Square, claiming New Liberty Square will be built in phases so residents won’t move out until new units are finished. "One of our guiding principles is that all residents in good standing will have a unit to return to," he said. "If you’re a resident and you follow the terms of your lease, you’re in good standing." The announcement
Miami-Dade County Resolution Approving Liberty Square Redevelopment.
has not been met with unanimous support, especially from those who have seen previous redevelopment plans contribute little to Miami’s most distressed neighborhoods. One source said that Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Giménez "was well into his first term as a county commissioner when the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Housing and Urban Development had to take over the county's public housing agency because of the rampant scandals ...The only way Giménez can sell this plan is by allowing trusted community leaders, not the paid-off pastors or political cronies, to have oversight on the project."


See also

* Overtown *
Public housing in the United States In the United States, subsidized housing is administered by federal, state and local agencies to provide subsidized rental assistance for low-income households. Public housing is priced much below the market rate, allowing people to live i ...
* Razing Liberty Square


References

Notes {{reflist Further reading * George, Paul S., and Thomas Peterson. "Liberty Square, 1933–1987: The Origin and Evaluation of a Public Housing Project". Tequesta 48 (1988): 53–68. Public housing in Miami-Dade County, Florida Apartment buildings in Miami Residential buildings completed in 1937 1937 establishments in Florida Liberty City (Miami)