Hiii everyone, My name is Benia Morton. I’m a junior majoring biology on the pre-pa track. I currently work as medical assistant. In my free time I enjoy playing volleyball, modeling and spending time with my dog.
Miami Encounter as Text :
I have now lived in Miami for about 6 months, and I honestly don’t know too much about the history and culture of Miami. What I do know is that Miami is a rich and diverse place with many different cultures. Something that has also stood out to me is how big Miami is. I knew Miami was a big city, I never realized how many different parts there were to it. Someone could say I’m from Miami, and you still would know where they’re really from unless you ask what part. Miami is a melting pot, people from all over the world come to Miami and bring with them their cultures including food, languages, religion, music, and art. The main reason I’m in this class is to learn about Miami’s background and history. When moving to a new city or even just visiting, I love to find out what the city is really about that usually includes taking a tour of the main parts. What kind of people live there, what is it known for. Now that I live in Miami, I would love to know more about it. I also really love food so when I saw that the class description mentioned different foods that really sparked my interest. I also enjoy meeting and interacting with new people and this class offers a unique opportunity to do that. When I think of Miami the first things that come to mind as with most people is the warm weather, palm trees, and the beach. The main place that comes to mind specifically is south beach. Miami is such a big city it’s impossible to see all of it with the amount of class time we have. My expectations of this class are to travel around the city of Miami visiting various places, some well-known and some hidden gems. By the end of the class, I expect to be more familiar with the city as whole as well as what it has to offer. By the end of the class, I hope to be knowledgeable enough to tell others about Miami’s rich history and about all the amazing places I’ve visited. While I’m excited to visit all the of the places that are listed. I am mainly looking forward to visiting south beach and the everglades. Mainly because when most people think of Florida they think of the everglades, I’ve also always wanted to visit the everglades, to see what it looks likes up close. I’m also really curious to see what kind of wildlife live there. I am also excited to visit south beach. I’ve only been to one part, so I’m very curious to see what the surrounding areas have to offer. I bet it also has an interesting background, so I look forward to learning about that. The picture I have attached below is a picture of south beach from when I first moved to Miami. Miami is a beautiful city and I look forward to exploring it.
Historic Miami/Overtown as Text
“The history of Overtown” by Benia Morton of FIU at Overtown on January 17.
On Wednesday January 17, our class visited Overtown. From the very beginning of class to the very end I was shocked by all of the different stories I heard. The first being how Miami itself became a city. As someone of African descent I was shocked about the African American history that has taken place in Miami that I never knew about. Without the black vote Miami might have become the great city it is today. It was unfortunate but not surprising that the first things the whites did was segregate Miami by making all the blacks live in one location. This became a very densely populated area. Because they didn’t have access to many things, they had to make it and get it for themselves. Eventually they end up building this great and lively community that became famous of over the US known as “Little Broadway”. This community of people were able to create a thriving cultural and business center.
Our first stop was the historic Greater Bethel Church. As soon I was walking in, I could tell that this church was no ordinary church and I soon learned that my assumptions were right. This small but mighty church was essential to the civil rights. On February 12, 1958, Martin Luther King gave a speech to start of the movement to help gets blacks registered to vote. While here hear from an amazing women Ms. Godfrey, who herself is a member of Greater Bethel. From her we hear stories of Overtown before and after they built a highway straight through it. The insertion of the highway brought great separation to the community. I was astonished to see how close the highway was to churches and other buildings.
Our next stop was the famous Josephine hotel where famous people such as Josephine Baker, Cab Calloway and Billie Holiday stayed after their shows in Miami Beach. They had to stay in Overtown because they weren’t allowed to spend the night in the hotel near where the just performed huge and sold-out shows.
Our next few stops include the Dorsey house, and the Lyric center. The Dorsey house was home to Miami’s first black millionaire, Dana Albert Dorsey. He was a prominent businessman and landowner He once even at one point owned Fisher Island which is now the wealthiest community in Miami. You could go the lyric theater and hear James Brown Aretha Franklin and many other greats perform. In 1915 the Miami Metropolis newspaper described the Lyric Theater as “possibly the most beautiful and costly playhouse owned by Colored people in all the Southland.”
