Latest news with #BlackArchives
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
St. Joseph Museums displays local artist's work for Juneteenth
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — A local artist's work is being featured in the St. Joseph Museums as part of the celebration leading up to Juneteenth. A gallery featuring the work of Afrocentric Artist T'Asia Coker can be found in the Black Archives section of the Museum. The 23-year-old law student at Missouri Western State University remembers when she started sketching at the age of 13. I was at my house, and I was so bored I was like, 'Okay, I'm just going to try to draw,' and then I really got in to sketching," Coker said. Then she found what she truly loved. "I liked sketching, but I just really love being able to express myself through color with different skin tones, complexions and backgrounds," Coker said. The inspiration came from the hair salon her mom has owned for nearly 12 years. "I just watched her do the hair of the people in my community and I get a lot of inspiration from them," she said. T'Asia's mother, Kristina Buchanan, owns Karamel Natural Hair Care at 1702 Olive St. in St. Joseph. T'Asia's first color art piece is still hanging inside the shop. "We just always thought that she was amazing," Buchanan said. "Her progression speaks more, I think, to her work ethic, her determination to keep perfecting her craft to always be the best that she can be, and I'm in awe of my daughter." What starts as a concept in T'Asia's head changes as she begins to work on a piece. She enjoys painting women in front of mystical backgrounds. "I'm a fantasy person to my core, so I like seeing art that depicts that," Coker said. The opportunity to showcase her art in the St. Joseph Museums came from a February event where her mother displayed her work. A Black Archives Committee member was in attendance and suggested her art be displayed in the museum. "My mom was buying picture frames and, you know, getting everything labeled," Coker said. "It came together really nice." Coker's work is on display now through Monday, June 30, to highlight Black artists and celebrate Juneteenth. "I've been watching her just do great things anyway, so every painting is my favorite," Buchanan said. "This is the beginning for her. A calendar featuring T'Asia's work will be on sale in September, and it will feature perforated pages so the art can be detached and kept. Copies of the calendar can be purchased at Karamel Natural Hair Care.
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
How a thriving Black Miami community was erased overnight
MIAMI - In the summer of 1947, a thriving Black community in Miami vanished in the blink of an eye. Families were evicted with little notice, given just two hours to leave behind their homes, businesses and belongings. Rebecca Jenkins McSwain, whose family was among those forced out of the Railroad Shop Colored Addition, recalled the devastation in a recorded interview. "My family is from Railroad Shop Colored Addition out of Miami and we were evicted from our property," she said. "My grandmother lived in the four-by-six area of the first section and they just put those people out in the rain, locked their doors and the City of Miami took their property." Forced out with nowhere to go Jenkins McSwain shared her story with historian Cynthia Strachan of the Bowles-Strachan Historical Resource Center. Her family relocated to the Carver Ranches neighborhood in Broward County after being forcibly removed. According to newspaper reports from August 1947, 45 families — 119 people, including 70 children — were evicted. One family with a newborn baby was given a slight extension, but most were thrown out into the streets, their belongings scattered. Alexis Smith Parker, whose mother was evicted from the Railroad Shop Colored Addition, described the traumatic scene passed down through generations. "The stories that I heard—it was raining. They were throwing their things out in the streets. There was fire," she said. A once-thriving Black community Established in 1917, the Railroad Shop Colored Addition was part of the Allapattah community, spanning NW 12th to 14th Avenues and 46th to 50th Streets. It was home to dozens of Black families, churches and Black-owned businesses. Kamila Pritchett, a historian and Executive Director of the Black Archives at the Lyric Theater, has collected articles and photos from Miami's Tropical Dispatch documenting the eviction. "The railroad shop inhabitants were thrown out and you can see in these pictures residents with all their belongings on the front lawn," she explained. "Furniture scattered, people rolling up mattresses, looking like they had very little time before they had to evacuate their homes." Why were they evicted? At the time, the Railroad Shop Colored Addition was surrounded by an all-white community. When new schools and a park were needed, the Black neighborhood was targeted for demolition. Today, that park is Charles Hadley Park and just south of it stand the schools formerly known as Allapattah Elementary and Allapattah Middle. "They wanted to build the school Allapattah for the white community," Smith Parker said. "And it's funny because they built it for the whites, but now our school is basically predominantly Black." Those schools have since been renamed Lenora Braynon Smith Elementary and Georgia Jones Ayers Middle, honoring two childhood friends who once lived in the Railroad Shop Colored Addition. Braynon Smith's daughter recalls her mother's connection to the land. "She would always point over here. There was an avocado tree," she said. "She said that tree was in their backyard, so they grew up in this neighborhood." Eminent domain and broken promises Oscar Braynon Sr., a descendant