Research Symposium

BIO

Veronica Zavaleta is a second-year at Florida State University studying Political Science and Economics. She plans to attend law school after completing her bachelor's degrees, but is always eager to learn new topics in a range of fields. Zavaleta became involved in research by wanting to develop her professional skills and challenge her educational limits.

Overtown, Miami: Developing a Community Archive Through Storytelling

Abstract

The pioneer history of enslaved peoples, Caribbean migrants, and the founding of a “city of runaways” is not what people consider when they think of Miami. Many Miami residents don’t know much about its founding or the significance of communities like Overtown. Once called Coloredtown due to the racial segregation of the Jim Crow South, this historic neighborhood is living proof of both the hardships endured and the culture cultivated by Miami’s Black community. In order to tell a comprehensive story about Miami, we focus on Overtown’s domestic workers in the heart of the city such as those who built the roads and railroads, taught students from all backgrounds, and sheltered celebrities like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, and Ella Fitzgerald. As part of Christell Victoria Roach’s dissertation research on descendant-led digital humanities, this project contributes research to the OTOWN digital archiving platform using its storytelling framework.Through the archival analysis of public narratives and civic media including news reports, articles, documentaries, and even obituaries, we gain insight into Overtown’s rich culture and impact. With the interdisciplinary, multimodal platform OTOWN, community members can engage with a visual exhibit built from residents’ photos and ephemera, which foregrounds the narratives of Miami’s pioneer descendants. Miami is a fast-changing city, so it’s important for history to be made accessible to those who live among and through it. By developing this research and exhibition, we create a model for reckoning with history through our shared and personal archives.

Keywords: Black History, Community/Communication, Interdisciplinary