While we saw and visited many interesting and historic places. The ones that I decided to focus on in my write up have more to do with black history as that is something I can closely relate to. The final place I’m going to mention is the William F English plantation slave quarter. This slave quarter later many things including a military storehouse, county courthouse and the Miami post office.
Although there are many other locations, we saw that I could mention the ones I decided to write about had the most memorable effect on me.
Work Cited
“About the Historic.” Dunns Josephine, http://www.dunns-josephinehotel.com/about-us/. Accessed 29 Jan. 2024.
“Home.” The Black Archives, http://www.bahlt.org/. Accessed 29 Jan. 2024.
Deering Estate as Text
During our next class, we had the honor of vising the Deering estate.” The Deering estate is Miami’s premier landmark that showcase the best of South’s Florida’s historic architecture” (Immerse yourself in Miami’s cultural tapestry: Deering Estate, museums, and historical sites 2024). In 1985 the estate was purchased by the state of Florida and turned into the “park” that we now see. The Deering estate contains 8 native ecosystems including the endangered pine Rockland habitat, tropical hardwood hammock, mangrove forest, salt marshes, chicken key and submerged seagrass. I found it very interesting that one could find all of these different and unique eco system in just one place. It covers over 450 acres of land including the earliest sign of human habitation in what is known as the city of Miami. In the digging site they found the remains of 5 people that were buried in a ritualistic way. This part of the estate isn’t accessible to make people. If you’re lucky enough to see this amazing piece of history good luck trying to not get lost. In order to preserve the natural habit, it is asked that you not take the same path twice so that a formal path is not formed.
Next, we went inside of the house the House that Charles Deering bought, inside was a beautiful room, which he used to house his art. Inside the house included his wine cellar which as hidden way at the time he used it due to the prohibition, showing that if you have money, you can easily ger around the law. Inside the cellar was full of hundreds of wine bottles, unfortunately the bottles were empty. As professor Bailly told us about the cellar I couldn’t help but think how much those bottles of wine would cost if they weren’t empty. They would be worth probably thousands of dollars. Outside of the home you could see the Spanish influence is the architecture. In the pillars of the house, you could see different carving of different animals and people.
During our final part of the class, we took about a 6 miles hike through the different ecosystem. While on the walk we learned about solution holes. As water falls into limestone is becomes acidified and slowly eats at the rock and creates a hole. These provide great habitat for ferns and other moisture loving plants. While hiking we also came across a Tequesta preserved burial ground. Evidence of their existence can be seen and found all over the Deering estate; we were able to find shells that they used as tools. As we walked through the wet and mushy mangrove, we were all wondering what we were looking for professor Bailly said you’ll know it when we see it, and we indeed did, we came across a crashed plane, referred to as the Cocaine cowboy’s plane. The plane crashed in the 1990’s and was left there in order to protect the mangroves ecosystem. For me personally, this was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. As the class continue, I am more and more amazed and shocked by the amount of history that is found in the city of Miami.
Work cited
Immerse yourself in Miami’s cultural tapestry: Deering Estate, museums, and historical sites. Deering Estate. (2024, January 24). https://deeringestate.org/
Coconut grove/Vizcaya as text
For our next class we visited the beautiful Vizcaya Museum and gardens. James Deering purchased 100 acres with 1000 feet of shoreline for Mary Brickell. In 1912 James Deering started construction on the Vizcaya Villa. He instantly became the richest man in Miami the moment he moved there. During the construction of the villa James Deering employed more than 1000 people. Most of the workers that were Bohemians. This is just another prime example of how the city of Miami was built on the back of Bahamian immigrants. While I believe it is a positive thing that people were given an opportunity to make money, the working conditions were less than favorable, and the pay was next to nothing. I also found it surprising that there isn’t more evidence of them throughout the villa and garden.