of one of the displaced families, recalled the destruction. "Their belongings were put on the street and the houses that were left were demolished," he said. "All of a sudden, the surrounding white community wanted a school and parks and the local government decided that they wanted this community gone." Families who built Miami's railroads lost their homes with no compensation. Smith Parker lamented the erasure of what was once a thriving economic and cultural hub. "This was probably one of the richest areas in Miami-Dade County," she said. "The families that were rooted here were the foundation of the City of Miami." Braynon reflected on the staggering financial loss. "What was $10,000 in 1947 is probably worth a quarter of a million dollars today," he said. "And what did they get for it? Nothing. Just a bitter taste. A bitter memory." No compensation, no justice Nearly 80 years later, descendants of the Railroad Shop Colored Addition say their families were never compensated by the City of Miami. Their story remains a painful reminder of the systemic displacement of Black communities throughout history, an injustice that, to this day, has never been made right. Trump, Musk take questions at White House Flu deaths outpace COVID deaths in 22 states for first time since pandemic began Trump could meet Putin in Saudi Arabia; Federal worker buyouts resume
CBS News
10-02-2025
- General
- CBS News
The Black Miami community erased overnight
MIAMI - In the summer of 1947, a thriving Black community in Miami vanished in the blink of an eye. Families were evicted with little notice, given just two hours to leave behind their homes, businesses and belongings. Rebecca Jenkins McSwain, whose family was among those forced out of the Railroad Shop Colored Addition, recalled the devastation in a recorded interview. "My family is from Railroad Shop Colored Addition out of Miami and we were evicted from our property," she said. "My grandmother lived in the four-by-six area of the first section and they just put those people out in the rain, locked their doors and the City of Miami took their property." Forced out with nowhere to go Jenkins McSwain shared her story with historian Cynthia Stachan of the Bowles-Strachan Historical Resource Center. Her family relocated to the Carver Ranches neighborhood in Broward County after being forcibly removed. According to newspaper reports from August 1947, 45 families - 119 people, including 70 children - were evicted. One family with a newborn baby was given a slight extension, but most were thrown out into the streets, their belongings scattered. Alexis Smith Parker, whose mother was evicted from the Railroad Shop Colored Addition, described the traumatic scene passed down through generations. "The stories that I heard—it was raining. They were throwing their things out in the streets. There was fire," she said. A once-thriving Black community Established in 1917, the Railroad Shop Colored Addition was part of the Allapattah community, spanning NW 12th to 14th Avenues and 46th to 50th Streets. It was home to dozens of Black families, churches and Black-owned businesses. Kamila Pritchett, a historian and Executive Director of the Black Archives at the Lyric Theater, has collected articles and photos from Miami's Tropical Dispatch documenting the eviction. "The railroad shop inhabitants were thrown out and you can see in these pictures residents with all their belongings on the front lawn," she explained. "Furniture scattered, people rolling up mattresses, looking like they had very little time before they had to evacuate their homes." Why were they evicted? At the time, the Railroad Shop Colored Addition was surrounded by an all-white community. When new schools and a park were needed, the Black neighborhood was targeted for demolition. Today, that park is Charles Hadley Park and just south of it stand the schools formerly known as Allapattah Elementary and Allapattah Middle. "They wanted to build the school Allapattah for the white community," Smith Parker said. "And it's funny because they built it for the whites, but now our school is basically predominantly Black." Those schools have since been renamed Lenora Braynon Smith Elementary and Georgia Jones Ayers Middle, honoring two childhood friends who once lived in the Railroad Shop Colored Addition. Braynon Smith's daughter recalls her mother's connection to the land. "She would always point over here. There was an avocado tree," she said. "She said that tree was in their backyard, so they grew up in this neighborhood." Eminent domain and broken promises Oscar Braynon Sr., a descendant of one of the displaced families, recalled the destruction. "Their belongings were put on the street and the houses that were left were demolished," he said. "All of a sudden, the surrounding white community wanted a school and parks and the local government decided that they wanted this community gone." Families who built Miami's railroads lost their homes with no compensation. Smith Parker lamented the erasure of what was once a thriving economic and cultural hub. "This was probably one of the richest areas in Miami-Dade County," she said. "The families that were rooted here were the foundation of the city of Miami." Braynon reflected on the staggering financial loss. "What was $10,000 in 1947 is probably worth a quarter of a million dollars today," he said. "And what did they get for it? Nothing. Just a bitter taste. A bitter memory." No compensation, no justice Nearly 80 years later, descendants of the Railroad Shop Colored Addition say their families were never compensated by the City of Miami. Their story remains a painful reminder of the systemic displacement of Black communities throughout history, an injustice that, to this day, has never been made right.
