Fight for Rights
Speaking at an event hosted by the Vizcaya Museums and Gardens in 2024, Dr. Enid Pinkney joked that as a young person, going from bustling urban center of Overtown to Coconut Grove was like taking a trip to the country1. This was perhaps because, in its early years, the Black and Bahamian community of Coconut Grove was characterized by single family homes, more typical of an American suburb than a city center2. However, as the area’s population grew, Black families remained constrained to living within racially restricted geographic boundaries.
To meet the demand for housing, developers began constructing apartment buildings. Thelma Gibson recalls that when she left Coconut Grove in 1944, there were hardly any apartment buildings at all but by 1947, they were everywhere3. As the area’s density increased, the city did not increase civic services or make investments in physical infrastructure. In his book, “Black Miami” Dr. Marvin Dunn notes that homes in the Black majority areas of Coconut Grove were not connected to the sewage system. Such waste was picked up by a truck “called the honey wagon, the approach of which required no announcement.”4
“Coconut Grove Negro District Map,” UM Libraries Digital Exhibits.
Above are interviews with three Coconut Grove community leaders, Mrs. Thelma Gibson, Ms. Leona Cooper Baker and Dr. George Simpson who describe what it was like living in Miami during Jim Crow and the leaders that inspired them in the fight for civil rights. These oral histories were recorded as a part of HistoryMiami Museum’s Stories of Resistance from Black Miami: From Civil Rights to BLM project.
In 1948, the decline in living conditions led Father Theodore Gibson of Christ Episcopal Church to speak before a group of White residents at the Coconut Grove Citizens Club. He gave a stirring speech during which he stated, “My people are living seven deep.”5 He demanded that the White community take responsibility for the lack of code enforcement in his neighborhood. His words deeply affected a member of the audience; a White woman named Elizabeth Virrick. The next day she visited Father Gibson’s office to ask what could be done. Soon after, Father Gibson and Virrick mobilized Blacks and Whites in Coconut Grove to form the Coconut Grove Committee for Slum Clearance. Their efforts led to improvements in the area’s living conditions through revisions in the city’s building codes “that would require running water, a flush toilet, and a sink in every dwelling unit in the city.”6
In this photo taken in 1969, Father Gibson speaks at a podium while Elizabeth Virrick and men wearing Coconut Grove Cares tee-shirts stand behind him. Photo by Pat Canova, Miami News. This photo is from the HistoryMiami Museum Digital Collection.
While Elizabeth Virrick went on to become a major housing reformer, Father Gibson’s fight for equal rights extended to other areas. In 1956, he filed a lawsuit on behalf of his son, Theodore Gibson Jr., calling for the desegregation of the school system. While the court ruled in favor of the plaintiff in 1959, Dade County’s gradualist approach to integration led to it being years before there was significant school integration. Father Gibson served as the head of the NAACP from 1954 to 19647. During his tenure the Johns Committee sought lists of NAACP members under the pretext of wanting to root out communists. Father Gibson refused to comply with this demand and was sentenced to 6 months in jail in 1963. These charges were later dismissed by the Supreme Court. Father Gibson’s fight for equal rights inspired others to become involved in the civil rights movement in Miami.
In an interview with HistoryMiami Museum, Garth Reeves recalled:
“Working for my father at The Miami Times is the only job I’ve ever had. I was working in the printing department, where the money was. The former state president of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) used to come by my office all the time and talk to me about becoming more active in the NAACP. I said that my dad handles all that at the newspaper with the coverage. He thought my dad was too hesitant about taking a stronger stance and he knew I was tougher. His name was Father Theodore Gibson. He had Christ Episcopal Church in Coconut Grove. He said he needed my help, so I started helping out the NAACP a little more.” 8
Miami Times newspaper publisher Garth Reeves at a board meeting at Miami-Dade Community College. 1980-09-08. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory.
In 1994, 10 years after the Martin Luther King Day holiday was established, the Coconut Grove Ecumenical Network was formed. Every year, this group, which consists of leaders and members of several different religious denominations, come together to celebrate the life and work of Dr. King. For the past three years, this annual gathering has been held at the former St, Mary’s Missionary Baptist Church, now the Sanctuary of the Arts.
