F EW states have the history that Florida offers – and even fewer have the rich strains of African-American lore, particularly in the Jacksonville-Orlando corridor.
Slavery was introduced into Florida in 1763, while the territory was under British rule. The oldest remaining plantation residence is Kingsley Plantation, built in 1798 on Fort George Island near Jacksonville, and now run by the National Park Service.
Kingsley was unusual in that Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley – a Senegalese ex-slave who became the wife of owner Zepheniah Kingsley – emerged as business manager of the 46,000-acre spread in her husband’s numerous absences, circa 1810.
The remains of the 23 tabby cabins, coral and mud-baked homes where the slaves lived, can still be seen in their original semi-circle – built in such a way to maintain the West African tradition of laying out homes around a chieftain’s central residence.
Ten miles north of Fort George Island is Amelia Island, which includes American Beach, the nation’s last remaining all-black beach community.
American Beach, in its heyday during the segregation period, was the summer home to well-heeled blacks from Florida and nearby Georgia. Started as a getaway for those not allowed on public beaches, blacks constructed pavilions, motels and restaurants there and brought in their own dance bands.
Jacksonville itself is home to Bethel Baptist Institutional Church, which started out as an interracial house of worship in 1838. Racial tension led to a split and the courts awarded the original church – destroyed in the Great Fire of 1901 – to the black majority.
Bethel was designed by black architects and rebuilt by black crews between 1904-1919. It is now listed on the National Historical Registry.
The LaVilla section of Jacksonville was the Mecca of black culture from the 1920s to the 1940s. It includes the early home of James Weldon Johnson, secretary of the NAACP who composed the anthem “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” and the old Ritz Theater, a stomping ground for Ray Charles and other soul greats.
Expected to open this summer, the art deco building is being restored as a local museum and performing arts center.
Nearby Daytona Beach is home to Jackie Robinson Ball Park, on City Island. The Hall of Famer made his U.S. debut there on March 17, 1946, in America’s first integrated baseball game, with the Montreal Royals.
In Orlando, the venerable Wellsbilt Hotel was once crammed to the rafters with celebrities, from Cab Calloway to Ella Fitzgerald. It is scheduled to reopen in June as a museum, with artifacts from the “Chittlin’ Circuit,” touring black entertainers and athletes not allowed in white establishments.
Ten miles north is Eatonville, probably the oldest incorporated municipality founded by African-Americans. It was established by newly freed slaves in the 1880s.
A non-profit organization is putting the finishing touching on a 10-stop Heritage Trail walking tour of old Eatonville. The jaunt, with plaques at each stop, is highlighted by the 1881 St. Lawrence AME Church, the oldest structure in town.