Black Freedom in Florida, 1700-1865On display June 25 through January 24, 2010
Black Freedom in Florida, 1700-1865 examines three ways in which Florida functioned as a unique haven for freedom-seeking African Americans from 1700 to 1865. Enslaved African Americans from the southern United States obtained freedom in Florida by running away to Spanish-occupied Florida, seeking refuge among free black and Seminole Indian communities and resisting re-enslavement through strategic military service and warfare both against and for the British, the Spanish and the Americans. African Americans’ ability to defy re-enslavement in Florida enabled them to develop free black communities such as Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose near St. Augustine and Angola in Tampa Bay which flourished during the mid-eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
On display are photographs, maps, military and documentary records representative of these free black communities and their struggles to obtain and sustain their freedom throughout the international battles waged for the control of Florida during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Historical Museum of Southern Florida | 101 W Flagler St | Downtown Miami | Miami | FL | 33130