Through Black Eyes: Unfiltered

This week’s episode concludes our two-part series on Slavery In Florida (Part 2). Through Black Eyes: Unfiltered's host, Dr. Raymond Dunn asks challenging questions of his brother and Florida Historian, Dr. Marvin Dunn. If you think you learned a lot from Part 1, check this episode out and learn the difference between the “Task System” and the “Gang System” of working slaves. Learn why slaves felt that working on rice plantations was harder than picking cotton or tobacco. Learn how were "House Negroes" and "Field Negroes" treated differently, and was it an advantage to work in the house so closely to “The Man” or better to work in the "Open Fields?" Do you know why slave masters used marijuana on slaves? Did it work?

Listen to the real reason for the Civil War as seen through black eyes. Why were slaves worth more than land, why did reconstruction fail, and just to test your knowledge on the subject, what was a “Carpet Bagger”? If you are going "Ummm" right now then you need to tune in. Find out all of these black facts and more in this one episode. The Dunn Brothers may change your view of slavery in Florida.

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In this week’s episode, Slavery in Florida, Part 1, the Dunn Brothers discuss the unfiltered truth about slavery. Their discussion involves the roll sugar played in making plantations profitable and slave masters rich. The discussion also includes how native Africans were captured by rival tribes and sold to slave hunters and how enslaved women were treated differently during the voyage to the new world.  Interesting details are revealed about slavery and the Caribbean Islands and how the government paid slave owners for slaves who died during the Middle Passage. You will be amazed to learn what rolls the Catholic Church and the Quakers played in the treatment and religious transformation of slaves. You may think you know about the underground railroad, but this episode will truly enlighten you. The episode ends with “The firing of the big guns”, listen and learn ‘through black eyes’ what that means. This is one episode you can’t afford to miss.

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Website: www.TBEunfiltered.com 

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This exciting episode will test your knowledge of some of the early movers and shakers of Miami, Fla. who opened doors, integrated beaches, wrote legal opinions and impacted the Miami/ Florida political system.  

Doctor William B. Sawyer was among the first black doctors to practice in Miami, he was one of the key leaders in raising money to build Miami’s first black hospital, Christian Hospital where he served as Chairman of the Board for almost 3 decades.  He built Miami’s premier black hotel of the time, The Mary Elizabeth Hotel. Doctor Sawyer’s daughter, Gwen Sawyer Cherry became the first black woman elected to the Fla. House of Representatives.

Other leaders including Charles Hadley, a political activist known for his organization “Project Big Vote” was a force to be reckoned with in early Miami politics.  Doctor John O. Brown successfully filed suit against Dade County Schools and integrated the segregated System. The Reverend Canon Theodore Gibson of Christ Episcopal Church was a community activist who among many accomplishments served on the Miami City Commission, filed lawsuits that desegregated downtown lunch counters, the county beach and the school system.

Dr. Johnny L. Jones was the first present day Black Superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools.  He greatly reduced the number of school suspensions that put students out in the streets unsupervised and instead promoted the use of In-Door suspensions.  He opened opportunities for Blacks to be elevated into the upper levels of the school system’s administration. Dr. Jones distinguished career was tarnished by an endeavor known as “The Gold Plumbing Fiasco” that accused him of using school funds for personal use.

Judge Wilkie D. Ferguson was appointed to the Third District in 1980, the first African American to serve on the Court.  As a trial judge, he made a landmark ruling precluding the systematic exclusion of blacks from juries. The federal courthouse in downtown Miami is named in his honor.

Join us to learn more about these and other people who helped shape Miami.

Prominent Black Leaders Who Shaped and Influenced Early Miami

This episode provides a glimpse into the multitude of discriminatory laws and “Jim Crow” practices Miami’s black leaders fought to overcome.  Although the city had numerous blacks who would qualify for inclusion in this episode, due to time restraints, we can only feature the following four.

E.W.F. Stirrup; a Bahamian carpenter by trade was one of the largest landholders in Coconut Grove, a large black community where many of the Blacks who helped build Miami lived.  Stirrup was a leader in demanding equal city services and code enforcement for the black community.  

Dana A. Dorsey; Miami’s first African American millionaire was a businessman, banker, developer and philanthropist.  As his wealth grew, Dorsey donated property in the black community for the building of schools and parks.

Athalie Range; was an African American civil rights activist, businesswoman, and politician. She was the first black to serve on the Miami City Commission, member of the governor’s cabinet and an advisor to president Jimmy Carter.

The Reverend Theodore Gibson; served on the Miami City Commission, led a swim-in in 1959 that integrated Crandon Park Beach and helped to integrate the Dade County Public School System.  Included in his many accomplishments was the integration of downtown lunch counters and department stores.

