Oral Histories

There is a rich collection of stories about the community of Coconut Grove and Coral Gables that are spread across multiple collections in South Florida and beyond. While many are accessible online, some require in-person visits. If you know of additional oral history and archival collections that should be represented here, please contact the site administrator, Dr. Aarti Mehta-Kroll amehtakr@fiu.edu.

Florida International University

As a part of a project called Commons for Justice, several oral history interviews were conducted with members of the Coconut Grove and Coral Gables community in 2021 and 2022. 

The Frost Art Museum, for a project titled “Place and Purpose: Art Transformation in Coconut Grove,” did a series of interviews with individuals living in Coconut Grove who shared their recollections of the neighborhood when it was known to be a haven for artists. They can be accessed online.  

In May and June 2022 FIU students interviewed six community elders in Coconut Grove. Audio recordings of these conversations can be accessed via the Coconut Grove Stories Race Risk and Resilience Podcast. Video recordings are available through FIU’s digital collections.  

During the 2022 Goombay Festival, Imani Latifah Warren conducted interviews with festivalgoers, asking what does resilience means to them? 

Also in FIU’s Digital Collection are a series of interviews conducted by Carolyn Donaldson of Grove Rights and Community Equity (G.R.A.C.E.) and Miami Oral Histories which are related to the civil rights movement in South Florida. 

The Marvin Dunn Collection at the FIU Library was created by Dr. Marvin Dunn, author of “Black Miami in the Twentieth Century.” It consists of photographs, manuscripts, newspaper articles, audio-interviews and journal articles dating back to the mid-19th century. To access this collection, you need to make an appointment to visit FIU’s Steven and Dorothea Green Library. 

Graceful Voices

This documentary features stories of the Golden Gate and the MacFarlane Homestead. It was syndicated by PBS but can also be viewed on vimeo. 

History Miami

Stories of Resistance from Black Miami series includes interviews with Groveites Mrs. Thelma Gibson, Dr. George Simpson and Ms. Leona Cooper-Baker. 

Miami Stories allows you to record your Miami story and access stories recorded by others. 

History Miami has a large collection of photographs, audio visual materials and historic artifacts related to the history of Coconut Grove and Coral Gables. Some can be accessed online. To access items that have not been digitized, you can request an appointment at the History Miami Research Center.

The Miami New Times

In 1991, the Miami New Times published a three-part interview with community activist Esther Mae Armbrister. In it, Mrs. Armbrister shares her recollection of the neighborhood’s past and its present struggles. 

University of Florida 

The Samuel Proctor Oral History Collection includes the Overtown Oral History Collection, which consists of 55 or so interviews conducted in 1997 with former residents of Overtown. The interviewees include Coconut Grove residents William Rolle and Dr. Dazelle Dean Simpson.

University of Miami

The Gregory Bush Oral History Collection consists of 201 items. 103 audio recordings are available online. They include interviews with Mrs. Leona Cooper Baker and other members of the Golden Gates community as well as one with Mr. Henry Givens of G.U.T.S. Transcripts of interviews conducted with Ms. Yvonne McDonald, Revered Austin Cooper and others are available upon request at the Richter Library. 

The Caribbean Diaspora Oral Histories and Jackson Memorial Hospital Centennial Oral History Project include interviews of the Coconut Grove community such as Dr. Freddie Young, Dr. Dazelle Simpson, Dr. George Simpson and Mrs. Thelma Gibson.

In the 2010s, students at the UM Law School and Ransom Everglades High School did a series of oral history interviews that were made into documentaries about the trash incinerator Old Smokey, the Churches of the Coconut Grove, the G.W. Carver School and the impact of school integration. 

“Resistance Songs: Mobilizing the Law and Politics of Community” by Professor Anthony V. Alfieri contains 6 oral histories about Old Smokey: Delores Patterson Baine, Theodore W. Johnson, Antoniette Price, Francina Hopkins, Jimmie Ingraham, and Dr. Joyce Price.

The Digital Exhibit The Civil Rights Movement and the Black Experience in Miami contains links to the Dr. John O. and Marie Faulkner Brown Papers, Theodore R. Gibson Family Papers, the Bob Simms Collection and the Michael L. Carlebach Photography Collection. 

Vizcaya Museums and Gardens

The Rich and Forgotten Histories of Coconut Grove is a podcast series created by the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, in partnership with the G.W. Carver Alumni Association. 

In 2023, a team from Vizcaya, in partnership with FIU, recorded the stories during the Goombay Festival.