Florida Black Heritage Trails

In 1990, the Florida Legislature created the Study Commission on African-American History in Florida to explore ways to increase public awareness of the contributions of African Americans to the state. The Commission was asked to recommend methods to establish a Black Heritage Trail to identify sites, buildings and other points of interest in black history that should be preserved and promoted as tourist attractions. The first edition of the Florida Black Heritage Trail, published in 1991, was a product of the Commission, the Florida Division of Historical Resources and the many citizens who assisted in developing the book.

The second edition of the Florida Black Heritage Trail is produced by the John G. Riley Center/Museum for African-American History and Culture and financed in part by a grant from the Division of Historical Resources, Florida Department of State.

The new, 34-page Florida Black Heritage Trail contains descriptions of more than 200 places important to the history of Florida, profiles of noteworthy African Americans, and a guide to festivals throughout the state. It also includes four self-guided driving tours and features vivid color photographs.

Sites in the book include Eatonville, the country's oldest black municipality and home of noted writer Zora Neale Hurston; the Julee Cottage Museum in Pensacola, home of Julee Panton, a "free woman of color" in the early 1800s; the Lincolnville Historic District in St. Augustine; the Black Archives Research Center and Museum at Florida A&M University; and American Beach, a predominantly black oceanfront resort established by Abraham Lincoln Lewis, who in the 1930s founded the Afro-American Insurance Company in Jacksonville.