Programs of the 2023 and 2024 Martin Luther King Day Annual Celebration
The fight for rights has continued into the 21st century. In 2011, a developer attempted to build a trolley garage for the City of Coral Gables in a predominantly Black residential section of Coconut Grove. The cities of Miami and Coral Gables’ refusal to substantively engage with residents’ concerns about this facility led to the filing of a civil rights complaint with the Federal Department of Transportation 9. The results of the ensuing investigation ensured that the completed garage would never be used to service trolleys. While assisting Coconut Grove residents with this case, University of Miami law students found evidence that the City of Miami had covered up contamination from the incinerator Old Smokey10. These findings have led to the filing of a class action lawsuit against the city, seeking to hold it accountable for exposing residents to dangerous toxins for decades. 11
In 2022, the City of Miami Commission redrew the city’s voting map leading to racial gerrymandering. The ACLU, community groups and residents banded together to sue the city in federal court. Their efforts led to Coconut Grove being reunited as a voting district12. In 2024, a complaint was filed with the federal Housing and Urban Development agency (HUD). It alleges that the City of Miami’s discriminatory zoning practices have led to widespread displacement in Coconut Grove and have contributed to the resegregation of the neighborhood. 13
A group that has played a leading role in the struggle for the fair and equal treatment of Coconut Grove residents is Grove Rights and Community Equity (G.R.A.C.E). Its members include Coconut Grove residents, the Coconut Grove Ministerial Alliance, the Village West Homeowners and Tenants Association (HOATA) and the University of Miami Center for Ethics and Public Service. To learn more, visit their website: https://www.graceincgrove.com/
1 “Vizcaya Late: Little Bahamas” February 21, 2024 at the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens.
2 See page 37 in Gibson, Thelma V. A. (2000) Forbearance: Thelma Vernell Anderson Gibson: the life story of a Coconut Grove native. Helena Enterprises, Homestead, FL.
3 See page 50 in Gibson, Thelma. V. A. (2000) Forbearance: Thelma Vernell Anderson Gibson: the life story of a Coconut Grove native. Helena Enterprises, Homestead, FL.
4 Dunn, Marvin. (1997) Black Miami in the Twentieth Century. University Press of Florida, Gainesville, FL.
5 Mohl, Raymond. A. (2001) Elizabeth Virrick and the Concrete Monsters Housing Reform in Postwar Miami. Tequesta 1.61 http://dpanther.fiu.edu/sobek/content/FI/18/05/09/00/00061/FI18050900_00061_00003.pdf
6 Page 252 in Danahy, L.B. (2001). Elizabeth Virrick, the Maverick of Miami Slum Clearance. In Making Waves : Female Activists in Twentieth-Century Florida, Edited by J.E. Davis, and K. Frederickson, University Press of Florida, Gainesville, FL. https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/database-research.htm
7 Garcia, M. (2021). Theodore Gibson, a legacy of change in Miami’s Black community, Part 6. Caplin News, 17 March.
https://caplinnews.fiu.edu/theodore-gibson-a-legacy-of-change-in-miamis-black-community-part-6/
8 HistoryMiami Museum intern Lisann Ramos compiled this story as recounted by Garth Reeves on 22 February 2017 https://historymiami.org/garth-reeves-2/
9 WLRN (2014). West Grove Trolley Garage Unearths Vulnerabilities Of Low-Income Neighborhoods, WLRN Public Media, 1 April https://www.wlrn.org/news/2014-04-01/west-grove-trolley-garage-unearths-vulnerabilities-of-low-income-neighborhoods
10 Villano, D. (2014). Old Incinerator and New Cancer in Coconut Grove, Miami New Times, 10 April https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/old-incinerator-and-new-cancer-in-coconut-grove-6395366
11 Villano, David. (2024). “West Grove Soils Contaminated with Incinerator Ash, Attorney Says” Coconut Grove Spotlight, 12 December https://coconutgrovespotlight.com/2024/12/12/west-grove-soils-contaminated-with-incinerator-ash-attorney-says/
12 Ceballos, J. (2024). City of Miami to vote on new map, $1.5 million payment following ‘racial gerrymandering’ ruling. WLRN Public Media, 1 May. https://www.wlrn.org/government-politics/2024-05-01/miami-new-map-districts-vote-racial-gerrymandering-agreement
13 Ceballos, J. (2024). City of Miami of housing discrimination against Black residents, WLRN Public Media, 24 July