{"id":142335,"date":"2026-02-03T20:02:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T20:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/142335\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T20:02:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T20:02:12","slug":"bill-affirming-st-johns-as-black-history-museum-site-creating-board-sent-to-senate-floor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/142335\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill affirming St. Johns as Black History Museum site, creating Board, sent to Senate floor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Legislation to solidify St. Johns County as the site of a planned Florida Museum of Black History<\/a> and codifying rules for its Board of Directors is now one vote from clearing the Legislature\u2019s upper chamber.<\/p>\n

The Senate Rules Committee voted unanimously to send the bill (SB 308<\/a>) to the floor after hearing impassioned testimony from many who support the museum\u2019s establishment, but worry that politics and a desire to avoid discomfort will compromise historical accuracy.<\/p>\n

St. Augustine Republican Sen. Tom Leek, the measure\u2019s sponsor, tried to assuage those concerns, noting that the museum\u2019s Board and Subcommittees, not Tallahassee, will dictate exhibits and messaging.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think the history of Florida can be told without also telling the history of Black Floridians,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat this does is give the opportunity for that history to be told and the story to be completed.\u201d<\/p>\n

SB 308 and its House twin (HB 525<\/a>) by Jacksonville Republican Rep. Kiyan Michael would codify a prior recommendation by the Florida Museum of Black History Task Force to select St. Johns County as the preferred site for a future museum.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It would create a new section of Florida law establishing the Florida Museum of Black History Board of Directors tasked with overseeing the facility\u2019s planning, construction and operation.<\/p>\n

The Governor, Senate President and House Speaker would appoint Board members. Except for two Senators and two Representatives who would serve in ex officio capacities, members would not be able to hold any other elected office, whether voter-chosen or appointed.<\/p>\n

St. Johns County was the top-ranked site among\u00a0three finalists<\/a>\u00a0for the museum chosen in April 2024, followed by Eatonville in Orange County and Opa-locka in Miami-Dade County. Last June, the Legislature\u00a0earmarked $1 million<\/a>\u00a0for the planned project in St. Johns.<\/p>\n

Several members of the public cautiously celebrated the museum\u2019s progress while pointing to recent state-level actions as potentially troubling signs of what it could look like under poor management and content.<\/p>\n

Dr. Allison Clark pointed to a PBS report<\/a> from January 2023 quoting Gov. Ron DeSantis as saying he supports teaching history, but warns against \u201cindoctrination.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHow effective and how reflective of history is this museum going to be?\u201d she asked before pondering aloud whether the statue honoring Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune would have been installed<\/a> at the U.S. Capitol for Florida under Florida\u2019s current political climate.<\/p>\n

Leek later said that had such an installation been blocked, he and other lawmakers would have pushed to change that until it was.<\/p>\n

Kiara Nixon of Equal Ground said that who gets to tell the story of Black Floridians\u2019 history matters and is of particular concern, considering questionable changes<\/a> the state made a few years back in its African American curriculum, which included a requirement that students be taught how enslaved people learned skills they could use \u201cfor their personal benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHonoring history requires more than reflection,\u201d she said. \u201cIt requires us to tell the accurate story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Derek Triplett, founder and pastor of Hope Fellowship Church, echoed that sentiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t ensure that Black historians and community persons who will tell the whole truth \u2026 are leading this process, then the truth gets twisted,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Tamarac Democratic Sen. Rosalind Osgood thanked Leek for sponsoring the measure, but also cited recent state actions \u2014 specifically Attorney General James Uthmeier\u2019s decision to announce on Martin Luther King Jr. Day that he wouldn\u2019t enforce dozens of race-based laws<\/a> \u2014 as putting Black people \u201cin a posture of feeling attacked.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that the state of Florida has no shortage of history museums, but what we like is balance. We have museums for military history, political history, regional history, but no state-level institution dedicated to Black history, despite Black Floridians shaping every chapter of this state\u2019s history,\u201d she said. \u201cThis bill \u2026 does not replace those museums, but it connects, elevates and complements Florida\u2019s historical infrastructure, and in my opinion, I believe it completes it.\u201d<\/p>\n

SB 308 awaits scheduling for a Senate floor vote. HB 525, which has been assigned to three Committees, has yet to be heard in the House.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Legislation to solidify St. Johns County as the site of a planned Florida Museum of Black History and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[69027,9316,69028,28,30,22315,29,66289,4260,69029,66290,69030,69031,412,2828,66292,22316],"class_list":{"0":"post-142335","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-allison-clark","9":"tag-black-history","10":"tag-derek-triplett","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-florida-headlines","13":"tag-florida-museum-of-black-history","14":"tag-florida-news","15":"tag-hb-525","16":"tag-james-uthmeier","17":"tag-kiara-nixon","18":"tag-kiyan-michael","19":"tag-mary-mccleoud-bethune","20":"tag-museum-of-black-history","21":"tag-ron-desantis","22":"tag-rosalind-osgood","23":"tag-sb-308","24":"tag-tom-leek"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}