Miami History

The book illustrates the unparalled happenings in what is arguably the most internationalized American city.

"This well-written and compelling story of immigrant resident relations in Miami will be read and enjoyed by lay people and scholars, and will no doubt produce stimulating discussions in classrooms throughout urban America."--Jacqueline Hagan, author of "Deciding to Be Legal: A Maya Community in Houston

"Stepick and his colleagues provide a richly-textured and highly-nuanced account of how immigrants are remaking Miami--a city that, in one generation, has been transformed by the influx of Latin American and Caribbean newcomers. Based on long-term direct observation, "This Land Is Our Land puts relations between immigrants and established residents on center stage--showing how both have changed as they encounter each other in schools, workplaces, and business and commerce. This well-written book is a must-read for anyone wanting to understand how immigration is changing America."--Nancy Foner, author of "From Ellis Island to JFK: New York's Two Great Waves of Immigration

"A path-setting study that explores power, context, and diversity in the culturally heterogeneous, economically vibrant, and politically dynamic city of Miami. Unpacking the complexities of race, ethnicity, and class, this lucidly written work takes the reader on rugged journeys as immigrants of different national origins strive to become American at their own pace and on their own terms. It provides fresh insight into the long-standing American ambivalence toward immigration, making a fine contribution to the burgeoning literature on immigration and inter-racial dynamics. "--Min Zhou, co-author of "Growing Up American: How Vietnamese Children Adapt to Life in the United States

"A valuable account of ethnicrelations in Miami by social scientists who live and work there. Informative and useful material for urban sociologists and specialists on immigration."--Alejandro Portes, coauthor of "Immigrant America and Professor of Sociology a

"This, the first major study of popular religion in Miami's community of exiled Cubans, is outstanding. De La Torre captures the intimacy and flavor of a spiritual movement that crosses moral and theological lines. It's bound to upset some for its frank conclusions; but all great books go against the inherited grain in some way."--Luis Leon, author of "La Llorona's Children: Religion, Life, and Death in the U.S.-Mexican Borderlands

"A daring and careful expose of the political and religious right-wing discourse circulating among Cuban exiles. In this extremely important, courageous, and long-overdue project about "cubanidad (Cubanness), De La Torre has created a historical marker in the effort to clear the way for a more democratic and spiritually compassionate world for Cuban Americans."--Laura Perez, Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies, University of California, Berkeley

This collection of original essays represents the first scholarly effort to examine the variety of ethnic and urban experiences that have characterized the post-World War II South. It goes beyond anything else in print in suggesting regional patterns and providing comparative models with other sections of the nation. A distinctive feature of this timely work is its treatment of various ethnic groups in southern cities, including Jews, Italians, Cubans, Haitians, and Canadians, and the integration of these groups into the emerging Sunbelt society of today. The essays provide a preliminary reconnaissance into some of the more important issues and pose questions, focus attention, and encourage fresh approaches to the study of a subject of immediate public significance, both to the region and, as the Sunbelt grows in numbers and influence, to the nation as well.

Today more than one million emigres make up the Cuban diaspora, and many, though living in America, still consider themselves part of Cuba. This book captures the struggles and dreams of Cuban Americans. Using this resource, students, teachers, and interested readers can examine the engaging and often controversial details of Cuban immigration. Such details include patterns of immigration, adaptation to American life and work, cultural traditions, religious traditions, women's roles, the family, adolescence, language, and education. Because the author is himself a Cuban American, he does not treat the emigres as mere subjects nor does he tell their story in statistical terms alone. As an "insider," he delves deeply into the soul of the community to illustrate all the dimensions of the Cuban American experience.

"A necessity for every African American who has ever lived in Dade County, or South Florida for that matter". -- Garth Reeves, publisher emeritus, Miami Times

"A very ambitious project, and therein lies its great contribution: no one before has written a comprehensive history of Greater Miami's unique black community". -- Paul S. George, Miami Dade Community College

The first book devoted to the history of African Americans in south Florida and their pivotal role in the growth and development of Miami, Black Miami in the Twentieth Century traces their triumphs, drudgery, horrors, and courage during the first 100 years of the city's history. Firsthand accounts and over 130 photographs, many of them never published before, bring to life the proud heritage of Miami's black community.

