4. Lake County Historic Courthouse — Exploring Central Florida’s civil rights history
Central Florida's civil rights sites
Release Date: 10/28/2020
7. Zora Neale Hurston National Museum of Fine Arts — Exploring Central Florida’s civil rights history
Central Florida's civil rights sites
Named for famed author Zora Neale Hurston, who made her home in Eatonville and set many of her stories there, the museum’s mission is to showcase works from artists of African descent. The art, including permanent exhibits and loaned works, includes paintings, sculptures and photography from a variety of time periods. The museum also hosts seasonal exhibitions. Hurston, who was also an anthropologist, wrote numerous works on the subject of racial strife in the early 20th century, including four novels, the best-known of which is “Their Eyes Were Watching God.”
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6. Harry T. & Harriette V. Moore Cultural Center — Exploring Central Florida’s civil rights history
Central Florida's civil rights sites
Harry T. Moore and his wife Harriette V. S. Moore were educators and prominent leaders of the civil rights movement. They were also infamously victims of anti-Black violence, dying after a bomb exploded beneath their house in Mims on Christmas night in 1951. The couple are now considered among the first martyrs of the civil rights era. The site of their former home is now the Harry T. & Harriette V. Moore Memorial Park, which features a replica of the Moores’ home and the cultural center. The complex celebrates their lives and accomplishments in advancing the cause of equality and also...
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5. Goldsboro Museum — Exploring Central Florida’s civil rights history
Central Florida's civil rights sites
This museum honors the legacy of Goldsboro, which became one of the first Black-incorporated townships in the country in 1891. The city of Sanford, with the help of the state legislature, annexed Goldsboro two decades later, dissolving its charter and re-naming several streets that drew their names from the town’s history. Local historian Francis Oliver led an effort to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the town’s dissolution by establishing the museum and the Goldsboro West Side Community Historical Association, which aims to celebrate the town’s history and restore its...
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4. Lake County Historic Courthouse — Exploring Central Florida’s civil rights history
Central Florida's civil rights sites
Inside this courthouse, an all-white jury convicted three young Black men, Walter Irvin, Charles Greenlee and Samuel Shepherd, of the 1949 rape of 17-year-old Norma Padgett. A fourth man accused by authorities at the time, Ernest Thomas, was killed while fleeing a sheriff’s posse. The men are now known as the Groveland Four, and the case against them — built with perjured testimony, fabricated evidence and confessions coerced through torture — is considered among the most notorious racial injustices in Florida’s history.
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3. Tinker Field — Exploring Central Florida’s civil rights history
Central Florida's civil rights sites
Named after Hall of Famer Joe Tinker, Tinker Field was built in 1923 and served as a spring training home to the Cincinnati Reds, Brooklyn Dodgers, Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins. In addition to hosting iconic Black players of the Civil Rights era, including Jackie Robinson, the ballpark was the site of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech during his sole visit to Orlando in 1964. The event was for decades left out of Orlando histories, until plans to destroy the park’s grandstands — revealed in 2014 after a city-approved expansion of the Citrus Bowl encroached into the...
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2. Greenwood Cemetery — Exploring Central Florida’s civil rights history
Central Florida's civil rights sites
Greenwood Cemetery, located south of Thornton Park and State Road 408, is the final resting place of numerous important figures in Orlando’s history. Among them is July Perry, whose grave went unmarked until 2002. Also buried at Greenwood is Sam Salisbury, a former Orlando police chief who led the posse that beset Perry’s Ocoee home. Established in 1880, Greenwood was unusual for the South in accepting Black and white decedents, though it maintained race-segregated sections until the cemetery was integrated 1960s. The cemetery usually offers moonlight walking tours, led by former sexton...
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1. The Wells’Built Museum — Exploring Central Florida’s civil rights history
Central Florida's civil rights sites
Located in Orlando’s Parramore neighborhood, the Wells’Built Museum of African American History and Culture is housed in the building once occupied by the Wells’Built Hotel, which was founded in 1930 by prominent African America physician Dr. William Monroe Wells. Built during the segregation era, the hotel was established as a haven for visiting Black travelers, including prominent entertainers. The museum features exhibits on the Civil Rights movement, African art and artifacts as well as historic memorabilia from Orlando’s Black community.
info_outlineInside this courthouse, an all-white jury convicted three young Black men, Walter Irvin, Charles Greenlee and Samuel Shepherd, of the 1949 rape of 17-year-old Norma Padgett. A fourth man accused by authorities at the time, Ernest Thomas, was killed while fleeing a sheriff’s posse. The men are now known as the Groveland Four, and the case against them — built with perjured testimony, fabricated evidence and confessions coerced through torture — is considered among the most notorious racial injustices in Florida’s history.