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Home My WebLink AboutCRA-R-06-0049 back-upPage I of 4 Herbello, Evelyn From: Elizabeth A. Williams Iewilliams@theblackarchives.org] Sent: Friday, November 17, 2006 1:50 PM To: Herbello, Evelyn Cc: djf@bellsouth.net; tbachan@theblackarchives.org; Adderley, Jonelle Subject: Brdwy Proposal.doc The attached is submitted in response to your request. Please call me if you require additional information. Thank you for your assistance. Historical Research and Exhibition Proposal Proposal Title: "Overtown, Miami's Little Broadway" Proposal Dates: October 1, 2006 — September 30, 2007 Submitted: November 17, 2006 BACKGROUND What was "Little Broadway?" Overtown is one of the oldest neighborhoods is Miami. In 1896 the City of Miami was incorporated when the industrialist Henry Flagler sent workers to the area to build the railroad and hotels, a destination for white tourists. During those days customs and laws segregated the races limiting black people "in every phase of life." Black people (also known now as African Americans) were not allowed to live, rent or own property within the white community. This was the Jim Crow Era in the United States. The area west of the railroad tracks, Colored Town, now known as Overtown was assigned to the black laborers. This area was and still is directly adjacent to the Miami's white downtown business and entertainment core. According to the original city charter the black laborers were used to help incorporate the proposed destination and as a result Miami was incorporated July 28, 1896. Colored Town's indigenous residents developed their area and it became the cradle of business and culture for black people and "people of color." Black people came from the West Indies, the Caribbean as well as Florida and the other southern states to settle in Miami's Colored Town. Those who settled in adjacent enclaves traveled on a regular basis from as far south as Key West and as far north as West Palm Beach on dirt and unpaved roads to Miami's Colored Town for business, shopping, church services, school and entertainment. Seminole Indians often shopped in Colored Town, attended the Lyric and other theaters. After shopping and conducting business downtown they would often stopped at the Ward Rooming House and refreshed themselves before walking back to the "the Trail," known now as Southwest Eight Street, back to the Everglades. Boundaries "Little Broadway's core: Northwest Second Avenue, from Sixth Street to Eleventh Street contained churches, dance halls, restaurants, movie and legitimate theaters, nightclubs and hotels. Businesses lined Northwest Third Avenue including a newspaper office medical doctors, dentists, restaurants, dry cleaners, tailor shops, lodges, stevedores {longshoremen), and beauty shops. Many of the buildings contained family residences or rentals on the top floors. Historically no building in the immediate area was more than three stories high. As a result of the research collection at the Black Archives five 11/17/2006 t buildings on listed on the U. S. Secretary of Interior's National Register of Historic Places and also designated as local sites by the City of Miami. Others are being identified. There were residential areas on both sides of "Little Broadway." Some were single family homes owned by individual families while others owned by absentee landlords. This included three room houses, known as "shotgun houses." The cluster on Northwest Sixth Street and Second Avenue was replaced by the Lord Calvert Hotel, later renamed the Sir John Hotel. The cluster on Northwest Fourteen Street, known as Goodbread Alley, was replaced by the expressway. Perhaps the most famous former resident of Goodbread Alley is folk artist Purvis Young. Page 2 of 4 From the 1930s to the 1960s tourists, black and white, as well as residents from throughout the region frequented the area to enjoy the entertainment, partake of the exotic foods and to listen to popular melodies as well as gospel music. Overtown's Dorsey Hotel, Wist3ria Hotel located in the J & S building also known as the Cola Nip Bottling Company, Sir John Hotel, Mary Elizabeth, Carver Hotel contained nightclubs where national celebrities such as Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway, Josephine Baker, Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole, Aretha Franklin and many other performed year round. GOAL: To continue collecting, preserving and exhibiting source materials from the indigenous residents, families, churches, businesses and organizations who developed their own tourist Mecca in spite of adversity and their participation in the transformation Of their area from "a destination of laws to a destination of choice." AUDIENCES: Current, former and future residents; tourists and visitors Sources: Research Collection, The Black Archives, history And Research Foundation of South Florid, Inc, Joseph Caleb Community Center; Series: "Black Miami, The Way It Was... What Can We Tell The Children?" Dorothy J. Fields, Series Researcher, Writer and Guest Editor, 1982-1983, The Miami Times; "Colored Town/Overtown: Miami's Little Broadway," Dorothy J. Fields, contained in The Dade County Environmental Story, Dade County Public Schools, 1985, pp.142-150; "Tracing Overtown's Vernacular Architecture" Dorothy Jenkins Fields, contained in The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts 1875-1945, The Wolfsonian-Florida International University and The Wolfson Foundation of Decorative and Propaganda Arts, Inc. pp. 323-328. "Miami's African American Cultural Arts Community During the Jim Crow Era," Dorothy Jenkins Fields, contained in "and you thought you brought it with you..." Art and Culture in Miami Before 1980 The Bakehouse Complex, 200, pp. 8-11.. SCOPE OF SERVICES: Engage The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture to provide Technical assistance to the Black Archives, History and Research Foundation of South Florida, Inc.: (1) preparing, installing(hands-on) and presenting the "Little Broadway" exhibition, (2) providing recommendations for Archives and Museum Policies and Procedures including related technology (3) developing strategies to assist other local black exhibitions and research facilities utilizing the Black Archives' Lyric Theater Welcome Center as the hub of Miami's Black Cultural Arts (4) providing advice and make recommendations for future exhibitions (5) provide advice and make recommendations for the relocation of the Black Archives to the Historic Overtown FoIklife Village District 11/17/2006 Page 3 of 4 TIMELINE October 2006 through January 2007 Exhibition Research and Production February 2007 Exhibition Installation February 2007 Schomburg Site Visit February 2007 Opening Reception w/Schomburg Presentation March /April Schomburg site visit to black cultural sites located in the Historic Overtown Folklife District including the Ward Rooming House, Black Police Museum, Dorsey Library, Judge Thomas' Office, Johnson X-Ray Clinic, Longshoremen Hall, Lodge, Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Greater Bethel AME Church And Ebeneezer Methodist Church; and the sites of the Cola Nip Bottling Company/Wisteria Hotel/Atlanta Life Insurance company, Dorsey Hotel, Carver Hotel, Lord Calvert/Sir John Hotel and the Mary Elizabeth Hotel. May/June Scheduled conference calls w/Schomburg July/August Prepare report September Submit report to CRA BUDGET Schomburg $1 i 500 Exhibition $15,000 Installation $7,.500 High School Jazz Band Workshops $10,000 Concert Host Honorarium Oral History Collection $2,500 $2,500 Marketing/Printing $4,500 Exhibit and Tour Coordinator $10,00 Asst. Exhibit and Tour Coordinator $6,000 Legal fees $2,500 Lyric Theater Rentals $14,300 Office Supplies $ 500 11/17/2006 Page 4 0£ 4 Photography $1,200 Distinguished Lecture Visiting Scholar $3,000 Research and Administration $20,000 $110,000 No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. 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