In this episode the Dunn Brothers revisit, through black eyes, “The Negro Fort”, that many historians say was the largest community of freed slaves in North America at the time. Dr. Marvin Dunn tells how this haven for escaped slaves and freedmen fell to the deadliest cannon shot in U.S. history. Hear Dr. Dunn’s account of why this historic fort built in 1814 was rebuilt in 1818 and named Fort Gadsden.

The Dunn brothers give a historical account of the Black Seminoles of Red Bays, Nassau Bahamas, The Indian Removal Act of 1830, the migration of the Seminole Tribe to the Florida everglades and the little understood relationship between Blacks held as slaves by the Seminoles and tribal members known as Black Seminoles.

In this episode the Dunn Brothers revisit, through black eyes, “The Negro Fort”, that manyhistorians say was the largest community of freed slaves in North America at the time. Dr.Marvin Dunn tells how this haven for escaped slaves and freedmen fell to the deadliest cannonshot in U.S. history. Hear Dr. Dunn’s account of why this historic fort built in 1814 was rebuilt in1818 and named Fort Gadsden.The Dunn brothers give a historical account of the Black Seminoles of Red Bays, NassauBahamas, The Indian Removal Act of 1830, the migration of the Seminole Tribe to the Floridaeverglades and the little understood relationship between Blacks held as slaves by theSeminoles and tribal members known as Black Seminoles.This is a must hear little known piece of history through black eyes.

Doctors Marvin and Raymond Dunn open the new season with a powerful episode about the history of the Black Seminole Indians. The brothers provide answers to questions you always wanted to ask about this little-known part of Black history. Dr. Marvin Dunn, a Florida historian and expert on the Black Seminoles, discuss the legend of the “Buffalo Soldiers” and the origin of the Seminole Tribe. Dr. Raymond Dunn raises the question, what is the difference between an escaped slave and a Black Seminole? The answer may surprise you. The discussion continues with; Black Seminole leaders like Abraham and John Horse and their impact on history and how former President Andrew Jackson and Major Francis L. Dade helped in the U.S. Indian Removal Act of 1830. We know our listeners will find this season opener very interesting and informative and we are excited to have the Dunn brother present it through black eyes.

Doctors Marvin and Raymond Dunn open the new season with a powerful episode about the history of the Black Seminole Indians. The brothers provide answers to questions you always wanted to ask about this little-known part of Black history. Dr. Marvin Dunn, a Florida historian and expert on the Black Seminoles, discuss the legend of the “Buffalo Soldiers” and the origin of the Seminole Tribe. Dr. Raymond Dunn raises the question, what is the difference between an escaped slave and a Black Seminole? The answer may surprise you. The discussion continues with; Black Seminole leaders like Abraham and John Horse and their impact on history and how former President Andrew Jackson and Major Francis L. Dade helped in the U.S. Indian Removal Act of 1830. We know our listeners will find this season opener very interesting and informative and we are excited to have the Dunn brother present it through black eyes.

S1, Episode 4 of Through Black Eyes: Unfiltered is back with its final episode, Part 2 of The Civil Rights Movement in Miami, Tallahassee, and St. Augustine, Florida, featuring our podcast stars and brothers, Doctors Marvin Dunn and Raymond Dunn, Sr., along with moderator, Tomeka Napper. Episode 6 also introduces two new guests: Mrs. Delores Davis Hills-- who joins us in the studio, and Mrs. Carolyn Reed Abrams--- who joins us by phone, to add more to the conversation by sharing their stories of activism during the movement in the 1960s in Tallahassee, Florida.

The episode begins with the historical background of the beginning of the “modern” civil rights movement in Miami in 1946, which lead to beach wade-ins that lead to the establishment of the first negro beach and more. As according to Dr. Marvin Dunn, the “modern” civil rights movement actually began in Miami in 1946 when a group of blacks, mostly World War II Veterans, held a wade-in the all-white Virginia Key public beach each to force Dade County to open a beach for Negroes to swim. This beach is now famously known as Virginia Key Beach, in Miami, FL. Dr. Marvin Dunn, goes on to share that even before the student sit-ins in North Carolina that “supposedly” began the movement (which is a “mistaken view"), in Miami, the first training camps for non-violent civil rights demonstrators were being conducted by a group called “Congress on Racial Equality” also formally known as “CORE”. Core was first established in 1942, in Chicago IL by James Farmer, Bayard Rustin, George Houser, Bernice Fisher. Also, in Miami, we discuss civil rights legends, Father Theodore Gibson, who led the wade-in to establish Virginia Key Beach; Miami Times Newspaper Publisher Garth Reeves; M. Nathalie Range, the first black women to be elected to the Miami City Commission; Virgil Hawkins, who was the first black attorney who took his case all the way to the Florida Supreme Court; and more who were instrumental in helping blacks in Miami be treated fairly and equally.