Beginning with the legendary presence of black pirates on Biscayne Bay, Marvin Dunn sketches the streams of migration by which blacks came to account for nearly half the city's voters at the turn of the century. From the birth of a new neighborhood known as "Colored Town", Dunn traces the blossoming of black businesses, churches, civic groups, and fraternal societies that made up the black community. He recounts the heyday of "Little Broadway" along Second Avenue, with photos and individual recollections that capture the richness and vitality of black Miami's golden age between the wars.

A substantial portion of the book is devoted to the Miami civil rights movement, and Dunn traces the evolution of Colored Town to Overtown and the subsequent growth of Liberty City. He profiles voting rights, housing and school desegregation, and civil disturbances like the McDuffie and Lozano incidents, and analyzesthe issues and leadership that molded an increasingly diverse community through decades of strife and violence. In concluding chapters, he assesses the current position of the community -- its socioeconomic status, education

Our Lady of the Exile is a study of Cuban-American popular Catholicism, focusing on the shrine of Our Lady Charity in Miami. Drawing on a wide range of sources and using both historical and ethnographic methods, the book examines the religious life of the Cuban exiles who visit the shrine. Those pilgrims are diverse, and so are the motives that bring them. At the same time, author Thomas A. Tweed argues, Cuban devotees of the national patroness share a great deal. Most come to pray for their homeland and to recreate bonds with other Cubans, on the island and in the diaspora. The shrine is a place where they come to make sense of themselves as an exiled people. The religious symbols there link the past and present and bridge the homeland and the new land. Through rituals and artifacts at the shrine, Tweed suggests, the Cuban diaspora "imaginatively constructs its collective identity and transports itself to the Cuba of memory and desire." While the book focuses on Cuban exiles in Miami, it moves beyond case study as it explores larger issues concerning religion, identity, and place. How do migrants relate to heir homeland? How do they understand themselves after they have been displaced? What role does religion play among these diasporic groups? Building on this study of one exiled group, Tweed proposes a theory of diasporic religion that promises to illuminate the experiences of other groups that have been displaced from their native land. As the first book-length analysis of Cuban-American Catholicism, Tweed's book will be an invaluable resource to scholars and students of not only Religious Studies, American Studies, and Ethnic Studies, but also those who study cultural anthropology, human geography, and Latin American history.

As a result of repeated experiences with devastating earthquakes, storms, floods, and wildfires, places like Tokyo, Mexico City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles are already identified with catastrophe in both scientific literature and popular culture. Similar prospects face less obvious urban candidates like Dhaka, Miami, London, Lima, Seoul, and Sydney. In this collaborative study of environmental risks in ten of the world's major cities, geographers, planners, and other experts examine the hazard experiences of case study cities and analyze their future risks. They conclude that the natural disaster potential of the biggest cities is expanding at a pace which far exceeds the rate of urbanization. In addition to tracing hazard trends and arguing in support of management reforms that can be implemented quickly, Crucibles of Hazard directs attention to long-term issues of safety and security that must be resolved to sustain urban areas. Opportunities for such innovative policymaking include: capitalizing on the role of hazards as agents of urban diversification; broadening the scope for employing hazard-based contingency planning models in other urban governance contexts; and mobilizing hazard myths and metaphors as unifying sources of inspiration for diverse and sometimes fractious metropolitan constituencies. This study was led by the International Geographical Union's Study Group on the Disaster Vulnerability of Mega-cities.

Written by researchers at a federally funded outreach program to combat the spread of AIDS, this book analyzes the efforts of the Miami Community Outreach Project to intervene in AIDS-related risk behaviors among intravenous drug users and their sexual partners. It details the prevalence of the HIV virus in the Miami area, the theoretical basis of the project, intervention strategies used, and the results achieved. The study shows that the program had some success in changing HIV risk behaviors and thus provides a useful case study.