As we walked down the white road, I was astonished by what I was saw. Out of nowhere this beautiful pink mansion appears, all around is beautiful landscaping. As soon as you walk into the villa it immediately gives off that typical Miami vibe. When you walk in from the west entrance the first thing you see Is a statue of Bacchus the roman god of wine and ecstasy. The villa is comprised of numerous gorgeous rooms. Each room has its own unique purpose and style. My favorite part of the house was definitely the court/patio. I love all the natural light; we were also informed by professor Bailly that the glass we were seeing was later added and that it was not there in its original state. I could imagine the morning breeze that would blow through there. The patio is also full of tropical plant life that bring out the idea of the outdoors indoors. Once we went outside into the garden it was just more amazing beauty. In many parts of the garden there were benches that were used for secret meet ups between the wealthy and the help. This type of fraternizing was not allowed inside of the house. It definitely gave me Romeo and Julieta vibes.
Next, we moved our focus to Coconut grooves. Here one of the places we visited Christ Episcopal Church. The church was stunning, but what stood out the most was the beautiful stained glass. What made the stain glass unique was that the biblical figures that are traditionally portrayed as white were actually people of color. There were also historical figures in the stain glass such as Rosa Parks, Malcom X, and Martin Luther King. While walking we visited the historic coconut grove cemetery. I never knew that in Bahamian culture their dead are buried above ground. The caskets were also very colorful but the most interesting thing we heard was like Michael Jackson may have filmed some of the thriller music video there. I am a huge fan of Michael Jackson, so I thought that it was very cool. We also visited another church, Plymouth congregational church. Clinton McKenzie was the architect who drew the plans. However, all the stonework done just by one man Felix Rebom. On the church grounds is the first coconut grove schoolhouse. It was so cool to go inside and to see where students learned a long time ago. Our final destination was the barnacle, which is the oldest home in Dade County still standing on its original site.
Work cited
Coconut Grove. Bailly Lectures. (2023, September 13). https://baillylectures.com/miami/coconut-grove/
Vizcaya Museum and gardens. Bailly Lectures. (2024, February 17). https://baillylectures.com/miami/vizcaya/
Everglades as Text
The one and only
For our next class we visited Everglades national park. “Everglades National Park protects an unparalleled landscape that provides important habitat for numerous rare and endangered species like the manatee, American crocodile, and the elusive Florida panther. “(Everglades National Park (U.S. National Park Service))This by far my favorite location we have visited so far. We started our class in the Ernest F. Coe Visitor center. There we saw a huge map of the everglades. The everglades cover 1.5 million acres that stretches over the southern part of Florida. This amazed me as I never knew that the everglades covered so much of Florida.
Our first stop on the tour was the hole in the donut. This was really cool to see because there were fish inside the hole. The main course of this visit was the slough slog. “Slough slogging gives you a hands-on view of the River of Grass and reveals the hidden world of a cypress dome.” (Everglades National Park Slough Slog (U.S. National Park Service)) The first ecosystem we encountered was the cypress dome. The cypress tree is a deciduous conifer that can survive in standing water. They are impressive because even though they look dead they’re actually still alive. When we first entered the water was kind of cold but quickly warmed up as we continued put journey. The deeper we walked the more dense the population of cypress got. The deeper we went the more beautiful it got. There were pretty pink plants growing from the trees. As we walked, I was just amazed by everything I was seeing. The everglades is truly one of the few places left were you can go and see how animals interact with nature with no human interference. While in the awe of so much beauty we just had to take a moment of silence to truly take in and appreciate where we were and our surroundings. During this moment of silence, we hear birds chirping and nature untouched by humans. The next ecosystem we saw was the sawgrass prairie. As soon as we were told the name of the grass we were saw, I instantly wondered why it’s called sawgrass. It’s called sawgrass because the plant has tiny ridges along the length of its sides. Surprisingly these ridges can give you a small cut similar to a paper cut. Along with the sawgrass there was a lot squishy looking stuff which is called periphyton. Periphyton is a mixture of tiny organisms, including bacteria, cyanobacteria, and green algae. “Together periphyton uses the sun’s energy to produce food. Since it forms the base of many of the Everglades food chains, that makes it a very important member of the Everglades team.” (Everglades National Park Sawgrass Prairie(U.S. National Park Service))
After lunch, our final stop was the Anhinga trail. Here we were able to see more amazing everglades wildlife including various birds, turtles, crocodile, and the Florida gar. Overall, it was an amazing trip and I left there with a great appreciation of nature. There is honestly no other place like the everglades anywhere in the world.