Moreover, as the movement in Florida bloomed in the early 1960s two cities in the state of Florida: Tallahassee and St Augustine, experienced the most wide-spread demonstrations. Those activities were led by Rev. C.K. Steele, and college students (i.e. Sisters Patricia Stephens Due and Priscilla Stephens Kruize, John Due, and others, etc.) particularly from Florida A&M University (i.e. FAMU) in Tallahassee. Our very own, Dr. Raymond Dunn, along with his classmates: Delores Davis Hills and Carol Reed-Abrams, were arrested during those activities and share their moving experiences with us. Their recollections of those events, particularly of how one incident where hundreds of arrested students, organized themselves and survived under such stressful conditions during those egregious times, is a highlight our audience does not want to miss.

As the conversation turns to the civil rights movement in St. Augustine, we discuss the heroic efforts of Dr. Robert Haylings who, along with Rev/Dr. Martin Luther King were instrumental in staging public demonstrations with children, and wade-ins at public beaches and at the infamous Monson Motor Lodge pool, which was operated by Robert “Jimmy” Brock who poured acid in the pool. In addition, the Dunn Brothers share the significance of St. Augustine in terms of being the oldest city in the United States of America, and its long history with being a free establishment for blacks, going all the way back to the late 1500s.

Stay tuned to the conclusion of Season 1, Episode 6 and to hear directly from Dr. Marvin  and Dr. Raymond, as to why they choose to end our first season of Through Black Eyes: Unfiltered with The Civil Rights Movement in Florida.

 

It has been our pleasure.

S1, Episode 4 of Through Black Eyes: Unfiltered is back with its final episode, Part 2 of The Civil Rights Movement in Miami, Tallahassee, and St. Augustine, Florida, featuring our podcast stars and brothers, Doctors Marvin Dunn and Raymond Dunn, Sr., along with moderator, Tomeka Napper. Episode 6 also introduces two new guests: Mrs. Delores Davis Hills-- who joins us in the studio, and Mrs. Carolyn Reed Abrams--- who joins us by phone, to add more to the conversation by sharing their stories of activism during the movement in the 1960s in Tallahassee, Florida.

The episode begins with the historical background of the beginning of the “modern” civil rights movement in Miami in 1946, which lead to beach wade-ins that lead to the establishment of the first negro beach and more. As according to Dr. Marvin Dunn, the “modern” civil rights movement actually began in Miami in 1946 when a group of blacks, mostly World War II Veterans, held a wade-in the all-white Virginia Key public beach each to force Dade County to open a beach for Negroes to swim. This beach is now famously known as Virginia Key Beach, in Miami, FL. Dr. Marvin Dunn, goes on to share that even before the student sit-ins in North Carolina that “supposedly” began the movement (which is a “mistaken view"), in Miami, the first training camps for non-violent civil rights demonstrators were being conducted by a group called “Congress on Racial Equality” also formally known as “CORE”. Core was first established in 1942, in Chicago IL by James Farmer, Bayard Rustin, George Houser, Bernice Fisher. Also, in Miami, we discuss civil rights legends, Father Theodore Gibson, who led the wade-in to establish Virginia Key Beach; Miami Times Newspaper Publisher Garth Reeves; M. Nathalie Range, the first black women to be elected to the Miami City Commission; Virgil Hawkins, who was the first black attorney who took his case all the way to the Florida Supreme Court; and more who were instrumental in helping blacks in Miami be treated fairly and equally.

Moreover, as the movement in Florida bloomed in the early 1960s two cities in the state of Florida: Tallahassee and St Augustine, experienced the most wide-spread demonstrations. Those activities were led by Rev. C.K. Steele, and college students (i.e. Sisters Patricia Stephens Due and Priscilla Stephens Kruize, John Due, and others, etc.) particularly from Florida A&M University (i.e. FAMU) in Tallahassee. Our very own, Dr. Raymond Dunn, along with his classmates: Delores Davis Hills and Carol Reed-Abrams, were arrested during those activities and share their moving experiences with us. Their recollections of those events, particularly of how one incident where hundreds of arrested students, organized themselves and survived under such stressful conditions during those egregious times, is a highlight our audience does not want to miss.

As the conversation turns to the civil rights movement in St. Augustine, we discuss the heroic efforts of Dr. Robert Haylings who, along with Rev/Dr. Martin Luther King were instrumental in staging public demonstrations with children, and wade-ins at public beaches and at the infamous Monson Motor Lodge pool, which was operated by Robert “Jimmy” Brock who poured acid in the pool. In addition, the Dunn Brothers share the significance of St. Augustine in terms of being the oldest city in the United States of America, and its long history with being a free establishment for blacks, going all the way back to the late 1500s.

Stay tuned to the conclusion of Season 1, Episode 6 and to hear directly from Dr. Marvin  and Dr. Raymond, as to why they choose to end our first season of Through Black Eyes: Unfiltered with The Civil Rights Movement in Florida.

 

It has been our pleasure.