 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.
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