Work cited
U.S. Department of the Interior. (n.d.-a). Ecosystems: Cypress. National Parks Service. https://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/nature/cypress.htm
U.S. Department of the Interior. (n.d.-b). Everglades National Park (U.S. National Park Service). National Parks Service. https://www.nps.gov/ever/index.htm
U.S. Department of the Interior. (n.d.-c). Sawgrass Prairie. National Parks Service. https://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/kidsyouth/sawgrass-prairie.htm
U.S. Department of the Interior. (n.d.-d). Slough Slog. National Parks Service. https://www.nps.gov/ever/planyourvisit/sloughslog.htm
Biscayne Bay/Chicken Key as text
For our next class we went back to the beautiful Deering estate. However, our purpose for this trip was different. The waters behind and adjacent to the Deering Estate are home to two state aquatic preserves, part of a system of 41 aquatic reserves around the state, managed by the Florida Department of environmental protection’s office of coastal and aquatic managed area. Our mission for this class was to get to Chicken key. Chicken Key is a natural sand island, located approximately one mile offshore, it is a part of Biscayne Bay. It was formed by the deposition of quartz and limestone sands by ocean currents. It is only accessible by water, using boats such canoes or kayaks. The Biscayne Bay is a shallow subtropical lagoon along the southeastern coast of Florida.
The first part of class was just getting to the island. We paired up in teams of two and hoped in our canoe. Towards the beginning of our journey, we entered a tunnel of mangroves. “The word mangrove is used to describe several trees, not closely related to one another, that flourish in salty environments. Some are able to block salt from their roots while others secrete excess salt through their leaves, allowing them to thrive where other trees would die.” Mangroves are so cool in fact because of their complicated root system they help to keep park waters clean and clear. They slow water flow from the land into the bay and allow sediment to settle.
Although I’ve been canoeing many times, I’ve never experienced just being out in the open water like that before, it was surreal. Many times, I just wanted to stop rowing so that I could take in all my surroundings. Before we could even get out on land to start picking up trash, we found a huge traffic cone caught up in some vines. I was amazed on how something like that could get all the way out there. When we finally got to key chicken key while it was beautiful it but hard to miss all the debris that had washed up on its shore. Marine debris is defined as any persistent solid material that is manufactured or processed and directly or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally, disposed of or abandoned into the marine environment or the Great Lakes. While many people litter, I doubt they realize that it’ll end up places like here. While this litter is bad for the environment, it’s even more harmful for the animals. Animals eat these microplastic, it then blocks their GI tract and eventually can lead to death. The sad part is the fact that this is debris and litter is completely preventable. Since the island is unhabituated, the only times it ever gets cleaned up, it times when Professor Bailly takes classes out there for a clean-up. I was more than happy to help clean up the trash, it felt nice to give back to the environment even if it doesn’t affect anyone except the animals. It was also amazing to see how grateful the workers at the Deering estate were.
Work cited.
