Douglas C. Lyons is a contributing writer with a deep interest in the history of African-Americans in Florida. A former editorial writer for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Doug has lived in Florida for nearly 25 years.
They met on South Florida’s beaches apprehensively, seeking flight to a better life in the Bahamas. If they were fortunate, they would haggle a fair price and board a boat bound for Andros Island.
Black Caesar is an elusive character, a pirate of some renown who roamed the Florida Keys, or so goes the legend. We explore his lair, and so can you!
The outstanding beach known as John U. Lloyd State Park is being renamed to honor Fort Lauderdale civil rights leaders Von D. Mizell and Eula Johnson.
Experts believe Higgs Beach in Key West is the site of the only African refugee cemetery in the United States.
The village near St. Augustine was created in 1738 — 37 years before the first shots were fired in the Revolutionary War. Fort Mose (pronounced “Moh-say”) would become an asylum for runaway slaves from the Carolinas and Georgia who sought refuge from slavery in the British colonies.
