“I’ve lived here most of my life and had no idea that these things happened.” That’s what author Marvin Dunn says most locals say to him after they read his book, Black Miami in the Twentieth Century , which recounts local Black history, from the proud heritage of the city’s Black community to Black pirates in Biscayne Bay, the glamorous but problematic heyday of Overtown, and the civil rights movement in Miami.
“When I did that book, I was hoping that it would do just that: help folks who are new to the community know our history, as well as remind those of us who have lived through it what that history is,” says Dunn, who is a professor emeritus at Florida International University.
Dunn is considered by many to be the forefather of Miami Black history. Born in DeLand, Florida, in 1940, he attended segregated schools, dealt with being called racial slurs, was kicked off busses and out of bars, and witnessed a KKK rally. In addition to his lived experiences, Dunn’s historical research is exhaustive—informed by newspaper clippings, eyewitness accounts, cemetery monuments, and more. He published History of Florida: Through Black Eyes in 2016 and has produced three documentary films including Rosewood Uncovered (detailing the 1923 Rosewood massacre), Murder on the Suwanee: The Willie James Howard Story (exploring the lynching of a 15-year-old in Florida in 1944), and Black Seminoles in the Bahamas: The Red Bays Story (telling the stories of enslaved people in Florida who escaped to the Bahamas in the 1800s).