Biscayne Bay. Bailly Lectures. (2023, January 15). https://baillylectures.com/miami/biscayne-bay/
South Beach as Text
For out next class, we visited the well-known and beautiful South beach. When most people think of Miami or are planning a trip to Miami south beach is the first place on their list. South beach is most well-known for its beautiful sandy beaches and blue water. Something that is also very unique to Miami that most people don’t think of is the architecture. South beach has three main architecture that we regularly see including Mediterranean revival, art deco, and Miami modern also called MiMo. Each one having its own characteristics that make is unique. The prime example of Mediterranean revival is the Vizcaya mansion. One of the main characteristics of Mediterranean revival is the seamless blend of indoor and outdoor living space. Miami modern is characterized by buildings that look more like cruise ships than building. This includes taller building, many glass windows to allow sun light to come in and bright colors and many different angles. Last but not least there’s Mediterranean revival. This is probably the most famous architecture that we find on south beach. It was also the most interesting to learn about. There are also many characteristics that one can look for to identify it. First here’s the rule of 3s, the building are typically 3 stories high and are dived into 3 sections. Then there’s the curved edges, we learned during class that machines such as refrigerator and toasters we’re a big influence and the curved edges give it that machine look. I was surprised to learn that some if these art deco building even have eyebrows, crazy right. Many of the building also have porthole windows like the ones we see on cruise ships, and many have neon lights that are beautiful at night. As I have learned in this class women play a huge part in Miami’s history, during this class we learned about Barbara Baer Capitman, it’s thanks to her hard work and dedication that we still have the beautiful art deco architecture that we see today. “In 1977 Capitman and Leonard Horowitz founded the Miami design preservation log.” (Bailly Lectures, 2023 January 15) If it wasn’t from them south beach would look like every other beach city.
After A nice lunch we made our way over to the FIU Jewish Museum. This was so cool to see, I never knew that FIU had a Jewish Museum. However, this museum is no regular building, its actually two historic building that were “once synagogues for Miami beach first Jewish congregation.” (Bailly Lectures, 2023 January 15) Before visiting I never knew that South beach was home to such a big Jewish population. The museum has a whole room dedicated to antisemitism old and current examples. Some of the things there were hard to read and see but it’s important that when leaning about history we learn about all of it the good and the bad. Overall visiting this museum was a really great experience. We even got a sneak peak of an unfinished exhibit that showed the journey of how Jews in Ethiopia escaped to another country.
Work cited.
South Beach. Bailly Lectures. (2023, January 15). https://baillylectures.com/miami/south-beach/
Miami final reflection
Wow, where do I even start, this class was totality not what I excepted. It was way more than I could have ever excepted from a class. When I started this class, I didn’t really know much Miami or its history and all it has to offer. Thanks to this class and professor Bailly that has completely changed. In just a couple of weeks my perspective of Miami has completely changed. I’ve learned about the historic Overtown and all of its African American history. On multiple occasions we’ve visited the beautiful Deering estate, walked through 8 native ecosystems, and saw a plane crash in the middle of mangroves. We got to visit the unique and beautiful Vizcaya mansion. We visited coconut grove and might have even seen where Michael Jackson filmed some of the thriller music video. We went slogging through the everglades, it was truly a surreal an out of body experience, being able to see nature completely untouched by man. Next, we canoed out to an uninhabited island called chicken key to clean up its sandy beaches. It was really nice to give back, even if it didn’t affect anyone except the animals that live there. Next on our list is what Miami is known for the famous south beach. Here we learned about the 3 main types of architecture that we see, including Mediterranean revival, art deco, and Miami modern also called MiMo. We also visited Fiu’s Jewish Museum. Where we learned about the Jewish history in south beach.
For our final class we ventured out to Key Biscayne at bill bags Florida state park. Key Biscayne is the southernmost barrier island of the United States. This was my first time visiting key Biscayne and it was absolutely beautiful. We saw the light house that is located there; however, we weren’t able to go up in it due to it being renovated. Here we also learned about some amazing history. On September 15, 2004, the park was designated an underground railroad site. Black Seminoles and runaway slaves used to make their way down to cape Florida to escape to the Bahamas. I was shocked that any part of Miami was a part of the underground railroad. As professor Bailly pointed out it’s really unfortunate that information like this isn’t taught in schools. Every kid that went to school especially in Miami should know about places like this. To conclude this amazing semester, we had a potluck with professor Bailly’s other section of Miami in Miami class. We sat down and had a great lunch with a variety of tasty food. Last but not least we went to the beach and took a dip in the beautiful crystal-clear blue water. As I laid on the beach and reflected on the past few weeks, I am incredibly grateful for this experience that professor Bailly offers. He has so much knowledge and true gift for sharing this knowledge with others. I hope that in the future I can take part in another one of his classes.
Miami in Miami 